UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4 – Gurublog

Jimmy Savile was my first ever interviewee when I became presenter of the BBC’s “yoof” discussion programme Open to Question. I was 18, rather naive and had not heard the rumours of his sexual preferences.

But he was a big disappointment: cold, aggressive, slightly menacing in his reaction to tough questions from teenagers in the audience – and I’ve never forgotten the creepy feeling he left me with.

The format of Open to Question was simple – a group of teenagers, encouraged to ask cheeky and tough questions, grill a public figure with questions that professional interviewers tend to avoid.

At school I had been one of the cheeky questioners, and now the BBC had asked me to step into the presenter’s chair. Jimmy Savile had a mixed reputation in those days – he was well-known as a charity fundraiser and supporter of…