BBC Radio 1 controller Johnny Beerling forgets to remember the Jimmy Savile he ‘knew well’
JOHN ‘Johnny’ Beerling was the BBC Radio 1 Controller. He has been talking with Nicky Campbell, the DJ he hired to revamp the station from Smashy and Nicey to fresh-faced youth. He tells Campbell on BBC Radio Five Live about the Jimmy Savile, the alleged paedophile he never really knew:
“I wasn’t particularly close to him, as you know. It was a producer who looked after Jimmy, and he was very much a loner wasn’t he. He came into the building, did his thing and went off again. He wasn’t one to socialise with any of you guys or the girls in the office, so I’m really a bit staggered about all of this.”
On his website, Beerling plugs his book:
Johnny Beerling joined the BBC in 1957, and started producing BBC Radio 1 from the first show with Tony Blackburn.
During his time at Radio 1 Johnny transformed the station into the biggest national radio station in the UK. His Radio 1 book describes how radio history was made with the creation of the Radio 1 Roadshow, The Beatles Story, the move from medium wave to national 24-hour Radio 1 FM, coverage of Live Aid for the BBC and much much more…
Of course no Radio 1 book would be complete without stories about the Radio 1 DJs – many of whom are still household names. Remember Noel Edmonds, Dave Lee Travis, Emperor Rosko, David Hamilton, Johnnie Walker, Terry Wogan, Simon Mayo, Mark Goodier, Roger Scott, Nicky Campbell, Jimmy Savile, John Peel, Simon Mayo, Kenny Everett and Paul Burnett? Johnny worked with them all.
During his career at BBC Radio 1 Johnny was responsible for employing many of these personalities, and as the boss took responsibility for their shows.
Adding about his book Radio 1 – The Inside Scene:
The ideal Christmas gift for any lover of radio, the BBC or broadcasting – this book is for anybody who enjoyed or still enjoys listening to BBC Radio 1. The book covers the launch of Radio 1 in 1967 and the many problems that had to be overcome to sustain it, the stories of the DJ’s who came and went and the launch of Radio 1 Club.
For the first time I have written about the production of the widely acclaimed 14 hour documentary, The Beatles Story, the most authorative and comprehensive radio documentary ever made about the Beatles.
I describe how I devised the Radio 1 Roadshow which was the BBC’s biggest travelling show which ran for over 21 years, and I tell the true tales of the fun and games behind the scenes on the road.
I have written how I came to be put in charge of Britain’s biggest Radio Station and the politics of working with Chairman “Duke” Hussey and Directors General Michael Checkland and John Birt. I have included the inside gossip on the top DJ’s and their tears and their tantrums. John Peel, Noel Edmonds, Tony Blackburn, Dave Lee Travis, Mike Read, Simon Bates, Jimmy Savile and many more were all there in my time and I knew them well.
The coverage of the world’s biggest pop concert, Live Aid is explained in full and I tell what it was like backstage at Wembley. All this and more in Radio 1-The Inside Scene
Such are the facts…
Photo: Johnny Beerling, Ex-controller of Radio 1 arrives for the funeral service of Sir Jimmy Savile at the Roman Catholic St Anne’s Cathedral in Leeds. Date: 09/11/2011
Posted: 2nd, November 2012 | In: Celebrities Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
