The BBC moves in mysterious ways

its blunders to perform.

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

Our beloved national broadcaster became a news item recently. When this happens, it is rarely good news for the organisation.

There were two reasons why they made the news.

The first reason was they had to sack one of their star radio broadcasters (they used to be called DJs.)

He had his contract cancelled because he was questioned by police in 2017 concerning sexual misdemeanors involving a minor. No charges were brought then due to insufficient evidence, but it appears new allegations have been made, so the Beeb decided he had to go.

On the face of it, letting the star go was the right thing to do. However, there have been suggestions that some people at the BBC were aware of the 2017 investigations but decided to keep him on air.

Now it has been said the BBC has history in keeping things like this under wraps if they can. The name Jimmy Savile comes to mind.

I doubt if this person’s name will mean anything to those people who haven’t lived in the UK for the last forty years. I really hope it doesn’t.

Jimmy Savile was a “personality” whose career as a DJ and television presenter, spanned forty years. Although he enjoyed success as an entertainer and in raising huge sums of money for charity, I always felt there was something unsettling about him.

I wasn’t alone in these misgivings. My friends also thought there was something a bit creepy about him and we all agreed that after Mr. Savile’s death, something very unsavoury would emerge about him.

We did not know how right we were.

After Savile’s death in 2011, evidence appeared revealing he had been a prolific sex abuser and pedophile for many years. He used his position as a hospital visitor to sexually assault NHS staff and young children who were patients.

Apparently, the NHS and the BBC had been alerted to his perverted behavior many times over the years, but they chose to ignore it.

Another prominent BBC presenter, who was allowed to resign, was eventually convicted of receiving sexually explicit pictures of underage children. It has been suggested that some people complained about his behaviour, but were ignored.

I have written about three people so far but have not mentioned the names of two of them. Their names are well known here in the UK, but I feel they have received punishment for what have or may not have done. They both have lost their highly lucrative careers and are suffering public humiliation. I don’t believe in kicking people when they are down

However, the odious creature that was Jimmy Savile, was never brought to book for his disgusting crimes and never received the punishment and public humiliation he so richly deserved.

Many people believe this was because of the BBC’s reluctance to expose him.

At the start of this article I wrote there were two items concerning the BBC that made the news. And the second item was a report describing how the BBC can act quickly when they believe the British public must be protected from what the corporation believe is harmful and threatening to the people who pay the corporation’s wages.

BBC TV makes a very nice little programme called “The Repair Shop.”

In this programme, members of the public bring in treasured items and family heirlooms that have seen better days, and various experts restore or repair them. Items vary from paintings, old clocks, toys and books.

Recently a book was brought to the show by the Adopted daughter of the late Bob Monkhouse.

Bob Monkhouse was a very big star of radio and television here in the UK. His career started in the 1950s and continued well into the 1990s. He sadly died in 2003. He was a man of many talents and one of them was as a stand- up comedian, and he wrote his own jokes.

Because his career lasted for several decades his collection of jokes was very big, and he kept them in several books.

It was one of these books that his adopted daughter brought into the Repair Shop. Apparently, the years had not been kind to it and it needed some TLC to restore it to its former glory. The repair shop team agreed it could be restored and the joke book was left with them to be part of a future programme.

Sadly, that was not to be.

Apparently one of the BBC’s production team flipped through the dilapidated joke book. Now it is worth remembering these jokes were written over many years and were of their time; times when people were not easily offended.

But this particular member of the BBC production team was not one of those people. This individual considered the jokes, or one of them, would be considered offensive today. It was put before the management who agreed it was offensive, and the joke book was returned to Bob Monkhouse’s daughter.

Now I have watched The Repair Shop many times and am always very interested in seeing books being restored. I spent my working life in the printing industry. In every episode that included a restoration or repair of a book, the content was never shown on camera. So, there was no reason to refuse to repair Bob’s joke book, no one was going to display the content or tell the offending joke. But that wasn’t good enough and the book was banned.

It has occurred to me that certain other books may contain content that offends people. Some people, depending on their religious outlook, may find the bible offensive.

Would the BBC refuse to repair or restore that?

When approached about its decision to forbid the repair shop team restoring the Bob Monkhouse joke book, their reply was it was their duty to protect its staff and the public from offensive material.

It is a pity they didn’t think like that when Jimmy Savile was alive.

Thanks for reading.