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Thursday 3 March 2016

Tony Blackburn - my 'interim report'

I can't stand liars me, and no, I'm not referring to Tony Blackburn guys and gals, because I don't know if he's lying or not. I do, however know that Dan Davies, was when he wrote these words
 He's not saying this bright star is Jimmy, but, who else would the reader think it was especially when
 Of course 'we now know'* that the TOTP presenter named in CM's diary, allegedly that is because no one except Vera McAlpine or the metropolitan police, appear to have ever seen it, was Tony Blackburn NOT Jimmy Savile. My first question to Lord Hall the boss at the BBC would be, WHY are we only being told this now ? I would not expect an answer, moreover I do not expect him to issue the apology TB has demanded, why ? because TB has been thrown to the wolves, and it's NOT Jimmy Savile's fault, it's Tony Hall's.
It's his fault because he should have tackled the question of CM as soon as it raised it's ugly head. 

While Exagg news and other corrupt press folk were waiting for the go ahead to publish their dame 'leak', I had already established that it was NOT Savile's name in the diary. I'd concluded that the accused WAS more than likely, Tony Blackburn. It's therefore reasonable to conclude that whoever leaked that draft knew 'A7' was Blackburn. Worse still, the document revealed something a lot much more sinister than an entry in a 15 year old gal's diary. 
It reveals HOW the BBC in 1971 dealt with a complaint from a mother concerned about her daughter after reading her diary. A fact made all the more pertinent when the girl killed herself a few weeks later. 
Mr Blackburn was, we are told, sacked NOT because of anything he may or may not have done 45 years ago. He was sacked, according to Lord Hall because of the evidence he gave to the Smith inquiry, specifically this :
 
From this and chapter 9 in Smith's report, we can fill in at least one blank in Brian Neil's 1972 'interim report' 
 Let's see how the dame details events back then. 'The girl', along with other TOTP 'dollies' were interviewed by the News of the World a month before she died 



The press had been sniffing around the BBC for sometime, as far back as 1969, following tip offs about corruption and sex parties involving pop stars and radio 1 DJ's. Nothing to do with TOTP but a 'wake-up call' according to our dame, that some one (gals) or thing (the BBC), might be in moral danger,
Then came the next 'wake-up call' says dame, the phone call from Mrs M. 
The original 'note' of this call doesn't exist. But it was taken seriously as we can see from a memo sent from a Tony Peston to the BBC solicitor and Billy Cotton head of light entertainment.
Then things get tricky for Tony and/or his agent 
Stay with me guys and gals, we're still in 1971 now, and even back then a question mark loomed over Tony and/or his representative had actually said or remembered about something as recent as a few weeks. He'd have to, not, remember this all over again 42 years later in 2013. 
Now, guys and gals, here's where TB's scapegoating argument gains credence ! Bear in mind that Mrs B only spoke to the papers and the Police AFTER her daughter's death. Her recollection of how her complaint was dealt with a month earlier was somewhat different to Rex Moorfoot who recorded 
Dame wasn't able to ask VB if this was true, so she did the next best thing, she consulted the NOTW dated 4th April 1971
The dame cannot check exactly what Mrs B said to Moorfoot, while his secretary listened in
The dame condemns the BBC's reaction to VB's telephone call despite not knowing what the poor woman actually said. Tony Blackburn rightly feels aggrieved because no one including the Police and coroner's office saw CM's diary entries as anything more than the fantasies of a young lass. 
In all the article's I've been able to access online, one that stands out in terms of going that extra half inch, is CM's local newspaper, the Watford Observer. Amazingly this was published on October 5th 2012 ! The conclusions were wrong but the content is useful
Goodness gracious these guys predecessors were at Claire's inquest in April 1971. The diary was not produced, so where was it ? Does it exist ? because, if I were Tony Blackburn, I'd be very interested to see it 
 
Nice try, wrong bloke
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9974776.Dead_Watford_teen_linked_to_Jimmy_Savile_scandal/

Jimmy's 'sumptuously furnished' London pad ! 
Additional information - see the exchange between me and Bandini in the comments below. The BBC version of what VB said in her chat with Rex M, is that, 'her daughter, after making the accusation, withdrew it'. This doesn't make sense to me, does it make sense to you ? Moorfoot was very careful to cover his back during this telephone conversation, so much so that he had his secretary listen in and sign a written record of Mrs M's satisfaction that 'A7' had been given a 'warning'. One really has to read ALL of this section of the dame's report in order to get the full picture starting from page 22 of ch9
http://downloads.bbci.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/dame_janet_smith_review/savile/chapter_9.pdf

You see it was the press that linked Claire's death to TOTP. As far as I can see, aside from payola there was little to indicate that audience members were in any 'moral danger' from anyone in the BBC until VB told them about her complaint. Indeed, the 'dolly' feature followed an innocent attempt to put more 'sparkle' into the pops by including these dolly dancers ! 
 Was VB happy with that second phone call ? Neither I nor the dame knows, she certainly wasn't happy in the press version of events, but of course, let's not forget her daughter has just died she may even be blaming herself 
Poor Vera, poor Claire ! Shame on those who may have covered their own backs at the expense of the innocents, Jimmy Savile included ! That's all for now guys and gals 

 



























 

 

8 comments:

  1. How in God's name can ANYONE, let alone DJS, write the following with a straight face?

    "This is one reason why I am prepared to rely on the accuracy of the News of the World reports of this matter."

    Regarding Vera McAlpine [VB/Mrs B?] only speaking to the press AFTER Claire's death, we can't really be sure that this is the case. Given that she made that call to the BBC to complain about what she'd supposedly read in the diary - coincidentally in the middle of the NOTW's long campaign against the BBC using 'Dolly Dancers' as a weapon - it is just possible that she was more involved in the 'sting that turned bad'. I guess we'll never know for certain, especially as News International haven't opened up their files to be examined...

    And about that dolly-come-lately & "good friend" of Claire's, Kelly Gold - who remembered she'd been a 'victim' of Savile in the year 2016 & had some information to hand to the DJS Review just after it had already been completed but in time to clamber aboard the Blackburn gravytrain - I was puzzled by her name never having appeared before, and wasted a couple of hours tracking down a video-clip of a dancer said to appear in those pics, and who I had thought was the girl now called 'Kelly Gold'. Over at Moor's sumptuously furnished pad. When they was fab...

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    1. Sorry about VB mrs b etc my head was mashed by 3 oclock this afternoon as for ur point about when VB or Mrs M contacted the papers, we don't know for sure. Her daughter along with others was in the paper in feb 1971 in that 'dolly' feature, that's all we know. I don't know where Larks has got the idea that VB contacted the press before Claire's death ? Happy to be corrected anytime :-)

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    2. Aye, my head's in pieces too, Rabbitaway.

      Personally I find it difficult to imagine that Claire's mother would be in a fit state to provide the NOTW with the following less than a week after the tragedy:

      "Mrs McAlpine’s version of the telephone conversation with Mr Moorfoot as reported in the News of the World on 4 April 1971 shows how her conversation with Mr Moorfoot came over to her. The article quotes Mrs McAlpine as saying:

      “Some time later they rang me back and said they had asked the DJ about it and, as he had denied it,
      there was nothing more to be done. They said that if I wanted to take the matter further I had better ring the man or his agent.”"

      It seems more likely to me that this was 'information' they already had & re-hashed to take account of the situation... but the NOTW journos are just the sort of bastards to doorstep a grieving mother, so who knows?

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    3. Thanks Bandini I have something to add to my blog in order to round things off. In short, the story goes that VB contacted the BBC directly not the press probably shortly after Claire featured in that dolly piece. I could well imagine the gal going home heart set on stardom and maybe something she said (or Did)made her mother read her diary. Must add this above *

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    4. I haven't got all the references to hand any longer but bear in mind that Samantha Claire was another adoptee (Fiona anyone?). What seemed clear was sometimes back then adoptive parents implicitly expected their adoptee to be duly grateful and took more ofence when the child grew up to be unruly and no longer their little pet. The family situation had become fraught and I would guess that if the young woman had been just a few months older she would have left home before her mother could get her hands on that diary. Samantha was siad to be basically earning her living dancing in theatre shows; the TV was her stab at atardom on a grander stage.

      As an aside, I've got ab olde magazine at home that features a 15 year-old actually on the Moulin Rouge stage... it was quite a press story and she had a chaperone until she would be "of age".

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  2. Any significance in the fact that TB has said he knew about the memos in 2012?

    “In fact there is no secret at all about these documents. I was made aware of them in 2012 and, again, when I voluntarily gave evidence to Dame Janet Smith’s enquiry. The evidence which I gave her was with the full knowledge of their existence and contents."

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    1. The bbc will have been mindful of the CM case as soon as the Savile shit hit the fan (Nov 2011) no doubt TB would have been spoken to very early on. Strange when you think he was one of the first to rubbish Savile ! Or maybe not

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  3. Off topic, but whilst I remember (I'm still staggering through this report, and very much looking forward to studying the whizzy-looking pie charts in the appendix).

    There seem to be two clear cases of people contaminating the water somewhat:
    1) A management consultant who heard a rumour about JS and then used it as an example of inappropriate behaviour when talking to staff at the BBC. (DJS 7.9)
    2) A press officer who was sent to check with Fleet Street buddies whether they had anything on JS. (11.36) which someone even points out the danger of (11.42).

    It would seem either could be something close to the source of much of what people felt they knew.

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