Today another dead radio 1 disc jockey's name was dragged through the mud by the press. This time it's Tommy Vance, but where have our brave gutter hacks been all this time ? That information has been available to all of us since June 2014.
Must check out that mirror FOI, see if the contents of the response is any different from that obtained by the telegraph. Anyways, that reference to Tommy Vance in Brian Neil's report had me wondering, could he be 'Mr T' ?
Before I tell you about the, getting less illusive by the day, Mr T, let's refresh ourselves with what Neil found in 1971.
The reason Vance's named has not been blacked out is no doubt because he died in 2005 so his name like Harry Goodwin's before him, is no longer worth protecting !
Here's that anonymous letter, penned on BBC headed paper, from someone who claims to be a BBC radio 1 producer ! I'm not convinced are you ?
**
Tommy Vance still has friends, he also has a son who is not happy with the latest yewtree ish press revelation. Note the reference to Neils' 1972 conclusions
Which brings me to 'Mr T' ! I came across 'Mr T' a while back and I wasn't quite sure how to include him in previous blogs. You see, I found myself wondering, could he be Tony Blackburn ? No ! Could it be Tommy Vance, or could it be another disc jockey not even called 'T' ? after all, it seems a bit daft to protect a man's identity using one of his initials. There can't have been that many BBC disc jockeys called T ....
I recommend you get yourselves on the press archives guys and gals, the coverage of the Janie Jones/Payola trials are a hoot, even Kenny Lynch gets a mention
Is it only dead men whose reputations are up for grabs ? What about the others who are 'thought to be still alive' ? What indeed
On a lighter note - Janie Jones wrote an autobiography in 1993, oh to have been a fly on the wall in that police cell !
Needless to say Ms Jones never mentioned Sir Jimmy in her 1993 masterpiece. Meanwhile in the mirror in March 1971
First off, thanks Bandini, your information took me in one direction, but as usual, I got way-laid and here's where I arrived.
'Transcripts' ? She has to mean transcripts of the recordings made by the News of the world but, how did she get these ? Remember Brian Neil's lament back in 1971 ?
The news of the world would not assist Neil, and neither could the police
The dame concludes that the BBC back then, received a number of what she refers to as 'wake-up calls', that dark deeds were afoot, the first of these occurring in the late 1960's. Here's where I find the answer to my confusion as to why producer Stanley Dorfman made this statement in 2012.
Police had interviewed BBC staff ? He's clearly referring to an investigation by the BBC itself into claims made in an anonymous letter involving Harry Goodwin in 1969. I know this now because the dame mentions a contemporaneous memo supplied to Neil in 1971. He was, at this time investigating the contents of a series of press reports the first of which appeared on the 14th February "Scandal at the BBC" (see payola blogs).
No mention of anything involving Top of the Pops until a month later
Now, here's where things get real interesting guys and gals. You see the same paper had published a seemingly 'trivial' (dame's word) article entitled 'secrets of the pop top dollies' featuring Clare M among others (covered earlier here)
http://rabbitaway.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/tony-blackburn-my-interim-report.html
The dame has already said that HG had had some kind of investigation back in 1969. Goodwin spoke to the news of the world undercover boys sometime in mid/late 1970. Neil even describes him as an 'informant' and the dame has seen the transcriptions and concluded that he did indeed make the claims he later denied making. All this indicates to me that the press were paying particular attention to Top of the Pops and that the interviews with the top pop dollies was nothing more than a stunt to extract information about Goodwin etc.
Am I making sense guys and gals ?
Here's where she refers to the 1969 memo ch 9 p20
I have to admit, her next bit made me smile
Now don't get mixed up because dame is reciting events from 1969 as per the memo sent to Brian Neil two years later. It seems that, after the sting that wasn't, the case was closed and no further action took place. Note that Neil later describes Goodwin as having mistook the BBC investigations team for the police, so maybe that's where Stanley Dorfman came up with that. Who knows ? so far I haven't seen any reference to a police investigation in dames report. Let me know if you find it !
Note how cautious her predecessor was during his examination of the HG evidence. Of course he didn't have the benefit of seeing the notw transcripts
'alleged to have been made' - from article
The notw demanded Goodwin be sacked
Back to the dame's memo again because I'm trying to work out just who might have reported HG in 1969.
Cotton did not want Goodwin to go, then came the undercover op that went nowhere
Amazing how specific some reports can be when they have been supplied with the information/evidence they need ? Goodwin was recorded by the press in November 1970
I doubt Brian Neil heard the following in 1971
More specifics, on the 25th March 1971 in response to questioning
Of course, the matter could be settled if whoever supplied those transcripts could supply the rest of us with the actual recordings.
Now, here's a thought guys and gals, while on the subject of recollections, I wonder did the dame ask Tony Blackburn about those dressing room tales. I mean, one would assume he and quite a few others would have been of such goings on had they actually been going on that is.
Here's something else to ponder, IF Harry had been making porno movies etc etc in his dressing room, why the need 'fuck "em outside there". I just threw that one in to amuse you because I know y'all know how big TVC in Wood lane is or was. Maybe whoever wrote got mixed up with Lime Grove. After all, that's where the anonymous informant (reporter) got his headed paper isn't it ?
Lots was going on in 1969 as it happens. Next time guys and gals
Addendum 22.24 9th March
As Bandini has quite rightly pointed out, it seems that it was the Daily Mail that carried the feature 'Secrets of the top pop Dollies' not the notw. I naturally assumed it was the latter as dame hadn't said which 'newspaper' it was see P16/92 here
http://downloads.bbci.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/dame_janet_smith_review/savile/chapter_9.pdf
It's strange that she does not reveal the name of the other gals interviewed on the 2nd February. After all, the Mail did
http://rabbitaway.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/sex-death-and-top-of-pops.html
I can't take this plot getting any thicker tonight ! I'll come back to it later ! Thanks again folks, you are all gems !
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
