"Those who know, do not speak

Incredibly disturbing reports from the UK about serial sex offender and pedophile, Jimmy Saville. The amazing thing is people knew, lots of people.  Even I had heard unsubstantiated reports as far back as the 80s that it was well known in the  showbusiness world that Jimmy Saville was a pedophile. We also used to hear about George Michael being gay long before it came out but show people keep their secrets it seems.   These rumors didn't really have proof attached but the amount and frequency suggested a lot of truth to them. It sickens me to say it now but the culture of silence is all too easy to explain.  

 

Watch the clip when Dr Sue Proctor describes incredibly disturbing evidence of Savile's necrophilia

While at Beaufort School as a pre-pubescent teen I joined the school brass band led by conductor and Religious Instruction teacher, Kenneth Cook.  His nickname at school amongst the boys was 'Bummer Cook - there were endless stories of Mr Cook inviting boys to his beach hut in Mudeford to play quoits. Never girls despite this being a mixed school. The stories from the multiple occasions when these invitations were made and accepted were always roughly the same. A middle aged man invites a group of impressionable boys to the beach, they play a seemingly harmless game, run around on the beach, dive into the sea and then a slightly creepy invitation to 'get out of those wet trunks' boys was always made. Grooming? Harmless?  We cannot know. If any boys were abused their shame and confusion probably meant that they did not even tell their friends.  Further since Cook's predatory nature and nickname were common knowledge amongst the entire school [at least the kids anyway]. I think this led to a general belief amongst us children that the responsible adults and teachers at the school must have known and therefore condoned his behavior.

And so it continued for years. 

Now it transpires that Saville's pedophile tendancies were perhaps put into the shade by his necrophilia, elder abuse. He ravaged young girls, young boys, old people, prisoners, injured hospital patients, and even corpses in fact his sick palette and desires may never be fully explained or discovered.

He believed himself above the law and many powerful people in positions of authority in Government and the BBC either unwittingly but sometimes in full knowledge of his crimes colluded, aided and abetted his depravity.

Rape and sexual violence survivors must be safe to make their accusations without fear of being ostracized, they must feel that their stories will be listened to and that action is taken.

I found Jimmy Saville and even my old bandmaster creepy and avoided any contact with men and predatory types - I may have been one of the lucky ones. Just as Saville had some many victims running to the hundreds so I believe it is true of almost all of these depraved and disgusting individuals until caught they do not stop abusing. Whenever someones hard drive is found to contain disturbing sexual images of children it always seems like these are from a collection of thousands of perverse and illicit material.

There is more.  Visitors to BBC Broadcasting House where Savile commited some of his crimes features a statue of Prospero and Ariel by the Sculptor/Typographer Eric Gill.  Gill chronicled his sick attacks on not only his children but also the family dog in his journals. Take a look now at the Ariel/Propero statue which features a naked child between Propero's open legs: 

 Doesn't seem so harmless or classical now that you know that Eric Gill was a sick individual?  Why is Ariel naked? Why a young boy? Ariel is a spirit that Shakespeare does not reveal to be either male or female via Prospero's words.  Eric Gill suggestively puts a naked young boy between the legs of a Prospero whose right knee protrudes while a submissive Ariel leans on his thigh.

What about Eric Gill's Piping to the Children sculpture which features a naked adult piper surrounded by children?
http://www.the-big-picture.org.uk/wp/?page_id=10092http://www.the-big-picture.org.uk/wp/?page_id=10092

..according to his biographer, Fiona MacCarthy, Gill’s personal diaries described how he sexually abused his own children, had an incestuous relationship with his sister and performed sexual acts on his dog. 

I can no longer use Gill Sans which Eric Gill designed and is one of my favorite typefaces/fonts.  I can't listen to records by Gary Glitter, R Kelly and I have a hard time with Michael Jackson too.  If Hitler had been a really good painter could we look at an exhibition of his work without remembering the atrocities of the war?

I think I stand on the side of not celebrating these creeps. While I am vehemently opposed to censorship I think that lines can be crossed.