Practically Classics Forum

Good Bye Sir Jimmy...........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15507374

Poor Jim couldn't fix it to reach his birthday on Monday . Can't think of him being as good as 85 .

Sad loss, despite him never answering my Fix It letter.

84 is a damn good innings.
I got a reply to my letter thanking me for writing in. He didn't fix it for me to have a life size lego copy of myself though.

rip jim..

A unique person - I suspect many charities and Stoke Mandeville will miss his gifts and work that he did for them.

http://www.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/Defau ... ang-EN.htm

For an NHS hospital to put that on their site says a lot about the man.

I well remember the first episode of TOTP - and the "madman" in charge of it! I read somewhere that he used to stay with Mrs Thatcher on occasion - and argued with her!!

I think he used to be invited to Chequers for Christmas

He regularly took part in the Great North Run until comparatively recently, but rather than run the 13 miles like the rest of the field, it's generally believed that the crafty old devil used to run only as far as the first Metro station along the route, then he'd duck down into there, board a Metro train and leave the train at either Chichester or Bede Metro station, which put him within a couple of miles of the finish.

It was a mark of the affection that people - Louis Theroux excepted perhaps - had for the man that nobody actually cared that he'd effectively cheated and they all stumped up the sponsorship money anyway.

Listening to this Morning's DLT show on the car wireless on the way to today's car-related event, it was clear from his voice and from some of the blubbery music he played that DLT was genuinely saddened by Sir Jimmy's passing.

Oddly enough, the Antiques Roadshow was just on and someone had a programme for a concert (I think it was organised by NME) dated around 1966. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis Group (And others) were listed. At the bottom of one of the pages, was a photo and a paragraph about Jimmy Saville.

I read his autobiography about 30 years back.

I think the good works for Stoke Mandeville came about because he had works down the mines as a Bevin Boy during WW2. While there he was struck by a runaway coal tub and spent 18 months flat on his back with spinal injuries. For a while it was touch and go whether he would walk again.

Farewell to another part of my childhood.