McCartney: 'There was always something suspect about Savile'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir Paul McCartney has become one of the first rock stars to speak about Jimmy Savile and the sexual climate of the 1960s and 1970s.
Few rock stars have said anything about their behaviour at the time, and the Savile revelations. Now the pop icon has given his thoughts, and spoken about The Beatles' friendship with Savile, in an interview with i, to be published in full tomorrow.
Sir Paul told the paper that in The Beatles' early days they were close to Savile, and travelled with him. Later at the height of Beatlemania, Savile compered their Christmas shows, but the band members "always thought there was something a little bit suspect" about him.
"It's very difficult to talk about it," Sir Paul said. "We knew Jimmy... We were coming back from a gig and he came in our van over the Pennines, we gave him a lift. We dropped him off at his place outside his house and we said, 'Can we come in for a coffee?' and he said, 'Oh no, not tonight lads'.
"When he'd gone w e thought 'Why doesn't he let us in, what is it?' because most people would have let us in that we gave a lift to. So we always thought there was something a little bit suspect."
Sir Paul also spoke about the sexual mores of the period: "It was a much more open scene – you know free love. The other aspect of course is that we, though not quite Jimmy, we were of the age of the girls, we were all young...
"The closer we were in age of course the less it seemed to matter. We knew with under-16s it was illegal, so we didn't do it."
Sir Paul said that for The Beatles: "There was a definite no-no involved in under-age kids. Hey listen, we didn't have to worry. There were plenty of over-16-year-olds."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments