RADIO presenter Mike Read says the Jimmy Savile scandal has “tainted” the history of Top of the Pops.
The former programme presenter, who lives in Henley, was named in Dame Janet Smith’s report on how the BBC dealt with the disgraced paedophile.
The document identified missed opportunities by the corporation to prevent Savile sexually assaulting and raping numerous victims over five decades.
Read, who was a Radio 1 DJ from 1978 to 1991, was one of 775 people spoken to about Savile, who died in 2011 without facing prosecution.
The report said Mr Read had heard talk about “Jimmy and his young ladies” but he had never given any thought to what age the expression “young ladies” implied.
Read told the Henley Standard: “I don’t want to keep talking about it because it has tainted that Top of the Pops and Radio 1 thing.
“I never really knew him. He was a cartoon character — none of us knew him.
“Most of the time of he was not there. People make the mistake and think we were all there as a gang but it did not work like that. You went in, did your show and went home.”
He said the BBC interviewed everyone who worked there “because they had to”.
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