Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 October 2012 13:33:21
I am a child of the 80s. Each Saturday evening, me, mum and dad would visit my paternal grandfather (God rest his soul; he died in 1993). Jim'll Fix it was my favourite programme and I would wait impatiently for the football scores to finish so it would start. I could sing the theme tune word for word! Me and my friends would think of things we could write in about that could be fixed for us, or our parents! One young clarinetist got to play with Emma Johnson, who is a well known soloist on the instrument. I was envious, but I didn't have any more confidence then than I do now, so I guess I felt I wasn't good enough.
This viewing was the highlight of my week. The events of the last few weeks are things that despite all the programmes I see, I have still not got straight in my head. There was disbelief to begin with; his amazing charity work scoring highly with someone like me, but now it is just shock and a certain amount of anger, particularly as his philanthropy served to cover up a lot of his behaviour. Charity work and fundraising should be done out of a desire to help, not to serve your own ends. it's taken me several weeks to get to a point where I felt I could put this into words suitable for posting. At Christmas last year I watched the Jim'll Fix it programme presented by Shane Richie, and the rest of the tributes now appearing to be the programming that would've had to be rearranged if the Newsnight report had been run. I loved it all, and as someone whose charity work forms a very important part of her life, I admired him for what he did. It is true that joe public didn't know the truth; those of us who were born from 1980 onwards, as Paul Gambaccini pointed out on the Panorama special last night, but I cannot help feeling shellshocked by what has happened and has been revealed. For those who have spoken out because you suffered at his hands, you have been brave to do so, as the image of a man who knew that while he was alive he was seemingly above reproach, is the one that is now appearing. It sticks in my throat, and is very difficult to come to terms with.