Sex Pistol John Lydon: Blowing whistle on Jimmy Savile got me banned from BBC

John Lydon says many young girls taking part in Top of the Pops in the 1970s told him about their encounters with Jimmy Savile but were too afraid to report him themselves. Photo / AP
John Lydon says many young girls taking part in Top of the Pops in the 1970s told him about their encounters with Jimmy Savile but were too afraid to report him themselves. Photo / AP

When comedian Ronnie Corbett died in March he was mourned by millions, none more surprising, perhaps, than John Lydon, aka former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten.

“He did this punk spoof when he was younger,” says Lydon, “and the image of him and Ronnie Barker in punk gear was absurd but very funny. I ran into him a few years back at the Comedy Awards and I had to say hello, even though he looked surprised.

“He said, ‘You’re not angry with me then?’, and I said, ‘Of course not. I loved you to death, silly!’ Humour’s always been one of the major influences for me,” he adds. “I don’t take myself too seriously.”

Jimmy Savile. Photo / AP
Jimmy Savile. Photo / AP

For a man described in the 70s as “the worst threat to our kids since Hitler”, a sense of humour has proved a valuable asset to Lydon. Though in his youth spiky-haired and rotten of teeth (hence the stage name), the John Lydon of today is incredibly warm and dentally magnificent thanks to the orthodontic skills of his adoptive Californian home.

He also laughs far more than someone who once sang of being an antichrist should. He’s in Britain on a UK tour with Public Image Ltd, the band he formed after the Sex Pistols. “I love it,” he says. “I love that up-close-and-personal contact. And I’m alive! Who on earth would have predicted that?”

Certainly others in his orbit haven’t fared as well. Fellow Sex Pistol Sid Vicious died in 1979 from a heroin overdose at 21 after being charged with the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, while Malcolm McLaren, the Pistols’ manager once dubbed “the most evil man alive” by Lydon, died six years ago from cancer.
“I felt sad when Malcolm died,” he says. “He was rather silly, but so what? The world needs silly people. I still miss Sid too and always will.”

It doesn’t take long to realise that John Lydon is a bit of a softie. His entertaining appearance on I’m A Celebrity… in 2004 did much to alter people’s preconceptions of him before he stormed off the show.

The reasons why weren’t clear, but he later claimed the producers had refused to let him know his wife Nora’s flight had landed safely in Australia, where the show is filmed. “Years before, Nora and I had been booked on the flight brought down by the Lockerbie bomb,” he says, “and it was only because Nora hadn’t packed her bag in time that we didn’t get on it.

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