Sharp-brained enigma behind tracksuit image

The public image was one of dyed hair, chunky jewellery, tracksuits, Havana cigars and inane patter – yet behind it lay the sharp brain of a cool-headed Yorkshireman who was a member of Mensa.

His success was founded on an overweening belief in his own abilities and a tremendous energy, which took him from the Yorkshire minefields to TV stardom, and royal palaces.

Charities have much to thank him for, as he raised more than £30m, including £12m to rebuild the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville.

Sir Jimmy Savile was born in Leeds in 1926, the youngest of seven children of a poor bookmaker’s clerk. Having survived pneumonia as a baby he again narrowly escaped death as a teenager in his first job as a miner when an underground blast brought down the coal face on his back damaging his spine. But through sheer grit and determination he was able to throw away his walking sticks after three years.

He immediately latched on to the then unheard-of-idea of taking a wind-up gramophone to entertain people at dances and claimed to have set up the world’s first disco in Leeds in 1948.

His was asked to move on to radio where he rapidly acquired national fame, first with Radio Luxembourg, then pirate radio ship Caroline, and finally with BBC Radio 1.

On television he became a stalwarts of BBC’s Top of the Pops, presenting the first and final programmes. In the 1970s he started a 20-year run as host of Jim’ll Fix It, working miracles for more than 1,500 children, and also became synonymous with a number of TV campaigns and adverts.

Sir Jim’s earnings were substantial and he owned a fleet of luxury cars and at least eight homes, including flats in Regent’s Park, Bournemouth, Leeds and Scarborough. But he gave away nine-tenths of his income to two charitable trusts.