The legendary DJ and TV celebrity, Jimmy Saville has died. The 84 year-old passed away at his home in Leeds earlier today according to BBC news reports.
Savile - with his trademark cigar, loud tracksuit and blingtastic jewellery - was one of the most iconic TV personalities of his generation. The Yorkshire man was the first DJ (and also the last) to present the seminal BBC music show, Top of the Pops, and he copperfastened his fame - and his reputation as an all-round good guy, with his TV show, Jim'll Fix It.
But Saville was difficult to define or pigeonhole. Born in Leeds in 1926, the youngest of seven children, lived a wild and varied life having been a miner, a wrestler, a cycle racer, a dancehall manager, a one-man charity gang, a member of Mensa and the man who could make your childhood dreams come true.
"If you look at the athletics of it, I've done over 300 professional bike races, 212 marathons and 107 pro fights," he once told the Guardian newspaper, adding that he lost 35 of his first 35 fights. "No wrestler wanted to go back home and say a long-haired disc jockey had put him down. So from start to finish I got a good hiding. I've broken every bone in my body. I loved it."
In 1971 Jimmy Savile was awarded an OBE and in 1990 was knighted for his services.
Police were called to his home in Roundhay, Leeds, at 12.10pm today, where they discovered his body. He had been admitted to hospital suffering from a bout of pneumonia in September.
He would have celebrated his 85th birthday on Monday.
