That's about that then...

[Satchmo Distel]

That's about that then...

Seems different from the other cases: the witnesses were believable (unlike say Gambo's case) but the magistrates couldn't be sure Fox's behaviour crossed the line into criminality. He took a few liberties (he admits to simulating sex behind a woman's back) but cannot be proven to have been a serial groper.

Conversely, I would think that financially and commercially, Fox is pretty well a ruined man, which the verdict cannot redress, especially given the magistrates' equivocations.

[Bored Of Education]

That's about that then...

treibeis wrote:

BROWN- pissed pants at primary school

Not much of a misdemeanour, that. I shat myself during the first two weeks at primary school and I can't recall Miss Jordan saying, "There, there, treibeis. One day, the future of our country will be in your hands."

And smelling of wee was inevitable during our PE lessons at secondary school, at least in summer. During cricket lessons, the teacher insisted that we wear the box when batting. Not 'a box, but 'the box', as there was only one. So if you were batting at number eleven, you had all sorts down your pants.

As I have red hair, I used to get no end of stick when it came to establishing who'd been shedding their pubes.

I wonder if this is the origin of the "Ginger! You smell of piss" terrace insult.

[Antepli Ejderha]

That's about that then...

Greville Janner avoids justice by dieing.

[Satchmo Distel]

That's about that then...

Tony Blackburn sacked, not because the BBC believes he's guilty of sex offences but because they don't think his evidence to the enquiry tallies with their records. Tony explains it here:

https://twitter.com/tonyblackburn

[Patrick Thistle]

That's about that then...

Summary on 5 Live just now. TB told recent enquiry that he never spoke to original enquiry but other people think he did. All very odd.

[Antepli Ejderha]

That's about that then...

Radio 4's Today said that he had not spoken to the 1971 investigation about the matter that they said he had. There appears to be some wiggle room here.

[diggedy derek]

That's about that then...

Wow, this is huge news for the BBC.

The 5Live discussion shed a bit of light what seems an extremely opaque situation. Roughly speaking, his evidence says there was no real 1971 investigation, right – whereas the BBC say there was one. And it would be no surprise to anyone if the investigation was an off-the-record chat in a woodpannelled office – "what's this all about old boy" – with no records kept.

So I suppose it's a matter of interpretation as to whether an investigation really took place. Or something like that.

[Satchmo Distel]

That's about that then...

The DG himself ordered the sacking so if Blackburn's version is true, it would leave the DG's position very precarious: unfair dismissal of a "national institution" based on crap evidence.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

That's about that then...

Tony Blackburn's sacked for failing to recount a conversation that may or may not have taken place 45 YEARS ago? I can't remember the names of people I worked with 5 years ago.

[Patrick Thistle]

That's about that then...

So 5 Live this evening was all about the big report, including an interview with a man who was sexually assaulted by Saville back in the 70s on the set of Jim'll Fix It.

Seems like the report shows Saville and Stuart Hall benefited from "deference" shown to famous people.

[Satchmo Distel]

That's about that then...

It seems odd, now that the memo had been published, that Blackburn would concoct some conspiracy theory rather than simply say "OK, well, yes, maybe I was interviewed, but it was 45 years ago and I had understandably forgotten."

The memo is also quite ambiguous; it doesn't exactly say that they believed him at the time. It seems more like they're giving the mother the brush-off.

Blackburn's agent of the time also seems not to have defended him 100%.

[diggedy derek]

That's about that then...

This interview with Blackburn is extremely interesting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03ky5js

[Mumpo]

That's about that then...

Is there a link to a transcript anywhere?

[diggedy derek]

That's about that then...

There probably is, though I can't find it – I recommend hearing him in person, as it were, though.

[Satchmo Distel]

That's about that then...

Iain Lee has tweeted that the Beeb are doing a similar rewriting of history over his own sacking.

https://twitter.com/iainlee

[Sits]

That's about that then...

That's horrible. Those poor women.

[tee rex]

That's about that then...

1974 was the first UK election I was aware of. I put an orange Liberal sticker in my window (look, it was East Devon, Labour didn't exist, OK?). Can't remember if it was February or October - might have been the latter, kid sees a bandwagon, jumps on.

About a third of that Liberal parliamentary party was: Jeremy Thorpe, Cyril Smith, and Clement Freud. They got six million votes. Gentlemen all.

All this at a time when Britain's top brass thought the greatest threat to the public was the crypto-communist called Harold Wilson.

[MsD]

That's about that then...

Yes, the Liberal Party were seen as the Terribly Nice and Decent Party for a long time, weren't they?

[Amor de Cosmos]

That's about that then...

Even my Mum was a member for a couple of years.

It's true that in the mid-60s the Young Liberals appeared to be the most dynamic of the three major parties youth wings, by some distance.

[Borracho]

That's about that then...

Cliff Richard has had all the charges against him dropped.

Wonder where he goes from here. His reputation has been absolutely destroyed.

[Mumpo]

That's about that then...

Morocco?

[Guy Profumo]

That's about that then...

Narrow boat on Birmingham canal basin, surely?

[Jah Womble]

That's about that then...

Well - as with those now-skirted editions of TOTP - I suspect they'll archive it and never air it again.

[N est à?]

That's about that then...

That's an interesting point, not just with regards to the BBC: what about the fawning tabloid coverage in the days after his death?

Saying 'we didn't know' doesn't cut it, because when it all did finally come out, tabloid hacks past and present were falling over themselves to confirm that it was common fleet street knowledge, and it was only libel fears that had stopped them publishing while he was alive.

[N est à?]

That's about that then...

Not sure there's any legal requirement for the BBC to maintain recordings of their programmes- there probably should be, now that storage capacity isn't such an issue. I wonder if the British Library does something along these lines.