Jimmy Savile: Tributes flood in
Sir Jimmy Savile: "A larger-than-life character and an inspiration to many."
Tributes are being paid to DJ, TV presenter and charity fundraiser Sir Jimmy Savile, who has died aged 84.
Sir Jimmy, one of the most famous names on British TV and radio in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, died on Saturday.
Tributes have come from such figures as the Prince of Wales, who said he was "saddened" to hear of Sir Jimmy death.
Details of how the broadcaster died are not yet known, but he was recently in hospital with pneumonia. His nephews said he died quietly in his sleep.
Alan Franey, former Chief Executive of Broadmoor Hospital
"I spent a lot of time with him and would say I knew him probably as well as anybody else knew him," Mr Franey told BBC 5 live.
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It was a tough upbringing and he never forgot his roots”
"I spoke to him last Wednesday and asked him how he was, and he said he was feeling very tired and short of breath. Mentally, he was very alert. But he said to me: 'I'm coming to the end of the tunnel.'"
Mr Franey ran marathons with Sir Jimmy to raise money for causes including Broadmoor, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire and Leeds General Infirmary.
"Jimmy would spend time going round the hospital [at Broadmoor] talking to staff and talking to patients, and if he could do any fundraising he would do so," he said.
"He spent a lot of his life involved in raising [money for] charity and was passionate about helping people. Jimmy had a very normal upbringing but it was a tough upbringing and he never forgot his roots. He felt that he was in a situation where he could raise funds for people using his position in showbiz and he successfully did that."
David Hamilton, DJ
"We were together at Radio 1 in the '70s and the station was full of eccentric personalities, but he was certainly the most flamboyant of all," Hamilton told BBC 5 live.
"One of the essential things about Jimmy was that he was a man of the people. He knew his audience, he was very much in touch with his audience. I think the public were his family.
"Probably of all the DJs I worked with, I knew him less than any of the others. He kept himself very much to himself. He didn't drink so he wasn't the sort of man who would go down to the pub and have a bevvy with you."
Paul Bruce, who appeared on Jim'll Fix It
Sir Jimmy fixed it for Paul to drive an HGV lorry in 1979. "It was every child's dream to get on that programme," he said.
"It was fantastic to meet the guy and go on the programme, and I had 15-17 million people watching me on a Saturday evening. He was a great guy."
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