Terry Wogan: 'Talk about Jimmy Savile swept BBC'

Sir Terry: ‘Nothing was done’ (BBC)

Veteran television and radio star Sir Terry Wogan has told how widespread rumours about Jimmy Savile used to sweep the BBC but nobody did anything about them.

The Children in Need host said he feared the Savile saga had "poisoned" the BBC's reputation. Describing him as talentless, he agreed Savile was "creepy", adding: "I've talked to people and not one has said: 'I really liked him.' "

Sir Terry, 75, made his opinion clear in an interview with The Times, published yesterday. He told the paper: "I was sitting at a table having lunch and Savile was sitting one up from me, and also up from me was Jean Rook [Express columnist]. And Jimmy Savile got up to go to the loo, and she looked across at me and said: 'When are they going to expose him?' I said: 'That's your job.' And nobody ever did."

Savile died aged 84 in 2011, and victims of his sexual assaults, previously living in fear – and who could total more than 450 – began to come forward.

Sir Terry added: "He had no talent, except for bombast and self-promotion."