Jimmy Savile, the BBC and creeps in showbiz

Hidden scandal: Jimmy Savile, when he was made OBE in 1972 (Getty Images)

This piece is causing an almighty stir. The brilliant Andrew O'Hagan - no relation to our own dear hero, Simon - has written a long and compelling reflection on how, as he says, "There's something creepy about British light entertainment and there always has been".

As he so accurately notes: "The public made Jimmy Savile. It loved him. It knighted him. The Prince of Wales accorded him special rights and the authorities at Broadmoor gave him his own set of keys. A whole entertainment structure was built to house him and make him feel secure. That’s no one’s fault: entertainment, like literature, thrives on weirdos, and Savile entered a culture made not only to tolerate his oddness but to find it refreshing. We can’t say so. We can’t know how to admit it because we don’t know who we are."