In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile
Jul 2014 · Hachette UK
4.7star
19 reviewsreport
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592
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About this ebook
A major source for the BBC drama The Reckoning
Winner of the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2015 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the James Tait Black Prize
Dan Davies has spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death. In the course of his quest, he spent days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough, lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2. Dan thought his quest had come to an end in October 2011 when Savile's golden coffin was lowered into a grave dug at a 45-degree angle in a Scarborough cemetery. He was wrong. In the last two and a half years, Dan has been interviewing scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Jimmy was alive. What he has discovered was that his instincts were right all along and behind the mask lay a hideous truth. Jimmy Savile was not only complex, damaged and controlling, but cynical, calculating and predatory. He revelled in his status as a Pied Piper of youth and used his power to abuse the vulnerable and underage, all the while covering his tracks by moving into the innermost circles of the establishment.
Winner of the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2015 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the James Tait Black Prize
Dan Davies has spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of seven years before his death. In the course of his quest, he spent days and nights at a time quizzing Savile at his homes in Leeds and Scarborough, lunched with him at venues ranging from humble transport cafes to the Athenaeum club in London and, most memorably, joined him for a short cruise aboard the QE2. Dan thought his quest had come to an end in October 2011 when Savile's golden coffin was lowered into a grave dug at a 45-degree angle in a Scarborough cemetery. He was wrong. In the last two and a half years, Dan has been interviewing scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Jimmy was alive. What he has discovered was that his instincts were right all along and behind the mask lay a hideous truth. Jimmy Savile was not only complex, damaged and controlling, but cynical, calculating and predatory. He revelled in his status as a Pied Piper of youth and used his power to abuse the vulnerable and underage, all the while covering his tracks by moving into the innermost circles of the establishment.
Ratings and reviews
4.7
19 reviews
James Holloway
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May 14, 2017
A great and obviously tough read. Davies takes a similar approach Louis Theroux yet it plays out over a much longer time frame with him trying to build up a complete picture of who Savile is / was.
1 person found this review helpful
Roy Jeffs
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May 28, 2018
A fascinating insight into the world of not only JS but the entertainment
business through the years. How people were manipulated, threatened and
duped by JS is despicable to say the least. A well presented account of his
life by Dan Davies.
2 people found this review helpful
John Urey
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November 6, 2015
Terrific, engrossing from the first through to the last page, this book is a must read!!
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Dan Davies is a journalist, author and editor with more than twenty years' experience as a senior staffer and freelance contributor on a wide variety of magazines, newspapers and websites. Twice shortlisted as BSME Magazine Writer of the Year, he has been Deputy Editor and Acting Editor of Esquire, Editor of Esquire Weekly, a Features Editor at the Mail on Sunday, Deputy Editor of Jack magazine, and a feature writer for the Guardian Guide, Live Magazine, The Journal on MrPorter.com and many others.
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