'Jimmy Savile tarnished my era': Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn's outrage at names of fellow entertainers dragged through the mud following probes into historic sex abuse allegations

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Tony Blackburn has called for lessons to be learnt after historic sex abuse allegations

Tony Blackburn claims disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile 'tarnished' his era after his fellow colleague's names were 'dragged through the mud' during probes into historic sex abuse.

The 72-year-old's long-term employer, the BBC, is still reeling from a string of allegations levelled against former staff - most of them Blackburn's vintage.

Several media personalities were investigated and arrested following the launch of Operation Yewtree, including broadcasters Dave Lee Travis and Rolf Harris.

The probe also exposed abuse by paedophile DJ Savile, who sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter professed his deep shock at the headlines, explaining that most of his colleagues in the industry were 'just working hard' and 'having a good time'. 

'It's upsetting, horrible,' he said. 'I never liked Savile, and I knew there was something about him that was odd but I didn't know what it was. 

'I saw him very rarely but the way he was, you could never have a sensible conversation with him. 

'But it was shocking when the stories came out. It's tarnished that era, and it wasn't really like that. Most of us were just working hard, having a good time.' 

His good friend and fellow DJ, Paul Gambaccini, was also caught up in the scandal after spending a a year under a cloud of suspicion when he was arrested over historical sex offences.

In his case the 65-year-old was accused of having sex with two underage boys, however, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the charges last year.

Blackburn said he is outraged at how Gambaccini was treated and has called for lessons to be learnt.  

He said: 'If somebody has done something wrong they should be punished but I do think there is something appalling going on when someone, anyone, can accuse you of something.

'In Paul's case, he didn't know the people - and your name is just dragged through the mud. I saw him very recently and the fact is that there has been no apology, and he has lost a lot of money and it is not right. You haven't done anything wrong but it sticks. We need to learn something from this.'

Blackburn has remained unequivocally untouched by scandal, and explained: 'That's because I haven't done anything wrong, it's as simple as that,' he says emphatically.

But the DJ, who started his career on pirate station Radio Caroline in 1964, has faced his own controversies after proclaiming he had bedded more than 500 women in his Sixties heyday.

Blackburn said he never liked paedophile DJ Jimmy Savile (pictured), who sexually assaulted staff and patients aged between 5 and 75 over several decades

Rolf Harris and Dave Lee Travis were among Blackburn's former BBC colleagues caught up in the historic sex abuse scandal at the Corporation

He made the boasts in his 2007 autobiography Poptastic! My Life in Radio in which he said he had slept with 250 women – a number which he then doubled five years later in a magazine interview.

The father-of-two, who was born in Surrey and brought up in Bournemouth by his nurse mother and GP father, now admitted: 'It was tacky, it was unnecessary and I wish I hadn't done it.'

It only happened, he maintains, as his autobiography's ghost-writer said they needed a bit more sex, given the lack of drugs and 'rock n roll'. 

Blackburn says lessons need to be learned after his friend and colleague Paul Gambaccini (pictured) had charges against him dropped

'I was quite open about it - I don't see anything wrong, and I never have, if two consenting adults make love that's their business, providing it is all above board. 

'I wasn't that bad, I just had a really good time - but I wish I hadn't written about it quite so honestly as it hurt my mum and dad. It really wasn't clever.'

Blackburn married Robin's Nest actress Tessa Wyatt, mother of his advertising executive son Simon, when he was 30 but she left him after four years when she discovered he had had an affair.

He remarried in 1992, this time time to Debra, a theatrical agent 17 years his junior, and mother to his 18-year-old daughter Victoria, and the family live together in Hertfordshire.

This time he has remained faithful and admits that when he discovered his calls had been intercepted during the phone hacking scandal, he wasn't fazed.

'When all the phone hacking started I was called by the police who told me my phone had been hacked,' he said.

'And I thought "Well, fine. That must have been boring." It didn't bother me as there was nothing to hide. So I never pursued it.'

Three years ago he had to undergo laser eye surgery after he suffered a detached retina when he was mugged by three thugs who tried to steal his mobile phone as he left the BBC.  

'It was like being descended on by a pack of wolves,' he said. 'They knocked me to the ground, but I managed to get at them with my umbrella and I did chase after them even though I had blood pouring down the side of my face. 

'I was on the phone to my wife at the time so she heard it all. It was pretty horrible.

'I did report it to the police, but what could they do? It did shake me. My producer said "they must have really hated your music".'

He has also recently started wearing a hearing aid to correct the creeping hearing loss after spending the last 50 years wearing headphones blasting music into his ears. 

‘You can barely see it, it fits snugly in your ear and there’s just this little clear wire. And they don’t whistle. They’re pretty amazing. Wearing one just sharpens everything up a bit. They’re fantastic little things.’