How Jimmy Savile fixed it for Maggie

Although best known as a cigar-chomping disc-jockey, forever raising money for charity, it appears that Sir Jimmy Savile is, in fact, a much valued behind-the-scenes advisor to the royal family and Lady Thatcher.

In an interview in this month's Esquire magazine, Savile, 81, (pictured) reveals how the Prince of Wales asked him help keep Sarah Ferguson, then married to Prince Andrew, out of trouble. At the time, the Duchess's relationship with the Texan oil heir, Steve Wyatt, was raining embarrassment down on the royals.

Savile says: "I was helping her not get publicity rather than to get publicity. To cool things down. It was all part of my odd ways of going on.
The thing about me is I get things done and I work deep cover."

Many will be more surprised by the veteran broadcaster's intimacy with Lady Thatcher. He claims to have spent "11 consecutive Christmases at Chequers" with the Iron Lady.

"I knew the real woman and the real woman was something else," he says. "The times I spent up there [Chequers] ­ Denis, me and her, shoes off in front of the fire. There was no conversation really. Anyone with that sort of entree might be punting for any number of things, but I hardly said a word. She tippled to that."

Roger Ordish, a BBC producer and co-creator of Savile's long-running TV show Jim'll Fix It, said: "Jimmy has this strange authority without being a person in authority. He is definitely unique."