BBC Radio legend ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton opened up about his early years when he first encountered the disgraced presenter Jimmy Savile. The legendary host, 85, currently fronts his own show on Boom Radio but for several years he was a regular across Radio 1.

In a candid new interview, Hamilton admitted he and his fellow colleagues enjoyed the camaraderie on the radio but there was one presenter who avoided the team - Savile.

The DJ said Savile showed his true colours, who he described as a "loner" and claimed rumours swirled about the television personality and charity fundraiser, who was later uncovered as one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.

“He saw himself as above the rest of us – he was not part of the team,” Hamilton remarked.

“He was very much a loner. He did his programmes away from the studios. We only ever saw him on high days and holidays."

Hamilton suggested Savile was untouchable at the height of his fame.

He added to the Telegraph: “If I had gone to the controller – remember, he [Savile] was arguably the biggest star – and said, ‘I believe that Jimmy Savile is a paedophile’, he probably would have sacked me."

Hamilton admitted while he "had no evidence", Savile proved "clever at ingratiating himself in the right places".

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He added Savile did not have single friend among the other DJs.

Savile was one of Britain's biggest stars, who was known for tea-time TV favourites like Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It as well as stints on BBC Radio 1.

Following his death in 2011, he was exposed as a prolific predatory sex offender and paedophile, with abuse spanning decades and involving hundreds of victims.

Figures from the music industry and TV world later said they heard rumours about Savile's behaviour. The abuse was thought to have begun in the mid-1940s, when he was in his late teens or early twenties, and lasted until 2009, two years before his death.