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Paul Ellis / AFP - Getty Images, file
British broadcaster Stuart Hall arrives at Preston Magistrates Court in northwest England on Jan. 7.
LONDON -- A BBC sports commentator and entertainer -- so popular that members of Britain's royal family once took part in his game show -- has been charged with raping a woman and indecently assaulting girls as young as nine, according to police.
Stuart Hall, 83, who was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 2012 for services to broadcasting and charity, was arrested Tuesday morning after going to a police station voluntarily. He had covered soccer for BBC Radio 5 Live until recently.
The Associated Press noted the allegations had deepened "concerns about sex abuse by top BBC personalities decades ago."
In 1999, more than 50 British lawmakers signed a motion in parliament to congratulate Hall for 40 years in television with one, Tom Pendry, describing him as an “icon with the youth of today.”
Hall, famed for laughing hysterically, has commentated on soccer matches since the 1950s. He is known for his off-the-wall approach to covering the sport.
He also hosted the comedy game show “It’s a Knockout” in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1987, four members of the U.K. royal family – Prince Andrew, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sarah, Duchess of York -- took part in a one-off version of the show for charity, which was hosted by Hall. Stars such as Meatloaf, John Travolta and John Cleese also participated.
In a statement Tuesday, Lancashire Constabulary said Hall, of Wilmslow in Cheshire, England, was alleged to have raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976.
“The indecent assault offences are alleged to have been committed between 1967 and 1986 and to involve 10 girls aged between 9 and 16 years,” the statement said.
Hall was given bail Tuesday and is due to appear before a court in Preston on Feb. 7.
In December, police said Hall had been charged with three counts of indecent assault.
For 20 years, Jimmy Savile's children's show was a highlight of Saturday night family TV on the BBC. But now, British police say 300 people have come forward with claims that Savile abused them during his 60-year broadcasting career. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.
The charges against Hall come amid a string of claims that famous Britons committed sexual offenses, mostly during the 1960s and 1970s.
These came to light after it emerged that the late Jimmy Savile, who was one of Britain’s top entertainers for decades, was a prolific sex offender.
Earlier this month, police released a report cataloging more than 50 years of rapes and indecent assaults, saying he had committed at least 214 sex crimes against victims as young as 8.
Like Hall, Savile was also honored by the British queen, receiving a knighthood.
A number of other high-profile figures have been questioned by police, including former glam rock singer Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr, who both deny any wrongdoing.
Related:
BBC legend Jimmy Savile committed at least 214 sex crimes, police say
'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks the UK
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It appears that the BBC entertainment division uses the notorious casting crib. Freaks.
i dont know why anyone would be proud of the police for cracking this case. from everything ive read the last year about this, the cops knew all about it, but were paid off by savile. now that hes dead, they can finally look like heroes. its a joke.
I have a serious issue with all the charges that are being allowed to be filed some 40, 50 years after the fact. After people are dead so they can't defend themselves. Even the priest case here in the States I'm sorry most of it felt like people just looking for a payday at someone elses expense. If you can't report the crime when it happened you shouldn't be allowed to report it after all evidence that a crime even took place is destroyed. They have no way of even proving that a crime happened because that evidence would have been destroyed not to long after the alleged crime happened.
What an idiotic headline this is! Wow, what are his "royal" links?
Those bloody British TV Royalty! They can't seem to keep their wankers to themselves.
It seems when England came over to inhabit the New World they brought God and pedophilia with them. The Church as we know it came from Europe. Looks like little boy sex did too.
Another "to big to fail" man, much like Sandusky, who was allowed to get away with rape for many, many years because authorities continue to marginalize women and children complaining of crimes against them. When will you wake up. This apathy towards women and children victims is a world wide epidemic among law enforcement.
Robert Duckworth, what "church" came from England? There was one in Virginia, the Anglican church and was the officially recognized church in the Virginia colony. The Roman Catholic church did not come by way of England. The Anglican church gave way to the Episcopal church. I have not heard of any pedophilia associated with the Episcopal church. Ignorance is bliss, huh? Too many people think "don't confuse me with the facts. My mind is already made up."
Rape is hard enough to prove right after it happens, how do they are they going to manage to prove he did anything when they happened so many years ago?
The BBC is falling apart. I just heard a store on The Strand that had someone report that Walt Disney was born in the south. WRONG! Walt was born and raised in Chicago!
BBC - Buggering Beautiful Children for 50 years.
The BBC and the Royal Family have long been involved in child rape and pedophilia. That's why so many of these stories which are common knowledge have been covered up. It's exactly like the catholic church and child/priest sex.
Can you provide some facts to this allegation?
Knights will be knights. You really didn't expect these modern fake knights to wield their swords against people their own size, did you? /sarc
Stamford Jim-------------------WE ARE READING AN ARTICLE ABOUT IT. WHAT MORE FACTS DO YOU NEED?? Do you really think that people that hold power and are liked by the masses, are truly that innocent??? GET OVER YOURSELF. If you have a job (I hope you do), you can easily see these politics played out. Ever had a manager or supervisor that felt it was within their rights to take an extra 5 or 10 minutes to their break? I worked at a Pizza Hut once where the General Manager would erase the transactions of certain groups in the computer, and pocket the cash as her own personal profit. Now, lets correlate this with a TV personality, and who chums with the Royalty...yeah...there is going to be some abuse. ANYONE Who shares this gentleman's POV, needs a sharp reality check.
LANCE ARMSTRONG, Lied to our faces for many many years.
RICHARD NIXON, Watergate.
ARNALD SCHWARZENEGGER, used roids to win his Mr. Univeres medal.
BARRY BONDS.
3/4 of those have to do with doping, but still. It was against the rules, they didn't give 2 craps, and had many people cover their tracks for them. And in Armstrongs case, many of his former team mates have come forward and said that he "THREATENED THEM INTO SILENCE" WTF DO YOU THINK THOSE BASTARDS DID?? ...and..Sex allogations are a bit more stringent than Doping. I would rather get caught with a needle in my arm, than my ....well..you get the picture. And you can see the mesures taken to keep all that a secret. No wonder its 40 to 50 years later.
My brother and his family lived in England for a year during the mid-1970s. He wouldn't let me visit; at the time, he said "things happened" to kids and teens, and that the kid or teen was held responsible, not the perpetrator. He moved his own family out at the first opportunity. If the gossip was that thick there back then--"where there's smoke, there's fire"--someone had to have been covering up for all these guys.
This is what happens in a society with aristocracy. There come to be two standards of law.
Put this 83 old pervert in jail where he belongs
Can you prove he belongs there. Because I can guarantee you if they were to try to rely on more than just testimony he won't be found guilty.
antonyharding-- Yeah, and we can't prove MJ touched little boys. Had a fairis wheel and amusment park at his house..no big deal. Every middle aged white but used to be black 'woman' has that stuff lying around. In a lot of cases, you aren't going to PHYSICALLY prove anything. Come on man, its a sex crime, if you're smart, how much evidence are you going to leave behind? Are you that ignorant to think that people that commit crimes are always going to leave tangible evidence around to be found? NO. Stop with your defence of the perverse. I'm going to shoot you down everytime.
Any kind of harm to any child is a travesty. We must cherish our little ones and live our own lives as if theirs depended on it.
83 years old and this ugly fat guy is still using his pecker as a compass!
That members of the Royal family appeared on a game show hosted by this guy in no way constitutes a "link" between them. Geez!
Good point sir. That was a shallow connection, and it sort of insults our intellence to make that statement. They needed a much more grounded wire between the two, before they even went there.
Either Liz has bad taste, or she's giving awards to sickooos.
Oh those Brits, so cold with their women but so hot for the kids.
Maybe if they took more time brushing and flossing they wouldn't have time to bang the unwilling.
How long before he has a show on MSNBC??
I worked for the BBC in the seventies. I do not condone any of this behaviour, however, you have to see some of these things in context. Sexual abuse (or merely taking advantage of girls who were too young to make good judgments for themselves) wasn't discussed back then and it wasn't acknowledged in any meaningful way as I recall. The seventies was an era that saw the blossoming, if you like, of much more relaxed social and sexual mores. This meant that at places like the BBC, where we had a bar on the second floor of the building and where "liquid lunches" were normal and coming back to work slightly impaired was not a big deal, there would be a very lassaiz faire attitude because people just weren't thinking. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there was a kind of party atmosphere, it was (and is) after-all the entertainment industry. Also, a big issue in all of this is how women were treated back then. I remember a lot of joking about girls and women that just would not be tolerated in the work place today and not only did the men enjoy this but the women laughed about it too!In that respect we were probably our own worst enemies. It was what I grew up with and it was normal and it never ever occurred to me to say "Hold on a minute!" at least not until women started to demand better treatment. So, while I am not defending these people, I can say with some knowledge, that I can see and understand how these things came to happen. As for Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter, they were just predators who happened to find a hunting ground that was perfectly set up for them to ply their vile trade by mostly unsuspecting, decent people.
The headline boldly states that he has "royal links", as if to implicate the Royal Family. What rubbish. I once held Arlo Guthrie's guitar during intermission at a concert, decades ago. If I ever commit a crime, I doubt the world will see his name linked to mine.
This story is just another mark against hereditary royal rule, since it shows yet again what a bad decision maker was Henry VIII: clearly, the Brits would have been happier inside the Catholic Church, where kid-rape is condoned.
Gosh Tommy,can you say, "convoluted"? Maybe they'd also be happier as teachers at Protestant, British, all boys schools; as American Boy Scout leaders; as American university coaches; as Baptist ministers; as...
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant.......and apparently at the B.B.C. too!
Seriously, who cares...40 years ago and now they want to arrest the man...just like with Jerry Sandusky, who cares as you people continue to lie and cover-up for each other...
This goes to show you your typical "white male, child molesting, perverted catholic"...
But I thought the BBC was a government run entity. You mean, having the government run things instead of evil capitalists doesn't fix all the problems like progressives claim it does? Maybe it's just easier for government to engage in cover-up. They tell us they "do it for the children." I just never understood what that meant until now.
I'm not condoning these acts, but doesn't the UK have a statute of limitations on these types of crimes? It would seem absurd to try to prosecute someone for an act that allegedly occurred in the 60's.
I wonder if the charges against this pervert will conveniently be dismissed by the queen. Just like everywhere, an attachment to power helps make people think they are immune to morality.
Why did it take 40-50 years for this to come to light?!?!?!?!
And nobody knew after all those years of rapes? Unbelievable. I think the Royal family and the people around them that are supposed to investigate these things are pretty damned stupid. This guy will spend the rest of his retirement in prison one can only hope.
Do they need to reactivate medieval England's criminal justice and punishment methods?
Who knows....perhaps this is the new normal, the European way.