Today the news broke that took
literally nobody by surprise; Cliff Richard’s house was searched by police in
connection with an allegation of sexual assault dating back to the 1980s. Quite
what the police were hoping to find that would give any sort of clue to
something that happened (or didn’t happen, it’s early days yet) nearly thirty
years ago nobody knows, but Cliff Richard has been lurking in the shadows (as
opposed to The Shadows) ever since Operation Yewtree was set up.
Whatever the outcome of this,
if it at least wipes that smug grin off his face then some good will have come
of it. Cliff Richard had had this coming but until further investigation has
been carried out then we can only speculate.
Cliff has apparently been
aware of the ‘rumours’ surrounding him on the Internet for some time, which
basically means he has his expensive legal team working on it with a view to
hopefully burying the story before it can go to court. Leaving aside the fact
that the phrase “I won’t dignify it with a response” is a well known expression
of guilt, there is a lot of information to process. A music industry insider
friend of my dad’s who was around in the 1950s and 1960s once told us (and I’m
only passing this on) that security had to keep Cliff away from young males
because a scandal would have ended his career in the days when homosexuality
was illegal. Maybe his refusal to come out of the closet is due to a personal
battle with his Christian beliefs, but you only have to look around the
entertainment industry to see how such a thing doesn’t have an adverse effect
on an artist’s popularity anymore. He once said that it is nobody’s business,
which is true of course, but by hiding it away he is only fanning the flames of
doubt; what else does he wish to keep secret?
There is a culture of
paedophile activity that goes too deep to ever be fully investigated and
brought to an end as the secrecy will never truly be exposed. Jimmy Savile
seemed to have been the glue holding this together, although how a club DJ from
Leeds was ever able to rise to such power and influence is a mystery. Within
the BBC Savile was feared and hated yet nobody ever reported their suspicions.
If they did it was brushed under the carpet. Savile had friends in high places
such as royalty, politicians and BBC management and was untouchable. Anyone who
tried to publicly ‘out’ Savile was dealt with by a visit from his ‘boys’ in the
first instance, his BBC colleagues knew better than to say anything to rock the
boat; Simon Dee voiced his concerns and never worked again! Jill Dando was
about to go public regarding the BBC’s paedophile network and was shot dead on
her own doorstep and an innocent man was framed, the real killer still hasn’t
been found.
As for Cliff, (and this is
just speculation), tireless charity work, a knighthood, friend of the royals,
friend of the government, leading a mysterious private life hounded by gossip
and innuendo, and until now all investigations into him have been squashed.
Does any of that sound familiar?
I am sure that Cliff will be
found innocent, why else would he renounce his British passport and become a
full time Barbadian citizen? I’m sure that the fact that this country has no
extradition treaty with Barbados is just a coincidence.
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