Jimmy Savile still frightens children at the BBC Whatever else might be said about the BBC's handling of the Sir Jimmy Savile affair, no one can say that the corporation reacted with undue haste to the child sex allegations that were made against its star presenter. Mandrake is therefore hardly surprised that the corporation, after waiting until a year after his death before taking the matter seriously, has still to get around to removing a photograph of Sir Jimmy at the audience entrance at BBC Television Centre in White City. "I was taking my two young daughters to see a live show there and was horrified when we were confronted by a huge picture of this revolting man," a reader informs me. There is even a caption to it, which reads, 'now then, now then. What sort of message does this put out about the BBC being in touch with modern day thinking and the concerns of its viewers? A BBC spokesman expressed surprise when I raised the matter, but declined to say whether there was any intention to take it down. Interestingly, when Sir Jimmy was a member of the Athenaeum - alongside Dr Robert Runcie, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Basil Hume and Lord "Woy" Jenkins - he was against admitting women as members. "It doesn't really apply to me 'cause I am a single guy," he was quoted as saying 12 years ago. When I was in last week, I saw ladies wandering about the lobby, so that can't be bad. Sir Jimmy was said to have been a "popular" member of the club in Pall Mall and kept a formal suit to comply with its dress code.