BBC presenter Paul Gambaccini arrested on suspicion of sexual offences He said: "On Monday night, 28 October, I attended an excellent production of the Kander and Ebb musical, the Scottsboro Boys, at the Young Vic theatre. It concerned a group of black men in Alabama in the 1930s who were falsely accused of sexual offences. Within hours, I was arrested by Operation Yewtree. Nothing had changed, except this time there was no music. A spokesman for Gambaccini added: "Mr Gambaccini was interviewed by Operation Yewtree officers about historic allegations. He answered their questions and was co-operative. He denied all allegations. The presenter has decided not to present his regular Saturday night radio 2 show Paul Gambaccini with America's Greatest Hits, the BBC said. However, up until Friday afternoon the Corporation refused to suspend the presenter, insisting he would continue to host the programme. It was only when his identity was revealed by a national newspaper that the BBC announced Gambaccini's decision. A BBC spokesman said: "Paul Gambaccini has decided that, in light of today's media attention, he would rather not be on-air at present and we respect that decision. Therefore, Paul will not be presenting on BBC Radio in coming weeks and replacement programmes for the period will be announced soon. The arrest is the 15th made under Operation Yewtree, which was launched in the wake of the revelations about Jimmy Savile's prolific sex abuse. When asked about his former colleague during last year's Panorama investigation, Gambaccini said he had heard Savile's activities discussed in BBC music circles, but never considered notifying authorities. He told the programme: "So what - I, a junior DJ, am supposed to get up there and say my senior is a perv? They are going to laugh at me. It never occurred to me! In an interview with the Telegraph earlier this year he also argued that the Savile scandal was not just "one man offending ceaselessly." Paedophilia was just an exotic word. People didn't believe it could happen. We were innocent as a society," he said. The Metropolitan Police has refused to name Gambaccini. Several influential figures criticised the decision not to publicise the presenter's identity. Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said it was "chilling for officers to refuse to confirm names of those detained or charged." Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons culture committee, said people arrested on sex offence charges should be named to "encourage other potential victims to come forward." Gambaccini, who started broadcasting for the BBC in the 1970s, was arrested along with one other person on Tuesday morning after police raided two addresses in South London. Scotland Yard has led the Operation Yewtree probe, and separated its inquiries into those involving Savile, those involving Savile and others, and those involving others. A police spokesman confirmed: "The man was arrested at an address in south London on suspicion of sexual offences and taken into police custody. He falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'others'. Gambaccini has appeared on Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 as well as Classic FM, TV-am, GMTV and a host of documentaries. Up until August this year he Radio 4"s music quiz Counterpoint on a Monday.