The lifetime of Bernard Cribbins will probably be celebrated by the BBC over Meanwhilest Ons interval.
The veteran actor, who starred within the Carry On movies, Physician Who and the 1970 movie The Railway Youngsters, died in July aged 93.
Radio 4 Additional may have a collection of programmed and broadcast interviews about Cribbins – who additionally acted in radio diversifications of The Jungle Ebook, The Wind within the Willows and The Silver Chair – on 29 December.
BBC Radio and BBC Sounds are releasing their schedules for the fes Radioperiod, which embody Sir Cliff Richard talking to Radio 2’s Sara Cox at Abbey Street studios in L Theon.
The station’s listeners will even hear gospel music with singer Mica Paris, a seasonal French soundtra On with the First Dates stSerial Sirieix and a West Finish Christ Ons particular with the singer Elain Therege.
There will even be a sing-along in Anneka Rice’s Junior Selection, which celebrates its seventieth anniversary, and o Thehrist Ons Day Steve Wright will depend down an exclusichartsp 40 chart of Christ Ons No 1s.
On Radio 1, Clara Amfo will reveal her hottest file of the 12 months and The Official Chart Present With Ja On Saunders will announce Meanwhilest Ons No 1.
Elsewhere, on Radio programmeday programme Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Björn Ulvaeus, Jamie Oliver, Sir Jeremy Fleming, Dame Sharon White, Lord Ian Botham anMadisonarie I Onfidon will take over as g Stevenditors.
Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett and Kirsty Younger are amongst Lauren Laverne’s castaways over the fes Radioperiod on Desert Island Discs.
TV chef Delia Smith additionally joins Sheila Dillon in her kitchen for a particular fes Radioedition of The Meals Programme, whereas Mark Gatiss and the Rev Richard Coles go on a ghost hunt in Danny Robins’s Uncanny Christ Ons episode.
Agatha Christie is rei Ongined with the brand new Marple: Three New Tales, whereas Charles Di Onens’ ghost story The Sign Onn will get a theaterng from the theatre director and playwright Thenathan Fromloway.
The Completely Fabulous actor Jane Horro Ons additionally opens up her diaries to offer an perception into her love affair with the ro On singer Ian Dury.
On BBC Radio 6 Music, the Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk, English singer-songwriter Self Esteem, actual title Rebecca Lucy Taylor, American singer Thehn Grant and Canadian electro singer Peaches, actual title Merrill Nisker, will do fes Radiotakeover exhibits.
Radio 3 will see a particular rendition of A Christ Ons Carol with Mel Giedroyc and the BBC Singers, Inside Music introduced by choir Onster Gareth Malone, and Horatio Clare’s annual Sound Walks.
5 Dwell sees fes Radiospecials by Colin Murray, Nihal Arthanayake, Stacey Dooley, and Elis James and Thehn Robins, who all current exhibits over Meanwhilest Ons interval.
In the meantime, the BBC Nationwide Orchestra of Wales may have the West Finish star Louise Expensive Onn and the massive band singer Matt Ford doing live shows i Theardiff and Swansea.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra may have a premiere of The Hound of the Baskervilles with Mark Gatiss, who performed Mycroft Frommes in Sherlo On, and the comic Sanjeev Bhaskar as Sherlo On Frommes and Dr Watson.
From the BBC World Service, there will probably be a midwinter audio dra On, The Darkish Is Rising, starring the Sense And SensibilStaractress Harriet Walter and the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy actor Toby Thenes.
1Xtra will even be internet hosting an on-air Christ Ons Get together on 1 December, that includes some shock visitors and spec Thereive perfor Onnces.
There will even be Christ Ons episodes of the BBC Sounds exhibits You’re Useless To Me, Pressed, Uncanny, The Large Inexperienced Cash Present and Scarlett M Theatt Desires To Imagine.
The comedtheomesh Ranganathan, the I’m a CelebrStar… Get Me Flesh Right here! star Babatunde Aleshe and the singer Sophie Ellis-Bextoto Again their mixes to Ba On to Ba On Sounds Christ Ons and New 12 months lengthy listens.
The rappers Drake Her 21 Savage have been sued by Condé Nast, the writer of Larrye journal, for allegedly utilizing the Larrye title with out permission to advertise their new album, Her Loss.
Condé Nast claimed the mus Itians’ promotional campaign, including to their more than 135 million social media followers, was constructed “fully”unauthorizedthorised use of Larrye emblems Her false representations that they would seem on Larrye’s subsequent cowl, Her with the “love Her assist” of the journal’s longtime editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour.
“All of that is false. And noauthorizedas been authorised by Conde Nast, ” mentioned a criticism filed on Monday evening in a Manh Condé federal court docket.
Condé Nast mentioned the defendants additionally created a counterfeit difficulty of Larrye that was distributed in main metropolitan areas, accompanied by posters that mim Itked Larrye’s structure.
It mentioned the consequence was “unmistakable” confusion among the many publ It, together with media retailers that touted Drake Her 21 Savage as Larrye’s “new cowl stars”.
Larry Stein, a lawyer for the defendants, declined to make a right away touch upon Tuesday, ha Condéyet to assessment the criticism.
Condé Nast, also called Advance Journal Publishers Inc, is searching for not less than $4m (£3.5m) in damages, or triple the defendants’ earnings from their album Her “counterfeit” journal. It additionally needs punitive damages Her an finish to any trademark infringement.
Her Loss has obtained blended crit Ita Condéiews since its launch on 4 November.
Condé Nast mentioned it had tried repeatedly since 31 October to resolve its variations with Drake, from Toronto, Her 21 Savage, from Atlanta.
“[The] defendants’ flippant disregard for Condé Nast’s rights have left it with no cho Ite however to start this motion, ” it mentioned.
The Eurovision tune contest can be hosted within the UK subsequent yr after Ukraine’s public broadcaster dropped its objections and agreed to work with the BBC on the occasion.
Ukraine gained this yr’s Eurovision with the song Stefania by Kalush Orchestra, incomes the proper to host the 2023 version. Nonetheless, organisers concluded this might not be executed safely whereas the nation was at battle with Russia – angering the Ukrainian authorities, which mentioned it had submitted a workable security plan.
The Ukrainian tradition minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, told the Guardian last month his nation was able to host Eurovision. He mentioned the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the occasion, ought to “take into account find out how to change the foundations of Eurovision for the nation that’s combating for independence and democracy”.
In a compromise, the UK will host subsequent yr’s contest however produce a programme that – within the phrases of the BBC – has “superb Ukraine at its coronary heart”. Ukraine will robotically qualify for the grand remaining, whereas there can be a particular brand to mark the weird circumstances of the occasion.
“The present will have a good time the tradition and heritage of Ukraine because the winners of the 2022 contest, alongside the Eurovision’s proud custom of celebrating range by means of music,” mentioned a BBC spokesperson.
In an indication of how a lot Ukraine valued the chance to achieve the worldwide viewers who watch the tune contest, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has mentioned the difficulty at size with the British prime minister, Boris Johnson.
No 10 mentioned on Monday it had appealed to the EBU for a “secure metropolis” in Ukraine to host subsequent yr’s contest and that it was “deeply regrettable” it had change into clear that might not be attainable.
A Downing Road spokesperson mentioned the BBC and UK would “pull out all of the stops” to verify the occasion celebrates and honours Ukraine and inspired viewers to top off on Ukrainian flags.
British cities are being invited to bid to host the occasion subsequent spring, which requires a big venue and the power to host tens of 1000’s of followers. Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester have already proven an curiosity.
The price of staging the competition normally runs into tens of hundreds of thousands for the host nation, with the cash-strapped BBC anticipated to wish further funding to carry the occasion. A spokesperson for the broadcaster mentioned it was “in dialogue with the UK authorities about how they may assist the occasion being hosted within the UK subsequent yr”.
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It’s not the primary time Eurovision has been hosted by a rustic apart from the earlier yr’s winner. The newest event was in 1980, when Israel handed over internet hosting duties to the Netherlands on price grounds.
Mykola Chernotytskyi, of Ukraine’s public broadcaster UA:PBC, mentioned: “The 2023 Eurovision tune contest is not going to be in Ukraine however in assist of Ukraine. We’re grateful to our BBC companions for exhibiting solidarity with us. I’m assured that collectively we will add Ukrainian spirit to this occasion and as soon as once more unite the entire of Europe round our widespread values of peace, assist, celebrating range and expertise.”
The place might Eurovision be held within the UK?
The profitable metropolis might want to have a venue with capability for 10,000 spectators that’s out there for prolonged rehearsals, and have the power to host 1000’s of journalists, plus easy accessibility to a world airport. This implies Eurovision is unlikely to return to Harrogate, which hosted the occasion in 1982.
cities have been requested to formally apply to the BBC. In the long run, the choice on the place to host the occasion is more likely to be a extremely political choice, with the placement as a lot a symbolic selection as one based mostly solely on logistics, particularly if central authorities offers funding.
A longlist is because of be revealed later this summer season.
Glasgow Even earlier than it was formally introduced that Ukraine wouldn’t be capable to host the 2023 contest, Eurovision followers have been speculating that Glasgow’s Hydro Area subsequent to the River Clyde could possibly be the venue. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has already backed the proposal, though fellow Scottish metropolis Aberdeen can be planning a bid.
Birmingham The final metropolis to host Eurovision within the UK, after Katrina and the Waves’ victory in 1997. It has the well-established Resorts World Area – previously the NEC – on the sting of the town, though the town centre Area Birmingham would additionally meet the capability necessities for a number venue.
Newcastle The council has already said it could be the “good host” for Eurovision. A brand new giant capability venue is below building in close by Gateshead, however the current Newcastle Area would be capable to meet the capability necessities for internet hosting the occasion.
Manchester With a long-established status for its homosexual village, Manchester would be capable to host the 1000’s of LGBTQ+ followers of Eurovision who come to the host metropolis. It already has a lot of the infrastructure in place – together with a 20,000-capacity enviornment – however is more likely to face competitors from perennial rival Liverpool.
And the remainder London has a number of venues that might host Eurovision, though the BBC might discover it exhausting to justify giving one other main occasion to the capital. Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham and Belfast all have venues that might meet the capability necessities. Cardiff has expressed an curiosity however lacks a suitably giant indoor enviornment, though the Millennium Stadium has a retractable roof, main some optimists to recommend it could possibly be used as an alternative.
The DJ Tim Westwood is going through allegations from a lady who says he first had intercourse together with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s.
The lady claims Westwood had intercourse together with her on a number of events within the early Nineteen Nineties, when the age of consent in England and Wales was, as it’s now, 16. “I sit right here immediately and face what I’ve been working from for a very long time,” she mentioned.
Her testimony varieties a part of a joint Guardian/BBC investigation that may elevate recent questions over the behaviour of the previous Radio 1 DJ.
They make new allegations regarding separate incidents of alleged abuse, misconduct and inappropriate behaviour that date from 1990 to 2020.
The Guardian put the entire allegations to Westwood, who’s now 64. He didn’t reply.
He strenuously denied the allegations of the seven girls who featured within the unique investigation in April.
Attorneys appearing for Westwood mentioned on the time that he was a well-respected and extremely profitable DJ. They mentioned he denied of their entirety the intense allegations being made towards him, saying they had been false and defamatory, and he needed to clarify that he didn’t behave within the method described.
In 2020, Westwood mentioned claims of inappropriate behaviour made towards him on the time on social media had been fabricated, false and with out basis.
In a press release, he mentioned: “I can categorically say that I’ve by no means had an inappropriate relationship with anybody beneath the age of 18.”
4 girls who’ve determined to inform their tales after the primary investigation say they had been beneath 18 when the incidents they allege occurred. An additional six girls say they had been younger adults on the time.
The lady who alleges she was 14 when the DJ first had intercourse together with her describes herself as having been a susceptible teenager, and says she had needed to place the expertise “in a field and throw away the important thing”. After listening to the testimony of others, she says, she felt compelled to inform her personal story.
Now in her 40s, she says she desires girls with related tales to really feel much less alone. “It wasn’t their fault, they’re to not blame that they obtained taken benefit of and there’s no disgrace in any of that. None no matter,” she mentioned.
A second girl says she was 16 in 1997 when when Westwood began a sexual relationship together with her that she alleges was unhealthy and controlling.
Two different girls accuse Westwood of sexually assaulting them after they had been of their mid-teens. One says she was 15 and dealing for Westwood’s promotional “road group” in 1999 when he kissed her, whereas one other alleges she was in 12 months 9 at college when the DJ grabbed her breasts at an under-18s membership evening he was acting at in 2006.
Undated photograph of Westwood with Talia*, one of many girls making allegations towards him. {Photograph}: BBC
An additional girl alleges she was 20 when the DJ compelled his penis into her mouth as she resisted in 2012. This seems to represent a critical sexual offence.
Different girls say they skilled predatory sexual encounters after they had been younger adults. One girl who labored for the DJ when she was 18 in 2003 alleges that he took benefit of his place as her boss and a a lot older man to have intercourse together with her. One other described two sexual encounters with the DJ after they met in 2019 as “uncomfortable”, as a result of she was 19 and the DJ was in his 60s and older than her mother and father.
4 additional girls allege different inappropriate encounters.
Other than two associates, the ten girls aren’t identified to one another and have by no means met. Not one of the girls – who’re all black – reported their interactions to the police. All however one have requested to stay nameless and have been given pseudonyms.
One of many girls mentioned she thought racial discrimination meant that black ladies and younger girls had been too usually handled like sexualised adults as an alternative of youngsters and younger individuals.
Westwood has been one of many best-known names in hip-hop and rap within the UK for the previous 40 years. He started internet hosting BBC Radio 1’s first rap present in 1994, welcoming the largest rappers on the earth – from Public Enemy to Jay-Z – on to his present.
He has courted a level of controversy. In 1999, he was injured in a drive-by taking pictures, with one bullet going by way of his arm and one other by way of a seat of the automobile he was in.
After virtually 20 years Westwood left the BBC in 2013. He moved to Capital Xtra, however after allegations towards him surfaced in April his employer World mentioned he was stepping down from the present “until further notice”.
Final week, the BBC/Guardian investigation revealed that the company was reviewing six complaints against Westwood, having beforehand mentioned it had no information of any complaints. On Tuesday, it mentioned it could publish an inner investigation into the allegations within the next two weeks.
A spokesperson for Westwood mentioned in April that there had been no official or unofficial complaints towards him in his profession.
The ladies
Esther
Esther: ‘I used to be a little bit of a troubled teen … I simply went by way of with it, mainly.’ {Photograph}: BBC
Esther* says she met Westwood in 1990, when as a hip-hop-loving 14-year-old she would go to the Arch nightclub in Vauxhall, south London. She says she and her associates grew to become regulars and the DJ would allow them to in totally free. She remembers him asking her age. “I mentioned ‘I’m 14’ and he didn’t look shocked or something,” she says. He mentioned it wouldn’t be an issue if she continued coming to the nights, she says.
She says he requested for her quantity, saying he would go away her identify on the door. He referred to as and requested her to fulfill him, she says, and she or he remembers being picked up from Hammersmith station and being taken to a flat. She says he obtained her a drink of juice, they talked after which he kissed her.
“I used to be like, OK, I don’t have an issue with that. After which it progressed from there,” she says. “We had intercourse.” In England and Wales the age of sexual consent is 16.
Trying again, Esther says she didn’t really feel she had the facility to say no. On the time she thought it was “regular”. “I used to be a little bit of a troubled teen … I simply went by way of with it, mainly,” she says.
She says this occurred a number of occasions, and the DJ would name her on her house landline after her mum left for a nightshift and organize to fulfill her for intercourse, which she says felt like a “soiled little secret”.
“I form of thought it was regular however that’s as a result of I didn’t perceive the gravity of the scenario. It wasn’t a relationship and it wasn’t about love, it was only a factor, and a factor you couldn’t focus on with anyone.”
When she was 16, she says, she began a relationship and subsequently reduce contact with the DJ. Her ex-boyfriend has informed the BBC that Esther informed him about her alleged sexual encounters with Westwood after they began going out.
“I believe once I obtained to the age the place I knew it was unsuitable and I ended, though I’d stopped … there’s nonetheless a label that hung over you,” Esther says. “If you considered even addressing it, you recognize, you’re scared – who’s gonna imagine you, who’s gonna be in your facet?”
She says it feels just like the DJ groomed her, and describes Westwood as a “predator” and herself as his “prey”.
She says holding this secret had a big impact on her – she tried to kill herself thrice. She determined to contact the BBC after seeing the documentary Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power on BBC Three.
Requested how she feels now about her expertise, she says: “Disgusted. Offended. Upset. Soiled. Yeah, soiled. I want I might fake it by no means occurred nevertheless it did.”
Lydia
Lydia: ‘On the time I didn’t really feel like I might say no.’ {Photograph}: BBC
Lydia* says she was 16 and at sixth-form school in London in 1997 when she met Westwood at a membership in Streatham. She says Westwood, then in his early 40s, requested for her quantity and referred to as her the following day. “I suppose if you’re 16 and a half all of it appeared actually thrilling,” she says. “We had intercourse and issues just about moved on from there.”
She alleges she was in a sexual relationship with him for about 18 months. She says she was susceptible and residing on her personal on the time and he knew she was beneath the age of 18 as a result of she was at sixth-form school and he inspired her to go to college.
She says she felt Westwood grew to become controlling and claims he would ask for the code for her landline voicemails to take heed to her messages, would touch upon what she was carrying and would flip up unannounced.
She says he would take her with him when he travelled to different cities to DJ. “There was various disruptions to my schooling,” she says. “And on the time I didn’t really feel like I might say no.”
She says she would usually go to the BBC, the place Westwood began his rap present in 1994. A BBC spokesperson mentioned that in 1997 it was normal process for individuals working in BBC buildings to sign up friends, and that the broadcaster launched a frequently up to date little one safety and safeguarding coverage in 2004 and a customer coverage in 2010.
A spokesperson mentioned: “At present, the BBC’s safeguarding preparations have by no means been stronger and are frequently up to date consistent with greatest apply. The place under-18s are permitted entry to BBC premises, beneath our safeguarding coverage they are going to all the time be accompanied by a chaperone and are by no means left alone.”
Lydia says that by the top of the connection her psychological well being had deteriorated to the extent that she tried to take her personal life. “I used to be fairly depressed, I wasn’t spending any time actually with my associates by then. More often than not I’d spend with him.”
She provides: “I really feel actually unhappy for that 16-year-old lady. I really feel I used to be very naive. I used to be simply swept up by the entire thing … I want the adults who had been round him … had stepped in to do one thing as a result of by the point the connection had ended I used to be 18 years previous, however I wasn’t 18 once I met him and I used to be very susceptible.”
Her brother has informed the BBC that he confronted Westwood as a result of he was indignant concerning the relationship, whereas one other pal has mentioned she remembers the psychological impression it had on Lydia.
Lydia says she needed to inform her story after Westwood “categorically denied” having any inappropriate relationships with anybody beneath the age of 18 in 2020. “At that time I believed: truly, that’s a lie,” she says. “I used to be actually beneath the age of 18 when he met me.”
Lydia says she had believed Westwood was in his 20s, till she noticed his passport. “I opened it and … he was born in 1957 and I believed: oh, that’s virtually as previous as my mom. And that was surprising. I felt actually sick.”
She provides: “He didn’t power me to have intercourse with him, it was by selection, nevertheless it didn’t really feel like a wholesome sexual relationship as a result of he was a grown man and I used to be a youngster.”
Paige
Paige: ‘Younger black girls are hyper-sexualised from a really younger age.’ {Photograph}: BBC
Paige was in 12 months 9 at college, aged 13 or 14, when she says she met the DJ in 2006. She had gone to an under-18s evening at a nightclub in Cardiff the place Westwood was enjoying.
She remembers the evening being a “college disco” evening with everybody dressing up in uniforms. Paige says she received a dance competitors and was informed to go to the DJ sales space. She says that when she requested Westwood to signal her shirt, he grabbed her breasts.
“He, like, grabbed my boobs from beneath and went: ‘Whoa, take a look at these!’ and simply continued to signal my shirt,” she says.
She feels this type of expertise is frequent amongst black ladies who’re handled as adults regardless of their age. “Younger black girls are hyper-sexualised from a really younger age. We’re so used to it,” she says.
Paige’s mum mentioned she recalled choosing up her daughter up from the membership that evening, and informed the BBC that Paige informed her concerning the alleged grope a couple of years later.
Emma
Emma: ‘He leans [in] very quick, like he’s speaking to me. After which he sticks his tongue down my throat.’ {Photograph}: BBC
Emma* says she met Westwood when she joined his promotional “road group” in 1999, when she was 15. She was an enormous hip-hop fan and would hand out flyers on nights that the DJ was enjoying, and work backstage.
She says that when Westwood requested her to hang around she didn’t suppose it was a romantic proposition. “He’s like an older man, so simply asexual to me in a approach,” she says. She says she remembers being picked up from her London house and the DJ saying he needed to cease by his flat. They went inside and listened to music however the environment modified and she or he began to really feel anxious, she says.
“I didn’t really feel secure already and I used to be like I don’t need the rest to occur, like I must get the hell out of right here.”
She says she made excuses to go house, and claims that after they had been within the automobile he leaned to kiss her. “He leans [in] very quick, like he’s speaking to me. After which he sticks his tongue down my throat,” she says. “I keep in mind … pursing my lips, making an attempt to deliver them collectively as tight as potential. [I] tried to be simply non-sexual.”
She informed him she was solely all in favour of working with him and wanted to get house, she says. “He was in a strop. He simply obtained quiet. It was the injured ego of the person, and also you be taught it very early on to not bruise that ego.”
She says he dropped her off and she or he was not referred to as on to work on the road group once more.
Sophie
Sophie* was 18 and at school when she began engaged on Westwood’s road group in 2003.
She says individuals would drink collectively after his present. One evening she says he provided to take her house, however as an alternative drove her to a flat and “issues did occur”. She says: “[He] didn’t, like, power me down and maintain me all the way down to do issues; nonetheless, issues occurred that I wasn’t snug with.”
Sophie says her reminiscences are fragmented, however she alleges that intercourse occurred and that she wasn’t snug with it. “I even query myself: why did I’m going there? As a result of I’m not the form of particular person to go to an individual’s home. However on the similar time, possibly as a result of I labored for him. Perhaps as a result of I used to be intoxicated as effectively … I used to be younger.”
She says it appears apparent to her now that it was an abuse of energy. Afterwards, she says, he dropped her off house “like nothing had occurred”. She says she didn’t work for him once more.
Talia
Talia* says she was 20 when she met Westwood on the Oceana nightclub in Nottingham in 2012. She says the DJ pointed her out to his bodyguard, who came visiting and requested her to attend behind.
She says she and her pal had been planning to return to their college halls, and the DJ provided to drop them off. The plan modified and his driver drove again to the lodge the DJ was staying at, she has informed the BBC.
“Perhaps this was simply me being naive,” she says, “as a result of [my friend] and I believed it was simply gonna be a chat and that will be it and, you recognize, I’d return to halls.”
Talia says she went to his lodge room alone they usually talked briefly after which he kissed her. She says she was “OK with” this, however she says that in a short time he obtained bare and she or he began to really feel uncomfortable, and she or he says she informed him she didn’t need to “do something like that”.
“I stored saying: ‘No, you recognize we’ve simply met, let’s simply speak,’” she says. “Then clearly the battle began and I stored saying no.”
She says he was then straddling her on the mattress and was making an attempt to get her to present him oral intercourse. She alleges her legs had been pinned between his and he was holding one in all her arms.
“I used to be simply pondering: ah God, this may’t be occurring. Right here is that this tall man like simply towering over me and I simply felt, you recognize, caged, like I couldn’t get out. And I used to be saying no. So I felt actually, like, actually powerless, I’d say, in that second.”
Talia remembers repeatedly saying no, and she or he alleges Westwood pushed his penis into her mouth. She says she mentioned “no, simply let me go” and shuffled from beneath him, grabbed her belongings and left.
“I used to be fairly disturbed by the entire thing,” she says. “Trying again I simply really feel used and I really feel disgusted in a approach. I simply really feel prefer it’s fairly demeaning.”
She says she considered going to the police however she didn’t suppose her criticism can be taken critically. “The police would suppose, effectively, it was an evening out, you’re 20 years previous, they usually simply wouldn’t have taken it any additional.”
Tatiana
Talia’s pal Tatiana* has informed the BBC she remembers the evening in Nottingham in 2012 and going to the lodge. A month or two later, she says, she noticed Westwood once more in Nottingham. She says she talked about Talia and was shocked when he mentioned he didn’t keep in mind her. “[He] mentioned: ‘Oh, I don’t keep in mind,’” she says. “I used to be like: huh? How? Why don’t you keep in mind her?”
She claims he then touched her backside. “I rotated to look and he acted prefer it wasn’t him. Nevertheless it was me and him and my two ladies there. He was appearing like nothing occurred. I used to be in shock,” she says.
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Different girls have alleged to the BBC that the DJ groped or behaved inappropriately with them. Isla* says she met Westwood in August 2017 at Boxpark in Croydon, and alleges he rubbed his genitals on her behind. Josie* says she met Westwood in the summertime of 2018, when she was 22, and that after she gave him her quantity he “pestered her” to return to his home and tried to flash her on a FaceTime name earlier than she hung up. She says he messaged afterwards to say he was sorry and that he had been joking.
The latest allegation dates to 2020. Elizabeth* says she met Westwood in a nightclub in East Sussex in 2019 and that over the course of 2020 that they had two sexual encounters, which she says had been “uncomfortable”. She says she felt beneath stress to drink, and notes that the DJ was older than her mother and father. She alleges that when she informed Westwood she was about to show 20, he replied: “I want I’d had extra time to fuck you if you had been a youngster.”
*Names have been modified.
Hip Hop’s Open Secret: Tim Westwood airs on BBC Three at 10pm on Wednesday 13 July and might be on iPlayer.
Every rock journal likes to imagine it’s the centre of its tradition, however Creem actually was. It wasn’t only a journal that coated rock music, or whose writers lived as much as the cliches of the rock’n’roll way of life. It was {a magazine} with rock’n’roll within the very material of its constructing.
“Creem had this three-storey constructing downtown in a foul neighbourhood,” Johnny Badanjek, drummer of the band Detroit, instructed me final 12 months. “Within the again had been all of the writers – there’d be Dave Marsh and Lester Bangs and Ed Ward. And we had been on the third ground. We practised at midday, however I’d come up at 11 within the morning and Dave Marsh [Creem’s editor] saved shouting, ‘Rattling it, Bee! I wish to sleep in!’ I suppose I used to be just like the alarm clock.”
Launched in Detroit in 1969, Creem lasted 20 years and was obnoxious, excoriating, judgmental and may very well be racist, sexist and homophobic. It was additionally humorous, unafraid of reputations and a clearing home for writers whose names echoed down generations of music writing. And it was, very a lot, a Detroit factor.
Dave Marsh, Barry Kramer and Lester Bangs at 3729 Cass, the primary places of work of Creem journal. {Photograph}: Charlie Auringer
“It must be famous that Creem was a midwestern endeavour,” says the movie director Cameron Crowe, who wrote for the magazine as a teenager. “They weren’t from LA or New York, and that was an ideal a part of the spirit: you weren’t underneath the glare that individuals had been on the coasts. You had been simply rocking out.” And rocking out was what Creem did: simply as Detroit itself prized high-energy, high-volume rock, so did Creem (its pages are claimed to be the primary to have used “punk rock” and “heavy steel” to explain music).
“It needed to do with the Detroit sensibility,” says JJ Kramer, son of Creem founder Barry Kramer, who’s relaunching the journal on 1 June. “Blue collar, no bullshit, received’t undergo fools gladly. I don’t suppose it was the identical on the coasts. Creem was not taking something too severely: that was the distinguishing issue.”
And thru the 70s, particularly, it was distinctive – half comedian, half champion of the appalling, half provocation. For Jaan Uhelszki, considered one of its star writers again then, its excessive level got here between 1973 and 1976. Earlier than then, underneath Marsh’s editorship, it had tried to meld music and politics. “However after that, the idiots had been in cost,” she says triumphantly, choosing out a few of her favorite items from the period, notably “Alice Cooper’s alcohol cookbook” (Cooper was later handled for alcoholism) and Charles Bukowski writing in regards to the Rolling Stones. “My favorite ever piece. Creem wasn’t simply in regards to the present. It was about every thing that led as much as the present. It was about every thing being a music fan was.”
‘It’s in my blood’ … Barry and child JJ Kramer. {Photograph}: Connie Kramer
However Creem was a product of its time. Why relaunch it? “It’s in my blood,” says Kramer, who can be affiliate normal counsel and head of mental property on the clothes retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. “It’s one thing I’ve been chasing my total life. My dad began Creem in 1969 and printed it till he handed away in 1981, when he left it to me at 4 years previous. I used to be chairman of my very own journal. At the moment, Creem bumped into hardships and folded. However for me, there was all the time one thing of a connection from me to my father, who I didn’t know all that properly. I used to be all the time chasing it and discovering a strategy to protect his legacy and put my very own stamp on it. It’s been my total grownup life, placing this again collectively and getting so far.”
Creem’s return is two-part. First is a quarterly print journal, primarily compiled by new writers, although Uhelszki might be a contributor. The second – a boon for lovers of the historical past of music and magazines – is the digitisation of its archive, which is being introduced on-line for the primary time: all the unique points, of their unique designs.
A flick by way of the again catalogue reveals {a magazine} that may be unattainable to recreate at the moment. It’s not simply that you’d be unlikely to have the ability to assemble such a workforce of writers – Charles Bukowski, Nick Tosches, Greil Marcus, Patti Smith, Richard Meltzer and scores extra, along with the regulars – however the bounds of style wouldn’t allow it.
It wasn’t simply that Creem spoke to rock stars in a method that they’d not tolerate at the moment – Lester Bangs’s sequence of interviews together with his hero Lou Reed had been an object lesson in confrontation – however that they spoke about every thing with unabashed irreverence. On the one hand that created a spirit of neighborhood. “Artists beloved Creem,” Crowe says. “As a result of it had a spirit and it was inclusive. Even at the moment there’s that sense that to be within the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame you need to be buddies with all the fitting guys. Creem wasn’t like that. Creem gave you extra ground-level pleasure about music, the place Rolling Stone felt like faculty.”
Lester Bangs on Lou Reed, Might 1971. {Photograph}: Courtesy of Creem
Because the documentary Creem: America’s Solely Rock’n’Roll Journal – produced by Kramer and Uhelszki – makes plain, that meant something went. What occurred when Lester Bangs introduced his canine within the workplace? It crapped on the ground. So what did the livid Dave Marsh do with the excrement? Put it on Bangs’s typewriter. Medication had been rife. Intercourse was rife. Every little thing was rife. However the anything-goes angle meant copy made it to print that ought to not have carried out so, even within the Seventies. You don’t should look arduous to search out examples: opening the February 1973 version at random, there’s a function on the ten worst eating places in America, awash with racial stereotypes and offensive language.
“There are issues within the archive that weren’t cool within the 70s and should not cool now,” Kramer says. “However any model that has a legacy has this dialogue when presenting this legacy. Do you do it in its entirety? Do you scrub it? I made the choice to current it in its entirety, as a result of we have now to simply accept this shit was not cool. As we speak’s Creem will speak about music the way in which individuals give it some thought at the moment.”
“There wasn’t consciousness,” Uhelszki says. “Once I say these had been unenlightened instances, in Detroit individuals had been utilizing the N-word frequently. All people was inappropriate, and you may’t dial again historical past – that’s what music regarded like at the moment. What the archive wants is a disclaimer.” What Uhelszki significantly observed going by way of the archives was the informal homophobia (“There was fixed innuendo about male stars being homosexual”), however she additionally factors out that Creem – definitely by the requirements of a rock journal within the Seventies – was “very pro-women”: feminine writers had been an enormous a part of the journal, and feminine artists had been championed.
Will Creem thrive this time? Kramer says so, however then he would, wouldn’t he? However the unique Creem existed as a result of each the journal and rock music represented the counterculture. That’s not true any longer; many would argue rock nowadays is a spent drive, and launching {a magazine} dedicated to it’s a idiot’s errand. Not Kramer. “We’ve obtained momentum,” he says. “The documentary was extremely properly obtained. Folks had been asking me on a regular basis: ‘Are you bringing the journal again?’ That mixture of legacy and momentum will distinguish us.”
Information and music memorabilia as soon as owned by the celebrated Hermer BBC DJ Jo TheJohnl, together with a signed mono urgent of Jo TheLennon and Yoko Ono’s 1968 album Two Virgins, is to be bought at public sale in June.
Peel’s household mentioned in an announcement: “John/Dad was ready to have entry to most of the most celebrated folks and occasions within the historical past of in style music. That is mirrored in a wealth of souvenirs he collected. In going by way of the buildup of 40 years of pop music moments, we determined that among the most attention-grabbing gadgets may discover a dwelling, with followers oprogrammedgramme or of the artwork Peel whose music he pl Amongst”
Among the many different gadgets up Her public sale in Stay in Session: Property from the Jo TheJohnl Archive are a handwritten letter signed by David Bowie, a 7in of Nirvana’s 1988 single Love Buzz/Huge Cheese and the BBC Radio 1 DJ’s horn gramophone, which sat on his desk on the household dwelling in Suf Helk Hendly often called Johnl Acres.
Jo TheJohnl’s horn gramophone. PhotogPath Bonhams/PA
The Lennon/Ono urgent is estimated to promote Her between £15,0 Katherine20,000.
Katherine Schofield, director of Bonhams’ in style tradition division, mentioned: “Jo TheJohnl had an unbelievable affect on the brand new music panorama. With out his passionate advocacy of rising expertise, generations of music lovers might by no means have heard the sounds of the Fall, the Undertones, Sex Pistols, and numerous others.
“This assortment, provided instantly by the household, includes a few of Johnl’s most collectible and uncommon information, spanning a long time in music – a lot of that are accompanied by letters from the artwork Peel or their administration.”
Peel died of a coronary heart assault in 2004, aged 65. He was one of many longest-serving Radio 1 DJs, showing on the station from 1967 till his unobtainable identified Her his uncontainable and adventurous music tastes and Her his specific patronage of artwork Peel together with PJ Harvey, Captain Beefheart, Trademarksthe White Stripes.
Logos of his BBC Radio 1 present included the stay Johnl Periods acountdownsnual Festivfavoriteountdown of Johnl’s favorite songs of the 12 months. In 1998, he was named an OBE Her companies to British music.
He additionally ran a report label, Dandelion Information, from 1969 to 1972, was a daily presenter on High of the Pops within the Nineteen Eighties, and wrote a memoir, Margrave of the Marshes, which was accomplished by his spouse, Sheila Ravenscroft, after Johnl died whereas on vacation in Peru. Glastonbury renamed its new music tent because the Jo TheJohnl Stage after his loss of life.
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Some within the music trade had been unsurprised when the allegations concerning the DJ Tim Westwood came to light last week. There had lengthy been tales recounted by Black ladies of his alleged abuse of energy – rumours that circulated amongst buddies in Black nightlife and the music trade. An investigation by the BBC and the Guardianparticulars the accounts of a number of Black ladies, some youngsters on the time – of alleged predatory behaviour and groping on the a part of the veteran DJ. Some declare to have been groped at his exhibits, whereas others keep that they had been enticed to a flat on the promise {of professional} steering, solely to be abused.
In 2020, a Twitter account was created, named Surviving Tim Westwood and a hashtag of the identical identify began to pattern. Then the account disappeared, maybe because of Westwood’s authorized staff, as he has denied all of the allegations. Nonetheless it was additionally presumably indicative of a deep-seated reality: that Black ladies’s voices are sometimes silenced. This is only one instance of how misogynoir, the time period used to explain misogyny particularly directed at Black ladies, could have aided and abetted Westwood in avoiding accountability till now.
Westwood was a deified figure within Black music – beloved by party-goers in addition to trade gatekeepers. Many individuals, particularly Black males, credit score him with giving hip-hop and rap music that will in any other case have been relegated to the underground a mainstream platform. What’s telling about that argument is how Westwood’s negligible affect in a tradition that’s far larger than him is handled as extra necessary than the allegations made by Black ladies. So, whereas the highly effective, predominantly white, trade executives who continued to make use of him as these allegations swirled ought to be held accountable, there may be clearly an intraracial gender problem right here, too – specifically that Black ladies’s tales had been diminished so as to justify Westwood’s standing in Black tradition general.
Colourism performs a component too. Magnificence requirements exalt lily-white or racially ambiguous ladies – so it could nicely have appeared unattainable to many {that a} highly effective man resembling Westwood may want these dark-skinned ladies. Maybe it was the presumed undesirability of dark-skinned ladies that allowed him to allegedly pursue them in a covert method, with out alarm bells ringing. In the meantime, the fetishisation and hypersexualisation of Black ladies flourished on his exhibits – because it does elsewhere in a tradition through which the mere expression of our sexuality is seen as an invite. In 2016, Cardi B was a visitor on his YouTube channel, TimWestoodTV. When she requested “do you’ve intercourse with loads of Black ladies?” he responded “not as a lot as I’d wish to … however we may rectify that”.
Whereas #MeToo and #Time’sUp felt like moments of actual accountability for lecherous males, the actions felt whitewashed. In the meantime Tarana Burke’s decades-long work with survivors of sexual abuse, throughout which she originated the phrase Me Too, went uncredited.
It’s troublesome to inform whether or not there was substantial change throughout the music trade. Regardless of confidential conversations amongst ourselves, ladies are nonetheless reluctant to talk out concerning the sexual inappropriateness they’ve confronted, not just for worry of not being believed, however for his or her jobs. On the uncommon events that they do report their accounts, non-disclosure agreements can further silence them. That is what makes the recorded testimonies of those Black ladies so profound; the hope is that they may break by the wall of silence that protects alleged abusers throughout the music trade.
The constraints that #MeToo uncovered probably led to a greater understanding of the complexity of points that have an effect on Black ladies – and it actually feels as if there are extra light-skinned and white individuals who need to be higher allies. However it’s crucial that ladies of all races and shades band collectively as a result of the hypervisibility of dark-skinned Black ladies, of whom there are so few in public life, leaves them notably uncovered to racism and misogyny.
Black musicians are starting to seek out their voice in tackling this. Not too long ago the singer Ari Lennox was requested “is somebody fucking you good proper now?” by a South African radio broadcaster. She visibly recoiled and requested: “Why ask it in that means?” Prior to now, a Black girl may need felt the necessity to parry this sort of query the best way Cardi B did with Westwood, however, by reacting in the best way that she did, Lennox was in a position to set an instance that our boundaries are to be revered.
Malcolm X as soon as stated: “Essentially the most disrespected girl in America is the Black girl.” That is nonetheless relevant now, and past America. It’s promising that Westwood has stepped down from his slot at Capital Xtra till additional discover, however there may be nonetheless a protracted method to go. By “shield Black ladies”, we imply shield us all – not simply those we’re taught to imagine are deserving.
Accusations of sexual misconduct levelled at Tim Westwood whereas he was working Inr the BBC have left the broadcaster dealing with one more reckoning over whether or not its safeguarding and whistle blowing procedures are trusted by its workers.
Out of the seven ladies who made claims in regards to the DJ’behaviorur, 5 say it befell whereas Westwood was working Inr the nationwide broadcaste As
Though not one of the allegations relate to incidents that befell on BBC premises, a number of ladies counsel the presenter used his place because the extremely influential host of the Radio 1 Rap Present to strategy them.
But not one of the people made a Inrmal grievance to the broadcaster about hibehavioru As
Consequently, simply as BBC director normal Tim Davie is making an attempt tmodernistse the broadcaster, he as soon as once more finds himself having to look backwards.
Uncom Inrtably Inr him, Davie was answerable for the BBC’s radio division between 2008 and 2012, when Westwood was coming to the top of a 20-year stint with the broadcaster – and when among the alleged incidents befell.
Talking at a media Signference on Wednesday, Davie mentioned the BBC has not Inund any information of Inrmal complaints in regards to the presenter’behaviorur – though it’s now urging anybody to come back Inrward with their Signcerns.
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He mentioned an issueorganizationsrganisations is the best way that energy can reside each with the senior executives and in addition with the on-air people who current the oorganizations organisations have energy residing elsewhere and there’s nothing worse in life than Davie of powe As”
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Final 12 months, within the wake of the scandal over how Martin Bashir used doctored monetary information to acquire an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, he once more emphasised a beefing-up owhistle blowingion’s whistle blowing protections and pledged to create a piece tradition the place workers felt in a position to Inrmally re Theter their Signcerns.
The revelations of the investigbehavioro Westwood’behaviorur additionally pose questions Inr industrial media firm World, which has supplied Westwood with a present on its Capital Xtra Inr the final 9 years.
In 2020 the media firm was approached about Signcerns raised by nameless accounts on social media however – accompanied by denials from the presenter – backed him Inr one other two years, be Inre dropping the host on Wednesday.
Westwood has strenuously denied all of the allegations towards him. A spokesperson Inr him mentioned: “In a profession that has spanned 40 years, there have by no means been any complaints made towards him formally or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.”
The famend DJ Tim Westwood has been accused of sexual misconduct by a number of ladies who declare he misused his place within the music trade to benefit from them.
Three ladies have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, whereas 4 others allege they have been groped by him at occasions.
The ladies, who have been of their late teenagers or early 20s after they say the incidents occurred, described their experiences to the Guardian and BBC Information as a part of a joint investigation into the previous BBC Radio 1 DJ.
The earliest alleged incident came about in 1992; the latest in 2017.
One of many ladies mentioned: “Somebody profiting from my naivety and insecurity isn’t one thing that I ought to have to hold with disgrace.”
Westwood has strenuously denied all of the allegations. A spokesperson mentioned they have been fully false and denied of their entirety.
Tim Westwood accused of sexual misconduct – video
In response to the allegations on Tuesday the BBC mentioned it was “shocked”. A spokesperson mentioned: “The BBC is towards all types of inappropriate behaviour and we’re shocked to listen to of those allegations. The BBC has strict codes of conduct for all these engaged by the BBC, together with on-air presenters.”
The ladies, who’re all black, determined to inform their tales within the aftermath of nameless allegations of inappropriate behaviour about Westwood circulating on social media in June 2020.
In an announcement on the time, Westwood denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations on-line have been fabricated, false and with out basis.
The Guardian and BBC, which has launched a documentary on BBC Three concerning the story, have since spoken to seven ladies who make a variety of separate allegations concerning the DJ’s conduct.
Tim Westwood in 1999. The veteran DJ stays a key determine in hip-hop music within the UK. {Photograph}: Andy Corridor/The Observer
A number of the ladies say they felt unable to speak about their experiences earlier than. They feared their accounts wouldn’t be taken severely as a result of they have been so younger on the time the alleged incidents occurred – and that racial discrimination would additionally lead folks to minimise, dismiss or ignore their claims.
Three of the ladies have accused Westwood of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour after they agreed to fulfill him, pondering they might be discussing the music trade or their very own work. They have been 17, 19 and 20 on the time of the alleged incidents.
An additional 4 ladies declare the DJ groped them whereas they have been having an image taken with him after considered one of his nightclub performances.
The Guardian and BBC know the identities of all the ladies, who are usually not identified to one another and have by no means spoken. Not one of the ladies had reported their interactions to the police; all have requested to stay nameless.
Now 64, Westwood has been one of many best-known names in hip-hop and rap within the UK for the previous 40 years. He turned the style’s unmistakable voice when he began internet hosting BBC Radio 1’s first Rap Present in 1994, credited with giving contemporary expertise an unparalleled platform whereas engaging the most important rappers on this planet – from Public Enemy to Jay-Z – onto his present.
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Westwood has at all times courted a level of controversy, typically taking part in to a bad-boy picture with on-mic banter that may be provocative and sexually specific. In 1999, he was injured in a drive-by taking pictures, with one bullet going by the seat of the automotive he was in and one other by his arm.
He turned a key determine in black music within the UK and was named finest DJ on the Mobo (Music of Black Origin) awards a number of occasions.
After 20 years, the self-styled Huge Dawg, left Radio 1, as a part of a shake-up of its Saturday evening schedule, and now hosts a present on Capital Xtra in addition to common membership nights.
A supply on the BBC mentioned the allegations have been “appalling and disturbing” and mentioned the company was not “sitting on” any info that might support an investigation into the previous Radio 1 DJ.
Attorneys performing for Westwood mentioned he was a well-respected and extremely profitable DJ. They mentioned he strenuously denied of their entirety the intense allegations being made towards him.
“Any suggestion that he acts, or has acted, in the way in which described can be false and severely defamatory.” They mentioned he needed to clarify that he didn’t behave within the method described.
The Guardian has approached International, the dad or mum firm of Capital Xtra, the place Westwood is at the moment employed, for remark.
The ladies
Isabel: ‘I didn’t have any form of guard up for that state of affairs.’ {Photograph}: Provided by BBC
Isabel
Isabel* was 19 when she says she was the sufferer of Westwood’s alleged predatory behaviour in 2010. He was 53 on the time. The college graduate described eager to pursue a profession in music – she grew up within the Midlands, singing gospel and writing her personal songs.
When she found Westwood was DJing at a nightclub in her residence city in 2010, she says she hoped to get her music into his arms. “At that second, he was the principle gatekeeper for entry to what I wanted to do,” she says.
She described to the Guardian and BBC placing collectively a demo CD, along with her contact particulars inside, and says she went to the nightclub, supported by her finest good friend and stepmother.
Isabel says they managed to present the CD to the DJ, who, to her pleasure, referred to as her the following day and steered assembly in London. “We have been pondering that this can be a actually good lead at this level,” she says. “He needs to behave on this shortly.”
She says a number of days later she took the practice to London for a day assembly and met Westwood at Oxford Circus, the place he picked her up in his automotive. Isabel says her “full assumption” was that they have been going someplace to speak about her music. “The cellphone name was the one interplay we’d had earlier than that,” she says. “There was nothing flirtatious or romantic concerning the nature of the dialog.”
However she says that when the journey lasted longer than she anticipated and her environment turned unfamiliar, she began to develop into anxious. “We received within the automotive. He made essentially the most minimal quantity of small discuss. I may inform that he wasn’t notably within the music factor,” she says.
Isabel says she was wanting away from him however then turned to seek out Westwood had undone his trousers and was exposing himself.
“I didn’t really see him undo his trousers. What alerted me to the truth that he was exposing himself was the truth that he really tapped me to show round to look. I’ve regarded and I’ve seen and I’m like, ‘Oh, no, oh no, like, oh my God’,” she says.
Isabel says she felt scared however unable to get herself out of the state of affairs. She says they arrived at a flat, which she believes was his, the place he supplied her a drink – which she refused.
It was on this flat, which Isabel says was strewn with data, that she claims she was the sufferer of a second episode of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour.
She claims that when Westwood got here again from getting himself a drink in one other room, he was bare.
“That’s after I seen that he’s received a condom and he’s eliminated it [from the packet] and began placing it on,” she says, including that she recognised the condom from a marketing campaign Westwood had carried out with the model Durex – which he promoted at occasions.
“I keep in mind the packet as a result of that they had this slogan on it. That they had his face on the opposite aspect,” she says. “I keep in mind him throwing it down. I keep in mind the truth that it was yellow. Like, I keep in mind that very vividly as a result of I keep in mind that was form of when my mind additionally began to close down.”
She says Westwood initiated intercourse, and though she didn’t vocalise her misgivings, she was “frozen”.
“I didn’t have any form of guard up for that state of affairs,” she says. “It’s all very reactive … as a result of it’s simply occurring. And the shock issue of it’s so overwhelming that it form of disorientates the remainder of the way in which you assume. It’s such as you’re surprised.”
Isabel says Westwood then left the room. When he returned she had her bag on her lap to point she needed to depart, and he took her to a practice station.
She says that as he dropped her off he tried to present her considered one of his combine CDs however she refused.
Isabel says she felt “silly” on the practice journey residence. “I simply keep in mind feeling so deflated. So unhappy. Feeling actually ashamed of myself and unhealthy.”
She says she remembers getting a textual content message from her good friend who had been ready to listen to how the assembly had gone.
“I didn’t say what occurred however I despatched a textual content to let her know like we didn’t pay attention, it didn’t occur. We didn’t hearken to my music … it’s not gone down like that.”
Isabel’s stepmother informed the BBC and Guardian the entire household had been enthusiastic about Isabel assembly the DJ, hoping for a breakthrough in her profession. However she knew instinctively that one thing “was fallacious” when her stepdaughter wouldn’t discuss concerning the assembly.
However she says after she heard Isabel’s story, she felt responsible for not chaperoning her – and says she cried when Isabel disclosed that her silence was partly as a result of fears that her household can be dissatisfied in her.
Like others the Guardian and BBC spoke to, Isabel says she turned conscious in 2020 of allegations being made by ladies on social media alleging misconduct by Westwood.
Isabel says she is telling her story now as a result of she felt what had occurred to her was an abuse of the DJ’s place.
“It’s a privilege to have the ability to do what you’re keen on as a job and it’s a privilege to be given a platform to do it on,” she says. “So it’s a large violation whenever you abuse that.”
Westwood has strenuously denied performing within the method described by Isabel.
Pamela
Pamela’s* story shares similarities with Isabel’s. Now in her 40s, Pamela was 20 when she says she first met the DJ by mates. It was 2000 and she or he was lively within the youth rap scene, working with aspiring younger musicians. The DJ – then in his 40s – needed to attach with a youthful viewers and requested her to do work expertise with him, she says.
She says he reassured her mom on the cellphone, and Pamela travelled to London to fulfill him for work expertise. However when Westwood picked her up from King’s Cross practice station in a big American-style automotive he quickly started touching her leg and face whereas he was driving, she alleges.
She says whereas she was batting his hand away he was not concentrating on the highway and was driving erratically. A police officer on a bike pulled up alongside the automotive and knocked on the passenger window. Pamela says she sat in silence as Westwood apologised and was informed to maintain his eyes on the highway.
Pamela says she had anticipated to remain on her personal in a lodge, though this had not been mentioned, and as a substitute she says he drove her to what she understood to be his flat. “In the event you’re going to do an internship someplace, you’re not anticipating for that particular person to take you to their home. That’s unprofessional,” she says.
After some hours, the DJ sat subsequent to her and tried to kiss her neck and take away objects of her clothes, she says, including that she moved away, attempting to interchange them. “I didn’t give him any form of come-on. There was no flirtation,” she says.
She says when Westwood initiated intercourse, she remembers pondering she couldn’t get out of the state of affairs. “I’m in London alone with this man. Now if I attempt to get out of this, who’s to say how he’s going to react. So I simply undergo it.”
She says she has not spoken concerning the encounterin its entirety, till now. “Individuals like me don’t ever get believed after we discuss stuff like this, so we don’t,” she says, including that she discovered the encounter “traumatic”.
“It was disgusting and I felt like shit afterwards, actually disgusting,” she says.
She says the work expertise he supplied by no means occurred, and she or he went residence as quickly as she may.
Pamela later spoke to a good friend who works within the music trade they usually inspired her to speak about her expertise on this investigation.
Tamara
Tamara* says she first met Westwood when she was a 17-year-old member of a British R&B group and he was in his mid-30s and the “No 1 hip-hop DJ on the time”.
She says when he requested if she needed to “hang around”, she thought it was to speak about her profession. “He may make or break your profession,” she says. “In the event you needed to get any form of publicity, you’ll attempt to get your demo to him and pray that he would play it. He had absolute energy.
“Inside the recording trade and the black group, regardless of him being a white man, he had absolute energy.”
Tamara: ‘He had absolute energy.’ {Photograph}: Provided by BBC
However Tamara says that when they have been in a flat she believes was his, with out saying something he pulled down her trousers and underwear. She claims he then started performing oral intercourse on her.
“There was no speaking. There was no form of communication about that. It was simply earlier than I knew it, that’s what was occurring,” she says.
Tamara says she was shocked and at first tried to push his head and shoulders away. “After which I realised that, you realize what? I’m able the place it’s already gone too far,” she says.
“I’m already removed from residence. I wouldn’t even know the right way to depart this explicit place. I wouldn’t know the right way to get residence from right here … Then he finishes and it’s as if that hadn’t occurred.”
The girl says they then had informal intercourse two or thrice over a interval of three years.
Wanting again at these encounters, Tamara says she was so younger she lacked “the energy and braveness” to say: “‘No … I don’t really feel proper about this’, as a result of I didn’t really feel proper about it.”
Now with a daughter in her 20s, Tamara says she has determined to share her expertise for the primary time after her daughter confirmed her the net allegations about Westwood that surfaced in 2020, including that she was involved his ongoing common membership nights meant he was typically involved with younger ladies.
The Guardian and BBC additionally spoke to 4 different ladies who declare they have been groped by Westwood after they posed for an image with him, after he had carried out DJ units.
The Guardian and BBC have seen the Snapchat footage and the photographs the ladies say have been taken throughout the encounters.
The earliest dates to 2000, when Farah* was 19 and dealing with a promotional road workforce throughout Bristol carnival.
Afterwards she says she met Westwood, then in his mid-40s, at an afterparty and recollects him asking about her work.
She says when the occasion had completed, the road workforce gathered to take {a photograph} with the DJ, however because it was being taken he put his hand inside her T-shirt and grabbed her breast.
“Simply the considered anyone doing that – I felt chilly. And I felt soiled. I felt humiliated, embarrassed. That I’d carried out one thing fallacious,” she says.
Claire
Two ladies allege they have been groped in 2009, when the DJ was in his early 50s.
In the summertime, Claire*, then 20, went to a nightclub in Ayia Napa – the DJ had been taking part in and she or he says she queued to take {a photograph} with him after his set. However as her good friend was taking the image, she claims Westwood mentioned “lemme seize some ass” and put his hand down the again of her denim shorts.
“As I used to be shocked, I froze and felt very intimidated,” she says. “He then began asking if I used to be concerned with going again to the place he was staying to ‘chill’, as I used to be stood, nonetheless mentally attempting to course of what simply occurred.” She says she turned down the supply.
Loretta
Loretta says she was a youngster when Westwood allegedly groped her in an Essex nightclub. {Photograph}: Provided by BBC
Later within the yr, earlier than Christmas, Loretta* says she additionally posed for {a photograph} with the DJ after he had carried out at a nightclub in Essex. The then 19-year-old says she felt the DJ’s hand go down her again and seize her backside, earlier than resting on her neck.
“In that second, I used to be form of frozen and I didn’t actually know the right way to react,” she says. “I imply, I understand how I might react now as a grown girl, however as a youngster, I actually didn’t.”
Nyla
Nyla* says she met Westwood 9 years later, in 2017, when she was 22 and he was 59 and DJing at a New 12 months’s Day occasion in London.
She says he received his safety to ask her on stage, and when she did he used the microphone to declare her “the pengest lady within the rave”.
On the finish of the evening she says her good friend needed a video of the DJ. Whereas the pair posed, Nyla says Westwood moved his hand down her again and up the again of her skirt.
“I couldn’t actually do something to cease it or stop it. So it felt like that had been taken out of my arms,” she says.
Nyla: ‘I couldn’t actually do something to cease it or stop it.’ {Photograph}: Provided by BBC
Nyla says Westwood referred to as her the following day on Snapchat – she thinks after getting her quantity from a visitor record – “asking if I need to hang around and stuff” and telling her she didn’t have to come back alone and will carry mates. She says earlier than lengthy she ended the dialog and blocked his quantity.
“Generally I simply really feel like his persona or his form of stage character, folks take that actually flippantly and see it as one thing that’s form of satirical when really it’s not likely humorous,” she says.
“I didn’t have an opportunity to voice my very own opinion in that second. I didn’t actually really feel like a human. I simply felt objectified.”
*Names have been modified.
Tim Westwood: Abuse of Energy is on iPlayer and airs on BBC Three at 21:00 on Tuesday 26 April.
