Jimmy Savile was born in Consort Terrace, in the Burley area of Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, to Vincent Joseph Savile and Agnes Monica Kelly.

Savile attended St Anne's Roman Catholic School in Leeds and later worked in an office before being conscripted as a Bevin Boy during the Second World War.

Savile reportedly suffered spinal injuries from a shot-firer's explosion while working in coal mines and spent a long period recuperating, wearing a steel corset and walking with the aid of sticks.