Some admirers of Terry Wogan would be cross were I to link the name of their hero with that of Jimmy Savile. Yet link them I shall today, in one respect only.

It has been said, by Dame Janet Smith among others, that considerable assistance to Savile in getting away with his crimes for so long – indeed, for his whole professional life – was supplied by the deferential attitude of BBC bosses to the Corporation’s ‘talent’.

Questions weren’t asked, for fear of offending him.

The same kid glove treatment was accorded to Wogan concerning a matter he wanted to be kept hidden: the fact that he wore a wig.

Everyone at the Beeb knew this to be the case, yet insiders have told me it was a strict no-no to allude to it.

You hardly need to be an expert syrup-spotter (as I am) to ’see the join’, as Eric Morecambe used to say.

The picture below makes it quite clear, with Terry’s white real hair sticking out from beneath the false.

The photograph appeared in the Sunday Times alongside a report dealing with objections by some fans to certain remarks about Wogan in the Daily Telegraph’s obituary. Among these was the reference to his collection of wigs.

The fans are being absurdly sensitive, as Wogan’s old friend Henry Kelly made clear when he said he saw no sign of hostility in the obituary.

I write, incidentally, as an admirer of Wogan, both on the air and off it.

That he was emphatically not a prima donna – rather, a primo uomo – was quite clear from his conduct in private life.

This was observable to me at various gatherings over the years in connection with Garsington Opera, of which he was a long-standing and enthusiastic supporter.

He proved an affable companion, too, along with Ned Sherrin, when I encountered him at Wltons restaurant in Jermyn Street at the Tabasco Club’s annual oyster-shucking contest.