He learned about Jimmy Savile when he worked at the BBC, but that particular "conspiracy theory" took quite a while to make its way into the mainstream. I suppose once you get a reputation for this sort of thing, people will reach out and share their stories and experiences. Don't forget the media is heavily filtered, and they couldn't possibly print half of the stuff that they know, but Icke operates outside of these restrictions. Personally, I would take everything he says with a pinch of salt, but I wouldn't necessarily dismiss everything out of hand. Take the Digital ID microchips for example, they do exist but he has been ridiculed for saying it.