DISGRACED TV broadcaster Stuart Hall assaulted a 17-year-old on the same day an episode of It’s A Knockout was recorded in Ely back in 1973.

Hall, 83, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to 14 charges of indecently assaulting a total of 13 victims, including one young girl aged just nine.

The court heard that the offences took place between 1967 and 1985, with Hall initially denying the claims when arrested in December, describing them as “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious”.

Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, then admitted the offences in April, though reporting restrictions meant they could not be revealed until this week.

It’s A Knockout was filmed in Ely in 1973 when a team from the city triumphed against a team from Hertfordshire 19-1, a show record at the time.

The court heard that, on the same day that the episode was filmed, Hall assaulted a 17-year-old in a hotel.

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said the 83-year-old was an “opportunistic predator”.

He said: “We prosecuted Stuart Hall because the evidence of the victims clearly established a pattern of behaviour that was unlawful and for which no innocent explanation could be offered.

“His victims did not know each other and almost two decades separated the first and last assaults but almost all of the victims, including one who was only nine at the time of the assault, provided strikingly similar accounts.

“Whether in public or private, Hall would first approach under friendly pretences and then bide his time until the victim was isolated.”

Hall, who in recent years was working as a football correspondent for the BBC, was awarded an OBE in 2012 New Year Honours. He was granted bail by the court ahead of sentencing on June 17.