Rolf Harris
Harris in November 2010
Born	(1930-03-30) 30 March 1930 (age 94) Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	Edith Cowan University University of Western Australia
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, composer, television personality, broadcaster, painter
Spouse	Alwen Harris[1]
Children	1 daughter[2]

Rolf Harris, AO, CBE (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian-born, British-based entertainer.^[5] He is a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter, and former television personality. He has lived in the UK for more than five decades, and resides in Bray, Berkshire.^[3][4]

Harris, who was born and grew up in Perth, Western Australia, was a champion swimmer before studying art. In 1952, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he started to draw animations for television programmes. Harris soon afterwards began a musical career, initially singing and playing the piano accordion. In 1957, he wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", which later became a Top 10 hit in Australia, the UK and the United States. While performing in Canada he introduced a longstanding, popular routine around his song "Jake the Peg". Harris often uses unusual instruments in his performances: he plays the didgeridoo, is credited with the invention of a rhythmic percussion instrument, the wobble board, and is associated with the Stylophone, a small electronic keyboard instrument.^[6]

During the 1960s Harris became a popular television personality, later presenting shows including Rolf's Cartoon Club, Animal Hospital and various programmes about serious art. In 2005 he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that was the subject of a special episode of Rolf on Art.

In 2013 Harris was arrested and charged with twelve counts of indecent assault, and four of making indecent images of a child; the three alleged victims were aged between 7 and 19 at the time.^[7][8] He denied any wrongdoing and his trial began on 6 May 2014.^[9] On 30 June 2014, Harris was found guilty of all twelve charges of indecent assault, making him the second person to be convicted under Operation Yewtree. He is to be sentenced on 4 July.^[10] The status of the other charges is unclear.

A poll taken by Reader's Digest Australia before Harris's conviction listed him as #90 among Australia's 100 most trusted people.^[11]

Early life

Harris was born on 30 March 1930 in Perth, Western Australia, where his parents lived in the suburb of Wembley.^[12] They were Agnes Margaret Harris (née Robbins) and Cromwell ("Crom") Harris, who had both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales. He was named after Rolf Boldrewood, an Australian writer whom his mother admired.^{[citation needed]}

Having grown up in the suburb of Bassendean in Perth, Harris was once referred to as "The Boy from Bassendean".^[13] As a child he owned a dog called Buster Fleabags, about whom he later wrote a book (for the UK Quick Reads Initiative).^[14]

As an adolescent and young adult Harris was a champion swimmer.^[16] In 1946 he was the Australian Junior 110 yards Backstroke Champion.^[17]

He was also the Western Australian state champion over a variety of distances and strokes during the period from 1948 to 1952.^[18]

Harris attended Perth Modern School in Subiaco, later gaining a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia and a Diploma of Education from Claremont Teachers' College (now Edith Cowan University).^[1][19]

While he was just 16, and still a student at Perth Modern School, his self-portrait in oils was one of the 80 works (out of 200 submitted) accepted to be hung in the Art Gallery of New South Wales as an entry in the 1947 Archibald Prize.^[20] He painted a portrait of the then Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell, for the 1948 Archibald Prize.^[21] He won the 1949 Claude Hotchin prize for oil colours with his landscape "On a May Morning, Guildford".^[22]

Music and art

1950s

Harris moved to England in 1952.^[23] He was an art student at City and Guilds of London Art School in South London, at the age of 22, before getting work in television at the BBC in 1953, performing a regular ten-minute cartoon drawing section with a puppet called "Fuzz", made and operated on the show by magician Robert Harbin. He illustrated Robert Harbin's Paper Magic (1956). He also had a few acting roles in British television programmes and films, as Harry in The Vise, and as Pte Proudfoot in the 1955 Tommy Trinder film You Lucky People.^[24]

On 1 March 1958, in London, Harris married Alwen Hughes, a Welsh-born sculptress and jeweller, while they were both art students. At their wedding, they had a dog as bridesmaid.^[25][26][27]

When commercial television started in 1955, Harris was the only entertainer to work with both the BBC and ITV, performing on the BBC with his own creation, "Willoughby", a specially made board on which he drew Willoughby (voiced and operated by Peter Hawkins). The character would then come to life to engage in a comedic dialogue with Harris as he drew cartoons of Willoughby's antics.^[28] Harris also invented a character called "Oliver Polip the Octopus", which he drew on the back of his hand and animated. Harris then illustrated the character's adventures with cartoons on huge sheets of card.^[29]

By this stage, Harris had drifted away from art school as a slightly disillusioned student; however, he then met his longtime hero, Australian impressionist painter Hayward Veal, who became Harris's mentor, teaching him the rudiments of impressionism and showing him how it could help with his portrait painting.^[30] At the time that he was working with Veal, Harris was also entertaining with his piano accordion every Thursday night at a club called the Down Under, frequented by Australians and New Zealanders. It was at the Down Under venue that Harris honed his entertainment skills over several years, eventually writing what later became his theme song, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport".^[31] He also appeared regularly at Clement Freud's Royal Court Theatre Club in Sloane Square in central London.^{[citation needed]}

Harris returned to Perth when television was introduced there in 1959 after he was headhunted. He subsequently produced and starred in five episodes of a half-hour, weekly children's show, as well as his own weekly evening variety show.^{[citation needed]} From 1959, he worked on TVW-7's first locally produced show, Spotlight, and during this time he recorded "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" on a single microphone placed above him in the television studio. The song was sent to EMI in Sydney, Australia and was released shortly afterwards as a record, becoming both his first recording and his first number one single. The song was also successful in the UK. Harris offered four local backing musicians 10 per cent of the royalties from the song, but they decided to take a recording fee of ₤7 each, because they did not think the song would be successful.^[32]

The novelty song was originally titled "Kangalypso"^[33] and featured the distinctive sound of the "wobble board". The fourth verse^[34] became increasingly controversial, due to the use of a racist term, and was removed in later versions of the song. In 2006, four decades after the song's release, Harris expressed his regret about the original lyric.^[35]

Harris sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", with the Beatles singing backing vocals, for the first edition of the From Us to You BBC radio show in December 1963.^[36] Harris changed the original lyrics to create a version that was specially written for The Beatles.

1960s

At the end of 1960 he toured Australia for Dulux paints, singing his hit song and doing huge paintings on stage with Dulux emulsion paint. While painting on stage, one of his catchphrases was, "Can you tell what it is yet?"^[37]

He returned to the UK early in 1962 and was introduced to George Martin, who re-recorded all Harris's songs the following year, including a remake of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" which became a huge hit in the US, and "Sun Arise", an Aborigine-type song Harris had written with Perth naturalist Harry Butler. The song went to number two in the UK charts, losing the number one spot to Elvis Presley. He met and worked with the Beatles after they started recording with Martin, and he compèred their 16-night season of Christmas shows at London's Finsbury Park Astoria in 1963.^[38]

Harris and his wife relocated to the United Kingdom (UK) in 1962, but regularly returned to Perth for family visits and also toured the rest of Australia, where he spent as much as four months travelling with his band.^[39]

In 1964 Harris and his wife had a daughter, Bindi Harris, who was born on 10 March 1964, and who was named after the town of Bindi Bindi in Western Australia.^[40]

1970s

In 1973 Harris performed the first concert in the Concert Hall of the newly completed Sydney Opera House.^[41]

Harris played the didgeridoo on the 1982 album by English pop singer Kate Bush, entitled The Dreaming. On his own 1974 single "Papillon" (EMI), a cover of a German song for which he wrote an English lyric, he played autoharp, in addition to singing.^{[citation needed]}

Harris created one of his most famous roles in the 1960s, Jake the Peg, but his biggest success was in 1969, with his rendering of the American Civil War song "Two Little Boys", originally written in 1902. Harris later discovered a personal poignancy to the song, as the story bears such a resemblance to the World War I experiences of his father Crom and Crom's beloved younger brother Carl, who died at the age of 19 after being wounded in battle in France, two weeks before the Armistice of November 1918.^[42] "Two Little Boys" was the Christmas Number One song in the UK charts for six weeks in 1969. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.^[43]

1980s to present

In the late 1980s, Harris was touring in Australia and was asked to sing his own version of "Stairway to Heaven" for the television programme, The Money or the Gun, hosted by Andrew Denton. He performed on the programme with his own small group and garnered great success, with the version released as a single in the UK several years later. The cover version ranked at number seven in the charts, which led to his appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1993. He then appeared at six subsequent Glastonbury festivals—1998, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2013—and a wobble board Harris used to perform "Stairway to Heaven" on Top of the Pops is an exhibit at the National Museum of Australia.^[44]

In 2000 Harris, along with Steve Lima, released a dance track called "Fine Day", which entered the "top 30" in the UK charts at that time. A "Killie-themed" version of the song was scheduled for release in March 2007, to coincide with the Scottish football club Kilmarnock's appearance in the Scottish League Cup final after the song was adopted by the club's fans in 2003.^[45] One of the adapted lyrics referred to a hypothetical situation, in which Kilmarnock could be losing the match 5–0, and the club coincidentally lost 5–1. Harris also performed "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" in 2000 with Australia's children's group The Wiggles.^{[citation needed]}

In November and December 2002, under Charles Saumarez Smith's direction, London's National Gallery exhibited a collection of Harris's art.^[46]

Harris played the didgeridoo for Bush once again, for her 2005 album Aerial; he also contributed vocals to the songs "An Architect's Dream" and "The Painter's Link".^{[citation needed]}

Harris was commissioned in 2006 to complete a portrait painting of Queen Elizabeth II on her 80th birthday. The painting was conducted at Buckingham Palace and unveiled by Harris on 19 December 2005 at Buckingham Palace.^[47] Harris explained to the Daily Telegraph newspaper the following year: "I was as nervous as anything. I was in a panic". The portrait was later voted as the second most-favoured portrait of the Queen by the public.^[48]

In September 2006, the Royal Australian Mint launched the first of the new 2007 Silver Kangaroo Collector's Coin series and Harris was commissioned to design the first coin of the series.^{[citation needed]}

Harris performed on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 2010, during the festival's 40th birthday, followed by an appearance at the Bestival Festival on the Isle of Wight in September 2010.^[49]

On 5 August 2011, Harris played at Wickham Festival in Hampshire, UK^[50] and also appeared on The Wiggles 2011 DVD release Ukelele Baby, singing and performing the song "Good Ship Fabulous Flea" with his wobble board. In December 2011, Harris's portrait of Bonnie Tyler was valued at an estimated £50,000 on BBC’s The Antiques Roadshow.^[51]

From 19 May to 12 August 2012, a major retrospective of Harris's paintings, entitled "Rolf Harris: Can You Tell What It Is Yet?", was exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.^[52] The opening day yielded the busiest Saturday on record, with visitor figures peaking at 3,632.^[53]

Musical instrument invention and experimentation

Harris is credited with inventing a simple homemade instrument called the wobble board.^[54] As well as his beatboxing, similar to eefing, Harris went on to use an array of unusual instruments in his music, including the didgeridoo (the sound of which was imitated on Sun Arise by four double basses), the Jew's harp and, later, the stylophone (for which he also lent his name and likeness for advertising).^{[citation needed]}

Recordings and appearances

Harris recorded a version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and performed the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself", accompanied only by his wobble board, for "Denton's Musical Challenge" on MMM radio's Breakfast Show^[55] (the recording was released on the first Musical Challenge compilation album in 2000).^[56]

Harris also recorded an Australian Christmas song called "Six White Boomers", about a joey kangaroo trying to find his mother during the Christmas period. The song describes how Santa Claus used six large male kangaroos ("boomers"), instead of reindeers, "because they can't stand the terrible heat" to pull his sleigh and help the little joey find his "Mummy".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2008 Harris announced he would re-record his popular 1969 song "Two Little Boys", backed by North Wales' Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.^[57] Proceeds from the release were donated to The Poppy Appeal.^[58] Harris was inspired to make the recording after participating in My Family at War, a short series of programmes that aired during the BBC's "Remembrance" season, which was broadcast in November 2008. He discovered that the experiences of his father and uncle during the Great War mirrored the lyrics of the song.^[59]

A sample of Harris saying "You've just heard one of the most remarkable applications in modern electronics", recorded from a Stylophone instruction disc, appears at the end of the 1991 Pulp song "Countdown".^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Harris has released 30 studio albums, two live albums and 48 singles. His 1992 Rolf Rules OK? album was nominated for the ARIA Music Award for Best Comedy, while "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" reached number 1 in Australia, and "Two Little Boys" reached number 1 on both the Irish and UK charts.

Television career

Harris completed a long career on British television, making his debut in 1953 on a five-minute spot—with a puppet called "Fuzz"—in a one-hour children's show called Jigsaw. The following year, he was a regular on a BBC Television programme Whirligig, which featured a character called "Willoughby", who sprang to life on a drawing board, but was erased at the end of each episode.^[60]

Although Harris chiefly appeared on the BBC, he was also on the British ITV network, with his "Oliver Polip the Octopus" character, which appeared on Associated Rediffusion's Small Time.^[61] He was then the presenter of Hi There and Hey Presto it's Rolf in 1964. ^{[citation needed]}

By the time The Rolf Harris Show was broadcast in 1967, lasting until 1974, on BBC1, Harris was well-known on British television. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, this series remained a popular light-entertainment programme in various versions, with the last show, Rolf on Saturday OK?, broadcast on Saturday evenings.^{[citation needed]}

Harris was the commentator for the United Kingdom in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest.^[62] Harris was the subject of This Is Your Life in December 1971, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in New Bond Street in London, UK.^[63]

In 1989 Harris presented a child abuse prevention video called Kids Can Say No.^[64][65]

On many of his television appearances, Harris painted pictures on large boards in an apparently slapdash manner, with the odd nonsense song thrown in, but he produced detailed results at completion. Harris would often say "Can you tell what is it yet?", just before the painting became recognisable. Such appearances led to a numerous television series based on his artistic ability, notably Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time, broadcast on BBC One from 1979 to 1989, and Rolf's Cartoon Club, on ITV between 1989 and 1993.^[66]

Harris was again the subject of the UK version of This Is Your Life in September 1995, when Michael Aspel surprised him during a bagpipes parade in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He also appeared on the Australian version of the television programme on two occasions.^[67]

From 1994 to 2003, Harris was the host of the reality television programme Animal Hospital, a chronicle of a British veterinary practice. During his time hosting the series, Harris adopted an abandoned English Bull Terrier from the practice named "Dolly".^[68] Harris presented 19 series of Animal Hospital for BBC One and the show won the Most Popular Factual Entertainment Show award at The National TV Awards on five occasions.^[69] Harris eventually announces that it was "time to move on" at the completion of the series, which broke "the hearts of thousands of fans across the country", according to the Radio Times.^[70]

In 2001 and 2004, Harris presented Rolf on Art, a television series that highlights the work of a selection of his favourite artists, including van Gogh, Degas, Monet and Gauguin. On 26 September 2004, Harris oversaw a project to recreate John Constable's famous The Hay Wain painting on a large scale, with 150 people contributing to a small section. On live BBC television, each individual canvas was assembled into the full picture as part of the episode Rolf on Art: The Big Event. Also in 2004 as a part of the Rolf on Art series, Harris travelled to Lapland to design and paint a Christmas card for the "Children in Need" charity organisation.^[71]

Harris has presented three series of the BBC art programme Star Portraits with Rolf Harris, with the first and second series airing in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Following the first series, a touring exhibition was organised with County Hall Gallery and featured portraits of Cilla Black, Michael Parkinson and Adrian Edmondson.^[72] In January 2007, a one-hour documentary titled A Lifetime in Paint, about Harris's work as an artist—from his early years in Australia to the present day—was screened on BBC One.^[73]

In 2007 Harris participated in the BBC Wales programme, Coming Home, in which he discussed his Welsh family history.^[74] In November 2007, an exhibition of Harris's new paintings was held at Portland Gallery, London, UK. In December 2007, a new DVD, titled Rolf Live!, was released through his website,^[75] while Rolf on Art: Beatrix Potter was screened on BBC One during the same month.^[76]

Harris appeared with a wobble board in a Churchill Insurance advertisement in 2009,^[77] and hosted the satirical quiz show, Have I Got News for You, in May 2009.^[78]

Harris is narrator of the 2010 Australian documentary series Penguin Island, a six-part natural history documentary about the life of the Little Penguin.^[79] From September 2010 to October 2010, he took part in Jamies Dream School teaching art to a class of 20 students,^[80] followed by an appearance as himself on the Christmas special of My Family, which aired on 24 December 2010.^[81]

In 2011 Harris made a guest appearance on BBC One's The Magicians, hosted by Lenny Henry.^[82] On 5 November 2011, Harris appeared in an episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories, in which he wept as he spoke about a period in which he felt his "life was over": "I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know what to think. I now know what people mean when they say, 'I've got clinical depression.' I'd never felt so low. There's no way to come out of the blackness. I felt out of control". Harris also stated that he regrets missing so much of his daughter's childhood.^[83]

On 2 May 2012, Harris appeared on The One Show, in which he described his artistic style as being "impressionistic".^[84] On 4 June 2012, Harris performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in London, UK.^[85]

In October 2012, Harris started presenting a series on Channel 5, based around Liverpool University's Veterinary School, called Rolf's Animal Clinic. At the time of Harris's arrest by British police on suspicion of sexual offences, the show was broadcasting a repeat run and was consequently ceased without any details of its future. As of 8 August 2013, Channel 5 has recommissioned the show under a new title, Ben Fogle's Animal Clinic, and have replaced Harris with former BBC host Ben Fogle.^[86]

Legal history

In March 2013, Harris was one of 12 people arrested during Operation Yewtree for questioning regarding historical allegations of sexual offences.^[23][87] The allegations were not linked to those made against Jimmy Savile.^[88]

He was bailed without charge and did not comment publicly on the allegations,^[89] but was understood to deny them strongly.^[88] When returning to the stage in May 2013 for the first time since his arrest, he thanked the audience for their support.^[90]

Charges

In August 2013 Harris was again arrested by Operation Yewtree officers and charged with nine counts of indecent assault dating to the 1980s, involving two girls between 14 and 16 years, and four counts alleging production of indecent child images in 2012.^{[7][91][92][93]} London's chief crown prosecutor, Alison Saunders, explained to the media:

"Having completed our review, we have concluded there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Harris to be charged ... The decision has been taken in accordance with the code for crown prosecutors and the DPP's interim guidelines on prosecuting cases of child sexual abuse. We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest."^[94]

Harris appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 23 September 2013, charged with nine counts of indecent assault and four counts of making indecent images of children. His lawyer indicated that Harris would plead not guilty and he was subsequently bailed.^[95] A further hearing at Southwark Crown Court took place on 14 January 2014, he pleaded not guilty, and his trial was set to commence on 30 April 2014.^[96] In December 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that Harris was facing three further counts of sexual assault. The CPS says that the new charges Harris would face were of alleged assault against females aged 19 in 1984, aged seven or eight in 1968 or 1969, and aged 14 in 1975.^[8][97]

Trial

Harris's trial began on 6 May 2014.^[98] After several delays in the lengthy trial, where the judge's summing-up took three days, the jury retired to consider their verdict on 19 June. On 30 June he was found guilty of all 12 counts of indecent assault.^{[99][100][101][102]}

On 4 July, Harris was sentenced to a minimum of five years and nine months in prison for the offences.^[103] Passing sentence, Judge Mr Justice Sweeney explained at Southwark Crown Court that Harris showed "no remorse", adding "You have no-one to blame but yourself".^[104]

Honours

Prior to the trial, Harris received a number of awards and honours. Following his conviction, many of these were rescinded.^[105] Harris was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1968; he was advanced to Officer (OBE) in 1977, then to Commander (CBE) in 2006.^[106] In 1989 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM),^[107] and was advanced to Officer (AO) in the Queen's 2012 Birthday Honours.^[106] In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for service to entertainment, charity and the community".^[107]

Harris has received two honorary doctorates: from the University of East London in 2007^[108] and Liverpool Hope University in 2010.^[109] Following his conviction, the University of East London removed his honorary doctorate.^[110]

In 2008 Harris was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. He was joined onstage by the Seekers to perform "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and his "Jake the Peg" routine.^[111][112] Also in 2008, to coincide with the release of Art: The Definitive Visual Guide, publishers Dorling Kindersley conducted the "What the British really think about art today" survey and placed Harris above notable English artist Damien Hirst.^[48] After being found guilty, the Australian Recording Industry Association removed him from the ARIA Hall of Fame.^[105]

In 2011 Harris was awarded the title of "Best Selling Published Artist" by the Fine Art Trade Guild^[113][114] and was made a Fellow of BAFTA the following year.^[115] After his conviction, the Academy announced that his fellowship would be annulled.^[116]

Styles from birth

• Rolf Harris (1930–1968)
• Rolf Harris, MBE (1968–1977)
• Rolf Harris, OBE (1977–1989)
• Rolf Harris, AM, OBE (1989–2006)
• Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (2006–2012)
• Rolf Harris, AO, CBE (2012–present)

References

External links

• Rolf Harris at IMDb
• BFI Database: Rolf Harris
• Some examples of Rolf Harris's art
• Walker, John A. (2005) "Rolf Harris: Celebrity artist" Jamani/artdesigncafe, February 2005

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