Shame of showbiz sex predator
FOR DECADES, Rolf Harris was regarded as a national treasure in Britain thanks to his artistic abilities and jovial manner but his career ended overnight in 2014 when he was convicted over a string of sexual assaults.
The disgraced entertainer was jailed for five years and nine months for 12 assaults between 1968 and 1986 on four girls including his daughter’s friend and two girls in their early teens. One conviction involving an eight-yearold girl was later overturned.
At his sentencing, the court heard he was a “sinister pervert”.The judge said he had abused his fame to commit his crimes.
“You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all,” the judge told him. “Your reputation now lies in ruins, but you have no one to blame but yourself.”
Harris never apologised to his victims.
Before his crimes came to light, Harris was a family entertainer known for his drawings on Rolf’s Cartoon Club and his catchphrase “Can you tell what it is yet?” He hosted BBC shows Animal Hospital and Rolf On Art.
In 2005 he painted a portrait of the Queen on her 80th birthday.
He was stripped of all his honours, including an MBE, OBE and CBE, following his convictions.
Harris was born in Perth, Australia, and learned to play the piano accordion at school.
He mastered the didgeridoo after discovering Aboriginal art and later invented the wobble board, a piece of fibreboard that produces sounds when it is flicked outwards.
Harris brought his particular brand of entertainment to Britain as a 21-year-old in 1952.
He was known for his theme song Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, his 1969 No.1 hit Two Little Boys and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven.
He died of neck cancer and “frailty of old age” at his home in Bray, Berkshire.
He is survived by his wife, the jeweller and sculptress Alwen Hughes, and their daughter, Bindi.