Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He was convicted in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, which effectively ended his career.
Harris is known for his songs "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (a Top 10 hit in Australia, the UK, and the United States) and "Jake the Peg" and his recording of "Two Little Boys" (which reached number 1 in the UK). He often used unusual instruments in his performances: he played the didgeridoo; is credited with the invention of the wobble board; and is associated with the Stylophone. During the 1960s and 1970s, Harris became a successful television personality in the UK, later presenting shows such as Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital. In 2005, he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. He lived in Bray, Berkshire, England, for more than six decades.
In July 2014, at the age of 84, Harris was jailed for five years and nine months in prison on twelve counts of indecent assault on four teenage female victims during the 1970s and 1980s. He was released on licence in 2017 after serving nearly three years. Following his conviction, he was stripped of many of the honours that he had been awarded during his career, including the AO and CBE.
Harris was born on 30 March 1930 in Bassendean, Western Australia to Agnes Margaret (née Robbins) and Cromwell ("Crom") Harris, who had both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales. He grew up in Wembley, Western Australia. He was named after Rolf Boldrewood, the pseudonym of an Australian writer whom his mother admired. After his later fame, Harris was often referred to as "the boy from Bassendean" within Australia. As a child he owned a dog called Buster Fleabags, about whom he later wrote a book (for the UK Quick Reads Initiative).
Harris attended Bassendean State School and 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). 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. He painted a portrait of the then Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell, for the 1948 Archibald Prize. He won the 1949 Claude Hotchin prize for oil colours with his landscape "On a May Morning, Guildford".
As an adolescent and young adult Harris was a champion swimmer. In 1946, he was the Australian Junior 110 yards (100 metres) Backstroke Champion. He was also the Western Australian state champion over a variety of distances and strokes during the period from 1948 to 1952
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