Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (born 30 March 1930) is a British–Australian musician, composer, painter, and television host.

He was born in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, Australia, to Cromwell ("Crom") Harris and Agnes Margaret Harris (née Robbins) who had migrated from Wales. He was named after Rolf Boldrewood, an Australian writer whom his mother admired. He attended Perth Modern School in Subiaco.

As an adolescent and young adult Harris was a champion swimmer being the Australian Junior 110 yards Backstroke Champion in 1946 and Western Australian state champion over a variety of distances and strokes during the period 1948–1952.

Harris was created a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) on 17 June 2006, having previously been created a Member (MBE) in 1968 and an Officer (OBE) in 1977.

Harris had experience in Perth on television in its early years, with his rapid drawing style and flair for amusing entertainment.

He moved to England as an art student at City and Guilds Arts School, Kennington, South London at the age of 22, notably illustrating Robert Harbin's Paper Magic (1956).

He returned to Perth after art school and was involved in children's television shows. Some years later he returned to the United Kingdom to live. He has regularly returned to Perth over the years for family visits.

Harris has been credited with inventing a simple homemade instrument called the wobble board. This discovery was accidentally made in the course of his work when he attempted to dry a freshly painted hardboard with added heat, from hearing the sound made by the board as he held the board by the short edges to cool off. He suggests the effect can best be obtained through faint bouncing of a tempered hardboard or a thinner MDF board between the palms of one's hands.

In 1959 he worked on TVW-7's first locally produced show Spotlight. During his time at TVW he recorded his hit "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport." The song was recorded on a single microphone placed above him in the TV Studio. The song was sent to record company EMI in Sydney and it was soon released as a record. The novelty song was originally titled "Kangalypso" and featured the distinctive sound of the "wobble board" which was played by "wobbling" it back and forth. The original recording of the song issued in Australia was considered controversial by some listeners because of the lyrics: "Let me abos go loose, Lew^[1]/ Let me abos go loose/ They're of no further use, Lew/ So let me abos go loose". The verse appears to refer to Aboriginal servitude and captivity in a whimsically approving manner. In addition, the word "abo" was beginning to be seen as a term of abuse at the time. Most of the rest of the song refers to animals in captivity. The offending verse did not feature in later versions of the song. In 2006 Harris expressed his regret about the original lyrics.^[2]

Harris sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (with The Beatles singing backing vocals) in the first edition of the From Us To You BBC radio shows, in December, 1963.^[3] Harris completely customized the original lyrics to a version that was especially written for The Beatles:

"Cut yer hair once a year boys"

"Don't ill-treat me pet dingo, Ringo"

"George’s guitar is on the blink, I think"

"Prop me up by the wall, Paul"

"Keep the hits coming on, John"

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), Jew's harp and, later, the stylophone. Harris has played the didgeridoo on two albums by English pop singer Kate Bush, 1982's The Dreaming and 2005's Aerial. His biggest hit, however, was a gimmick-free rendering of the sentimental song "Two Little Boys" (1969), a departure for him in that he usually recorded either his own compositions or traditional songs. Harris also created one of his most famous roles in the 1960s, Jake the Peg.

He also made several television appearances in which he would paint pictures on large boards in an apparently slapdash manner, with the odd nonsense song thrown in, but with detailed results. These led to a string of TV series based on his artistic ability, notably Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time on CBBC in the 1980s and Rolf's Cartoon Club on CITV in the early 1990s. He also hosted a successful variety TV series in Canada, which was a second home to Harris during the 1960s. In 1967 he hosted the BBC's A Song for Europe contest and provided UK commentary at that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.

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 has been recorded and scheduled for release in March 2007 to coincide with the Scottish football club's appearance in the Scottish League Cup final after the song was adopted by the fans in 2003^[4]

In November and December of 2002, under Charles Saumarez Smith's direction, London's National Gallery exhibited a collection of Harris's art.[1] He was also commissioned to paint a portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II for her 80th birthday, which was unveiled on 19th December 2005.[2]

Matilda, the winking kangaroo was the mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. When Matilda arrived at the stadium, she 'winked' to the crowd as she went around the stadium track — then her 'pouch' opened and several young children (about 5 years old to 7 years old), dressed as joey kangaroos, rushed out (then ran to — and jumped on — a number of trampolines which had been set up especially for them).

Harris, who was standing, complete with wobble board, at the back of a small truck, then sang a special rendition of his hit song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", which included some lyrics especially written for the Opening Ceremony:

Let me welcome you to the Games, friends,

Welcome you to the Games

Look, I don't know all of your names, friends,

But let me welcome you to the Games.

Following his singing of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", Harris sang "Waltzing Matilda".

As well as a video tape recording of the Opening Ceremony being released, the music for the Opening Ceremony was released as an album and an audio tape, with Harris as one of the featured artists.

Harris' career received a boost in 1993 when his cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" became a hit, reaching number 7 of the UK singles chart.

Rolf Harris originally performed the song, live, during an appearance on the television comedy show The Money or the Gun. Rolf Harris' version of the song recreated the song in the style of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", complete with wobble board and didgeridoo solos.

It is important to note that, although he had the sheet music, Harris claims that he had not heard the original version when he recorded his; as such, he disavows any claim that his version was intended to be irreverent or humorous^[5].

Rolf Harris' version was one of 28 versions of the song performed on the show — and his version is one of the 25 versions of the song which was released on the The Money or the Gun's Stairways to Heaven videotape and CD (Rolf Harris' single comes from the same recording of his version of the song).

Harris also recorded a version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" around this time; unlike the tongue-in-cheek "Stairway to Heaven", "Bohemian Rhapsody" was performed relatively straight.

Later that year he made his first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in what was seen as a novelty act. Reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that he is constantly requested to play the festival. He played it again in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

He is probably best known to younger Britons as the host of the reality television programme Animal Hospital, which chronicled the real-life activity of a British veterinary practice. More recently, he presented Rolf on Art, which highlighted the work of some of his favourite artists, including van Gogh, Degas, Monet and Gauguin. It was successful enough to warrant a second series, and as of 2006, has made 5 series and several specials.

On 26 September 2004 Harris fronted a project to recreate John Constable's famous The Hay Wain painting on a massive scale, with 150 people contributing to a small section. Each individual canvas was assembled into the full picture live on the BBC, in the show Rolf on Art: The Big Event.

He was named as one of the Radio Times list of the top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time in July 2004.

On 19 December 2005, he unveiled a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as part of her 80th birthday celebrations. In his words, it is an impressionistic rather than photographic depiction. Some commentators found it to be offensive and unbecoming of the Queen, but the Queen herself expressed her approval at the painting after her final sitting, particularly with the way in which Harris had painted her smile. The story of the painting featured as a special edition of Rolf on Art, broadcast on BBC 1 on 1 January 2006.

He has also presented the BBC art program Star Portraits with Rolf Harris.

On 15 July 2006, Harris appeared on the British TV programme Richard & Judy to promote the stopping of the Canadian seal hunt. On the show, he also sang his own song, which he had written after a trip to Canada called "Slaughter on the Ice". The team behind the TV show had given a demo of the song to many record companies in the UK, however a release has yet to follow.

• The Official Rolf Harris Web Site
• Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
• Preview Fine Day (March 2007)
• Some examples of Rolf Harris's art