https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/23/rolf-harris-entertainer-and-convicted-sex-offender-dies
Rolf Harris, convicted sex offender and entertainer, dies aged 93
Australian-born artist and musician was jailed for sexual assaults on children after a 50-year career as one of Britain’s best-known TV performers

Alexandra Topping and Jim Waterson
Tue 23 May 2023 08.40 EDT

The entertainer Rolf Harris, whose career as one of the best-loved performers on British TV ended in the disgrace of convictions for indecent assault on teenage girls, has died aged 93.

In October 2022, it was reported that Harris had neck cancer and was barely able to speak. His death was confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead town hall, close to his family home in the Berkshire village of Bray.

Harris’s family lawyer said: “This is to confirm that Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest. They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made.”

Speculation over Harris’s health has built in recent weeks and it is unclear at this stage when he died. He is survived by his daughter, Bindi Harris, and his wife, Alwen Hughes, who has had Alzheimer’s for many years.

Harris’s reputation was irredeemably damaged when he was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail in 2014 for 12 indecent assaults on four young women and girls between 1968 and 1986 (one conviction was later quashed). Sentencing Harris, Mr Justice Sweeney said: “Your reputation now lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours, but you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Harris was released on parole in 2017. Earlier that year, he was cleared of three further charges, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on four more.. A subsequent trial ended with the jury again unable to reach a verdict on three of the four outstanding charges, and there was no further retrial.

Until Harris’s arrest in 2013, he had enjoyed a stellar career in Britain after arriving from his native Australia in 1952. He made his first appearance on the BBC the following year, and rose to popularity with his own shows for children and adults from the late 1960s. He was appointed MBE in 1968, OBE in 1977 and CBE in 2006. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2012, only a year before his arrest.

He also found huge success with novelty songs such as Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, Two Little Boys and an improbable reworking of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. He appeared at Glastonbury in 2010, aged 80.

Thanks to his TV work he became one of Britain’s best-known artists, and in 2005 he was commissioned to paint an official portrait of the Queen.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/23/from-childrens-entertainer-to-convicted-criminal-the-downfall-of-rolf-harris
From children’s entertainer to convicted criminal: the downfall of Rolf Harris
He had personal audiences with Queen Elizabeth II and held national treasure status – until the world discovered the awful truth

Harriet Sherwood
Tue 23 May 2023 09.29 EDT

When Rolf Harris died at 93, he ended his life as a convicted paedophile. Since his release from prison in 2017, after serving almost three years, he had lived as a virtual recluse with his wife of 64 years, Alwen Hughes. He had neck cancer, and the only visitors to their house in Bray, Berkshire were carers and nurses.

It was a long way from his days as a national treasure. Once, the artist, musician and entertainer had spent much of his time visiting Buckingham Palace to collect a series of honours. He made two appearances on the UK version of This Is Your Life and performed his music at high-profile gigs across the country. His paintings, which once fetched six-figure sums, can now be picked up for a fraction of their former value.

Harris, who was born and grew up in Australia, first appeared on British television in the mid-50s, a few years after arriving in the UK to study art. “No one really cared about children’s TV in those days,” he once said. “You were able to learn your trade and make mistakes. If you had any nous, you could learn what to do, and that’s what I did.”

His eccentric approach on The Rolf Harris Show saw him create art in front of child participants, usually humming, burbling and whistling as he did so.. He never let on what he was painting or drawing, allowing the image to take shape until it suddenly became apparent – to the surprise of everyone watching. The programme was broadcast on the BBC for seven years, from 1967 to 1974.

He also introduced the didgeridoo, an Indigenous Australian wind instrument, to the British public, and invented the wobble board, using it to create the 1960 hit Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport. His version of Two Little Boys was the Christmas No 1 in 1969, topping the charts for six weeks.

Harris was awarded an MBE in 1968, an OBE in 1977 and a CBE in 2006. The BBC commissioned him to paint the Queen’s portrait for her 80th birthday that year and broadcast a programme, The Queen, By Rolf, to accompany it. In 2010, he appeared at Glastonbury and Bestival, while a national exhibition tour, A Life in Art, marked his 80th birthday.

Four years later, it all came crashing down. Harris was jailed for five years and nine months after being found guilty of indecently assaulting four girls and young women. One of his victims was the best friend of his daughter, Bindi. He had groomed the girl, who was 35 years his junior, since she was 13. (One of the 12 counts on which he was convicted was later overturned..)

The judge in the case told him: “You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all. Your reputation now lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours, but you have no one to blame but yourself.”

After his conviction, others came forward. Vanessa Feltz, the television and radio presenter, said she was assaulted by Harris in May 1996 while interviewing him live for the On the Bed segment of Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast.

The singer Linda Nolan said Harris had molested her in 1975, when she was 15, while she and her sisters were supporting him on a tour of South Africa.

Maggie Barry, a New Zealand politician, said Harris had groped her in the mid-80s when she was a radio reporter.

Harris was stripped of his CBE on the orders of the Queen and stripped of the Order of Australia by the country’s governor general. He was also erased from a giant painting of Australia’s showbiz greats.

Coming after the revelations of abuse by other stars, including Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, Harris’s conviction prompted further collective remorse about an era when sexual impropriety and crimes were too often brushed out of sight. After his release from prison, Harris made no further public appearances.

© 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Diner <bwaystars@gmail.com> wrote:
> https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/23/rolf-harris-entertainer-and-convicted-sex-offender-dies
> Rolf Harris, convicted sex offender and entertainer, dies aged 93
> Australian-born artist and musician was jailed for sexual assaults on children after a 50-year career as one of Britain?s best-known TV performers
>
> Alexandra Topping and Jim Waterson
> Tue 23 May 2023 08.40 EDT
>
> The entertainer Rolf Harris, whose career as one of the best-loved
> performers on British TV ended in the disgrace of convictions for indecent
> assault on teenage girls, has died aged 93.

Did they tan his hide when he was dead?
Is that it hanging out there on the shed?

> In October 2022, it was reported that Harris had neck cancer and was barely
> able to speak. His death was confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead town
> hall, close to his family home in the Berkshire village of Bray.
>
> Harris?s family lawyer said: ?This is to confirm that Rolf Harris recently
> died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to
> rest.

I guess not.

> They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be
> made.?
>
> Speculation over Harris?s health has built in recent weeks and it is unclear at this stage when he died. He is survived by his daughter, Bindi Harris, and his wife, Alwen Hughes, who has had Alzheimer?s for many years.
>
> Harris?s reputation was irredeemably damaged when he was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail in 2014 for 12 indecent assaults on four young women and girls between 1968 and 1986 (one conviction was later quashed). Sentencing Harris, Mr Justice Sweeney said: ?Your reputation now lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours, but you have no one to blame but yourself.?
>
> Harris was released on parole in 2017. Earlier that year, he was cleared of three further charges, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on four more. A subsequent trial ended with the jury again unable to reach a verdict on three of the four outstanding charges, and there was no further retrial.
>
> Until Harris?s arrest in 2013, he had enjoyed a stellar career in Britain
> after arriving from his native Australia in 1952. He made his first
> appearance on the BBC the following year, and rose to popularity with his
> own shows for children and adults from the late 1960s. He was appointed MBE
> in 1968, OBE in 1977 and CBE in 2006. He was made an Officer of the Order of
> Australia in 2012, only a year before his arrest.

I actually first became aware of him by a spoof sketch on The Goodies.
Tim Brooke-Taylor played his mother,supposedly advertising a product
called Bristo that she added to some food she was preparing for him.
Graeme Garden showed up as Harris,and mother offered him his favorite
dish,"laced with Bristo!",with Harris responding "Mother,you're so good
to me!",digging in,and dropping dead.
We then got the tagline for the supposed purpose of Bristo...
"Kills Rolf Harrises fast!"

> He also found huge success with novelty songs such as Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, Two Little Boys and an improbable reworking of Led Zeppelin?s Stairway to Heaven. He appeared at Glastonbury in 2010, aged 80.
>
> Thanks to his TV work he became one of Britain?s best-known artists, and in 2005 he was commissioned to paint an official portrait of the Queen.
>
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/23/from-childrens-entertainer-to-convicted-criminal-the-downfall-of-rolf-harris
> From children?s entertainer to convicted criminal: the downfall of Rolf Harris
> He had personal audiences with Queen Elizabeth II and held national treasure status ? until the world discovered the awful truth
>
> Harriet Sherwood
> Tue 23 May 2023 09.29 EDT
>
> When Rolf Harris died at 93, he ended his life as a convicted paedophile. Since his release from prison in 2017, after serving almost three years, he had lived as a virtual recluse with his wife of 64 years, Alwen Hughes. He had neck cancer, and the only visitors to their house in Bray, Berkshire were carers and nurses.
>
> It was a long way from his days as a national treasure. Once, the artist, musician and entertainer had spent much of his time visiting Buckingham Palace to collect a series of honours. He made two appearances on the UK version of This Is Your Life and performed his music at high-profile gigs across the country. His paintings, which once fetched six-figure sums, can now be picked up for a fraction of their former value.
>
> Harris, who was born and grew up in Australia, first appeared on British television in the mid-50s, a few years after arriving in the UK to study art. ?No one really cared about children?s TV in those days,? he once said. ?You were able to learn your trade and make mistakes. If you had any nous, you could learn what to do, and that?s what I did.?
>
> His eccentric approach on The Rolf Harris Show saw him create art in front of child participants, usually humming, burbling and whistling as he did so. He never let on what he was painting or drawing, allowing the image to take shape until it suddenly became apparent ? to the surprise of everyone watching. The programme was broadcast on the BBC for seven years, from 1967 to 1974.
>
> He also introduced the didgeridoo, an Indigenous Australian wind instrument, to the British public, and invented the wobble board, using it to create the 1960 hit Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport. His version of Two Little Boys was the Christmas No 1 in 1969, topping the charts for six weeks.
>
> Harris was awarded an MBE in 1968, an OBE in 1977 and a CBE in 2006. The BBC commissioned him to paint the Queen?s portrait for her 80th birthday that year and broadcast a programme, The Queen, By Rolf, to accompany it. In 2010, he appeared at Glastonbury and Bestival, while a national exhibition tour, A Life in Art, marked his 80th birthday.
>
> Four years later, it all came crashing down. Harris was jailed for five years and nine months after being found guilty of indecently assaulting four girls and young women. One of his victims was the best friend of his daughter, Bindi. He had groomed the girl, who was 35 years his junior, since she was 13. (One of the 12 counts on which he was convicted was later overturned.)
>
> The judge in the case told him: ?You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all. Your reputation now lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours, but you have no one to blame but yourself.?
>
> After his conviction, others came forward. Vanessa Feltz, the television and radio presenter, said she was assaulted by Harris in May 1996 while interviewing him live for the On the Bed segment of Channel 4?s The Big Breakfast.
>
> The singer Linda Nolan said Harris had molested her in 1975, when she was 15, while she and her sisters were supporting him on a tour of South Africa.
>
> Maggie Barry, a New Zealand politician, said Harris had groped her in the mid-80s when she was a radio reporter.
>
> Harris was stripped of his CBE on the orders of the Queen and stripped of the Order of Australia by the country?s governor general. He was also erased from a giant painting of Australia?s showbiz greats.
>
> Coming after the revelations of abuse by other stars, including Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, Harris?s conviction prompted further collective remorse about an era when sexual impropriety and crimes were too often brushed out of sight. After his release from prison, Harris made no further public appearances.
>
> ? 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
>

-=-=-
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