Australian painter, singer and entertainer who made it big in the UK.

Rolf Harris
came across from Australia in the 1960's to the UK and tried to break into showbusiness¹. He could paint and make strange noices that had both rhythm and pitch² but most importatnly of all he could do this plus tell a story all at the same time.

So it was that Rolf began as a children's entertainer. Painting on a large canvas with cans of housepaint and various brushes and sticks. The picture would develop from a series of splahes of colour into something quite extraordinary and beautiful ³. All the while he would tell a story, sing a song or merely um de and ah.

He played a piece of cardboard called a wobble board and the digereedoo and jews harp. His singing took off and he was soon recording chart sucesses "Two little boys", "Tie me kangeroo down sport" and "Jake the peg(with the extra leg)". But sadly his cult status wore off as the children grew up, but his lyrics are still the subject of many people's memories.

He presented himself to the next generation of kids as a cartoon drawer and presented Rolf's Cartoon Club before diversifying and presenting Animal Hospital a documentary series looking at England's largest vetenarian hospital. But he was soon back at the top of the charts when an Australian TV show asked all their guests to perform their own version of "Stairway to heaven" as the playout. Rolf's complete with wobble board proved the most popular and was soon released as a single reaching the top 5 in the UK.

But Rolf will always be remembered when during his numerous drawings he would turn to the camera when it was at it's most messy and ask "Can you tell what it is yet?" Before finishing it off with great applumb.