Rolf Harris was an Australian musician, television personality, painter and actor. He often used unusual instruments like the didgeridoo and the stylophone in his performances, and is credited with the invention of the wobble board. He was convicted in England in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, which effectively ended his career.
Harris began his entertainment career in 1953, releasing several songs, including "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (a Top 10 hit in Australia, the UK and the United States), "Sun Arise", "Jake the Peg" and "Two Little Boys", which reached number 1 in the UK. From the 1960s, Harris was a successful television personality in the UK, later presenting shows such as Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital. In 1985, he hosted the short educational film Kids Can Say No!, which warned children between ages five and eight how to avoid situations where they might be sexually abused, how to escape such situations and how to get help if they are abused. In 2005, Harris painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
After the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, Harris was arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree police investigation and was questioned in May 2013 regarding historical allegations of sexual offences. Harris denied any wrongdoing and was bailed without charge. In August 2013, Harris was again arrested, and charged with nine counts of indecent assault dating to the 1980s, involving two girls between 14 and 16 years old, as well as four counts alleging production of indecent child images in 2012.
In July 2014, Harris, aged 84, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on twelve counts of indecent assault on four female victims, during the 1970s and 1980s. He was released on licence in 2017 after serving nearly three years at HM Prison Stafford. Following his conviction, Harris was stripped of many of his honours, and reruns of his television programmes were pulled from syndication. One count was overturned as unsafe in 2017. Harris applied for permission to appeal against his convictions concerning the other girls, but this was refused.
