Rolf Harris is dead. No one will miss him.
I felt that as an artist, I should do a write up on the passing of Rolf Harris. If you live in the UK, you’ll probably have heard of him, especially if you were born in the 60’s or 70’s. Rolf was everywhere. He was an all-round entertainer who commanded audiences of millions on Saturday night TV, with shows like ‘The Rolf Harris Show’, and the later ‘Rolf on Saturday OK?’ Star guests would turn up on the show, the audience would be full of kids, and as well as his songs, the highlight of the week’s show would usually involve Rolf painting a giant canvas with the sort of brushes and paint your dad would usually buy to redecorate the lounge. Everyone would sit in awe as Rolf daubed seemingly random paint strokes, humming and every so often dropping in his catchphrase ‘Can you tell what it is yet?’ until suddenly an image of a landscape with fences and hills seemingly appeared from nowhere.
You see, Rolf was a talented artist. He was born in Perth, Australia, where he was a champion swimmer, before moving to the UK and studying art at the City and Guilds of London art school. He made the art the centerpiece of his shows, and I was certainly influenced by Rolf as a kid growing up. He made art look fun, and something anybody could do, when in reality it’s not that simple. Alongside his hit songs, such as ‘Sun Arise’, ‘Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport’, and ‘Two Little Boys’, he seemed destined to leave a lasting legacy. His swimming awards made him the perfect face of a TV ad campaign to encourage people to learn to swim, almost certainly saving lives in the process. He was awarded various honours, including the CBE in 2006 (probably not unrelated to being commissioned to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in 2005), and even when his career went a little flat in the ‘80’s, his teatime show ’Rolf’s Cartoon Club’ (where Rolf drew a cartoon character before playing the cartoon) rekindled his fame. He did a series in a veterinary surgery, ‘Animal Hospital’, where he’d regularly get upset as somebody’s pet would be admitted for surgery, not always with the happiest results. In 2010 he played at Glastonbury festival; his cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was a hit with an audience of all ages as he played his trademark instruments, the Didgeridoo and the ‘Wobble Board’.
And that should be his obituary. We should all be talking about this wonderful family man, who used his talent to entertain and delight his audiences. Except that in 2013, the police arrested Rolf as part of Operation Yewtree, an investigation set up in response to allegations of child abuse by famous TV personalities on the back of allegations about the British TV presenter Jimmy Savile. Jimmy was another presenter who had fame on children’s TV with ’Jim’s Fix It’, but after his death it became clear he was a predatory sex offender who had abused countless women and children over the years, crimes which had never been investigated in part due to his fame and high profile as a public figure. Rolf was caught up in this, allegations were made, and charges brought. Rolf was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault (one of which was later overturned) and sent to prison for 5 years and 9 months. His awards were taken from him, his musical legacy vanished from the radio, his artworks stored and covered up. Rolf Harris ceased to exist in the public eye. And rightly so.
The unveiling of Rolf as a predator was one of the greatest betrayals of trust amongst the public. Rolf was loved, and as I mentioned earlier was a major influence on my life. I took it very personally. I saw Rolf perform on numerous occasions, and he was brilliant — the audience loved him. We had signed books, signed 7” singles, signed ‘Rolferoo’s’ (his trademark drawing of a kangaroo with Rolf’s familiar bearded head). My sister went on stage with him when he did pantomime in our local theatre, more than once. Upon hearing of the charges, my initial instinct was ‘no way’, but as time went on it because clear what he’d done. Lives ruined, childhoods destroyed, families broken. As betrayed as we feel, it is nothing compared to what this man’s victims have gone through.
It seems that Rolf died on 10th May 2023 — it wasn’t made public until the 23rd, understandably to stop any publicity. But he’s now gone. The world won’t miss him. Social media is making it very clear they don’t miss him. The people whose lives were ruined by Rolf certainly won’t miss him. I won’t miss him.
Good riddance, Rolf.
If you’ve been affected by anything in this article, there are various organisations you can speak to:
- The National Association for People Abused in Childhood — https://napac.org.uk
- Supportline — https://www.supportline.org.uk
- Samaritans — https://www.samaritans.org
- NSPCC — https://www.nspcc.org.uk
