Rolf Harris

In June 2014 he was found guilty of (and in July 2014 he was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months) 12 historic indecent assaults against four girls aged between 8 and 19 at the time of the assaults. The sentence was referred to the Attorney General Dominic Grieve after complaints that it was too lenient. On 30 July 2014, the new Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, announced that he would not be referring the sentence to the court of appeal for review "as he did not think they would find it to be unduly lenient and increase it. The sentencing judge was bound by the maximum sentence in force at the time of the offending." On 1 August 2014, the Judicial Office said that Harris had applied to appeal against his conviction and that his lawyers had lodged papers at the Court of Appeal. In October 2014, Harris was refused permission to appeal. Since his conviction there have been further reports to police regarding alleged sexual offences on young girls and women by him.

He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to entertainment in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

He was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to entertainment, to charity, and to community.

Harris was one of the guests who performed a cover of "Stairway to Heaven", the Led Zeppelin rock song, on the Australian TV series The Money or the Gun: Stairways to Heaven (1992). Performed to the tune of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down," Harris' version became a surprise hit, going to #7 on the charts. Harris' version appears on a compilation DVD of 25 versions of the song performed on the show.

He was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 1989 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the community as an entertainer.

Rolf Harris was a star performer at the Opening Ceremony of the XIIth British Commonwealth Games, which were held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in 1982 - where Rolf Harris sang 'Waltzing Matilda' and also a restructured form of his best-selling hit: 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport'.

It was in his capacity as singer/artist, that he was 'targeted' in The Goodies (1970) episode: The Goodies: Scatty Safari (1975) where there was a 'plague of Rolf Harrises' - all of them singing and painting.

Harris is perhaps best known for his 1969 hit song Two Little Boys. His hero is Val Doonican. Harris enjoys taking photos, and dislikes unnecessary bad manners and inconsiderate behaviour.

He was awarded the M.B.E. (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1968 Queen's Birthday Honours List and the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1977 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the performing arts.

He and Alwen have a daughter, Bindi Harris (born 10 March 1964). She is named after the town of Bindi Bindi in Western Australia where the Harrises found Bindi stone, a type of fossilised asbestos.

Has now lived in Britain for many years, where he has had his own television series since 1954, based on his expertise as both a popular singer and an artist.

Rolf Harris came to London in 1952 to study Art. A year later he was appearing on TV as an artist and storyteller and had his first hit as a singer in the early sixties with Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. After a relatively quiet period in his life in the late seventies, his brother Bruce Harris became his manager and reinvented him.