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Rolf Harris: The Rise and Fall of a Family Entertainer
Rolf Harris, a beloved family entertainer in Britain and Australia, passed away at the age of 93. He had been battling neck cancer and receiving 24-hour care, according to local media reports. Harris was known for his music, art, and TV shows aimed at children. However, his career came to a tragic end when he was convicted of indecently assaulting young girls.
Harris was born in Perth, Australia, in 1930 and was a prolific artist from childhood. He moved to London at 22 to attend art school, with hopes of becoming a portrait painter like his grandfather. He got a job sketching cartoons on children’s television a year later, and his work continued through the 1950s while he performed nights, singing comedy songs with a piano accordion in a club for Australian and New Zealander expatriates.
Harris wrote “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” in 1957, which would be his breakout hit. With his relentlessly cheery persona, Harris toured and performed on TV for decades, with his unusual act of rapid, performative painting and singing children’s songs like “Jake the Peg.”
Harris embraced by the British establishment brought his downfall. A woman who was assaulted by Harris decades earlier, when she was friends with his daughter, watched his televised 2012 performance at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert. She later testified that she decided she wasn’t going to have any more of it and would go to the police.
In 2014, Harris was found guilty of 12 counts of assaulting four girls, some as young as 7 or 8, between 1968 and 1986 and was jailed for nearly six years, although one conviction was later overturned on appeal. He faced further charges in 2017, but the jury was unable to reach verdicts and he was released from jail that year.
The prosecution portrayed the bearded, bespectacled entertainer as a predator who groomed and abused one woman for her entire teenage and young-adult life during the 2014 trial. Harris denied all the charges and said the allegations against him were “laughable.” The sentencing judge said he had shown no remorse for the harm he had caused.
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth, whose portrait he once painted, stripped Harris of a royal honor she had awarded him. Australia also stripped him of numerous honors it had bestowed on Harris.
Harris was a multi-talented artist who achieved great success and fame during his career. However, his actions had devastating consequences for his victims. His legacy will always be tarnished by the horrific crimes he committed.
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News Source : INQUIRER.net
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