Talk:Rolf Harris/Archive 1

Religion
I read somewhere that Rolf was Jewish does anyone know anything about his religious background?


 * As far as I can remember, Rolf has no particular religious belief himself. If he did have a Jewish upbringing it doesn't seem to have impacted on his career in any significant way. You'd expect some hint of Jewishness in his comic songs if nothing else, wouldn't you? There's perhaps a bit of the Jewish comic tradition in "Jake the Peg", but it's more likely just a result of Rolf's ability to absorb elements from all sorts of musical tradition. --Bonalaw 12:22, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Can people PLEASE stop changing his name to "Rofl" Harris. It is rather childish.


 * Seconded. This guy has had enough fair artistic and sporting accomplishments to his name that taking him a peg down with that sort of stunt is like an ant biting a elephant. - Random ECU Undergrad.


 * It has just happened again, unfortunately. I am now in the process of reverting the latest incident of this moronic behaviour. Figaro 01:17, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * And I have just reverted again. This time the culprit who changed Rolf Harris' name to 'Rofl' was 81.79.129.62. As has already been mentioned, it is a rather childish thing to do, and the 'edits' are now bordering on the monotonous and tedious. They are certainly not original.  Figaro 09:22, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Missing content - discography now!
There should surely be some mention of Jake the Peg? I just don't see where it fits in (ahem).

I'm sure he wouldn't mind!

I'd really like some mention of his contribution to two of Kate Bush's albums - The Dreaming (1982) - and her latest, Aerial (2005). On both he plays didgeridoo, and he also has a small role as a narrator on Aerial. There are links to Rolf from the wikipedia page on Kate, but not vice versa, which makes no sense.


 * In addition to the above suggestions, I'd also like to see some mention of his facility with rapid-fire lyrics, as in "I've Been Everywhere Man"'. Slowmover 20:28, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

No discography - a grotesque omission! What about "war canoe" that adam ant ripped off?? -h

I made a partial discography. It's a bit tricky I suspect there's lots of albums I missed, but, should anyone feel the desire to add more, go ahead. 75.153.121.178 (talk) 06:35, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Remaining vandalism
I've noticed "rofl" is still showing in the text of first two external links. I can't change it myself at the moment as the page is still protected. --A bit iffy 19:37, 7 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Fixed, thanks. violet/riga (t) 20:21, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

I entered Rolf Harris on facebook group enquiry and there's a group there that says Rolf died April 1st 2008.Obviously there are some who dislike Rolfs style of music,humour,etc.Some petty people want to spread mischief & think they are funny.Ern Malleyscrub (talk) 09:01, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Controversial Lyrics
The article quotes the apparently controversial lyrics from Tie Me Kangaroo Down as "Let me abos go loose, Lew", while the first footnote states that this was merely what was printed in the newspaper, but that the original lyrics were actually "Let me abos go loose, Bruce". The article states that "the offending verse did not feature in later versions of the song".

The LP that I grew up listening to in the '70s (no idea how old it was then) included the "offending verse", and it quite clearly said "Lew" (or "Lou"), not "Bruce". That old LP is long gone, but even the MP3 I have and listen to now contains said verse, with the name Lew (or Lou), not Bruce. Is there a citeable source for the "Bruce" claim? It seems that if the verse was not included in later recordings, after the original, then I've been listening to the original all these years and it does say "Lew", not "Bruce". On the other hand, if the original recording did indeed say "Bruce", then there was at least one subsequent recording which still included the verse about 'abos', but with a different name. -Tenmiles 23:21, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Lack of Chronology
This article is a mess and does not abide by simpl chronology, its back and forth, it needs a re-write!User:SatuSuro 06:23, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

On a (vaguely!) related note, the link about Harris no longer singing the 'Abo' verse of Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport says that Harris claims not to have sung the verse since 1960. My folks have the 'This is Rolf Harris' album and while I cannot find a date for it, it must be post-1968 coz on the back it has ads for other Harris albums (inc. one from 68) and it includes the verse. If he stopped singing the verse out of shame (as he claims) why would he let a recording of the song with the verse be included on an album 8 years later? Anyone have any further info? Didn't think this could be put straight into article w/o someone else's opinion first. Binnor 06:31, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I recall the album 'he Wizard Of Aussie' from ca. 1961, which had the original 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down' - there was no verse with 'abo/abos' in it! Can it be that someone, somewhere, somehow has placed this as a rumour? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.17.143.143 (talk) 17:13, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Swimming
I thought he also had a swimming career, and maybe won a medal. Shouldn't somrthing about that go in?

He featured in "Learn To Swim" ads in the UK when I was growing up (1980s). According to this site (http://www.rich.durge.org/rolf/faq.html) Rolf was an Australian junior backstroke swimming champion at the age of 15. There's also this article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/10/29/tlrolf.xml) that has info. Plus, plenty more if you search Google for Rolf Harris swimming, such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4689364.stm. JanesDaddy 16:18, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Vancouver
Apparently Rolf Harris spent ten years in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He recorded two versions of the song "Vancouver Town", one in the 1960's and the other in 1971. The 1971 version contains a "special verse" using the tune of "Colonial Boy" to decry the poltical antics of British Columbian politicans, notably the "Wild Kelowna Boys" referring to the sons of then B.C. Premier W.A.C. Bennett. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nathaniel Christopher (talk • contribs)

Good write-up about him on the news of his CBE at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5087294.stm --JanesDaddy 09:50, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

How can you go to Vancouver by mistake? Where did they mean to go? Horripilation (talk) 11:54, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Nationality?
The article states that Rolf is "Australian / British". I always thought he was just Australian. Can someone confirm that he is a British citizen as well? If not then he should be properly described as "Australian" only. -- Hux 06:17, 30 October 2006 (UTC)


 * And now it says "British-Australian".  He's Australian by birth, citizenship and unpbringing.  His parents were British and he now resides in Britain, but that doesn't imo make him British.  I'm changing it to "Australian".  JackofOz 08:44, 27 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The article states that his parents emigrated from Wales, therefore he is a British citzen by descent, as well as an Australian citizen by birth (i.e., he has dual citizenship). The only way he would not be a British citizen would be if both of his parents had given up their British citizenship before he was born, or if he had given up his British citizenship.  I can't find anything which indicates that either he or his parents gave up British citizenship.  Therefore, British-Australian seems like an accurate description.Eggybacon (talk) 01:06, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually I'm going to correct you there. According to nationality law, the nationality of your parents does NOT determine your nationality. Nationality law states that, if you are born in a country and your parents are "settled", your nationality is of that country. Therefore, he was 100% Australian until he moved to the UK.

He's lvied here for a long time, but that doesn't mean he's British. Not necessarily anyway. Charlie Chaplin lived in the US for a long time, but he never obtained US citizenship - and so never became an American. This may well be the case with Rolf Harris.

He's not British until we can find a source proving that he has dual citizenship. If he does, fair enough - but if we can't find a source stating that, then Australian would be correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.115.100.65 (talk) 21:12, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Which "nationality law" are you talking about? The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 stated that any legitimate child of a British father is automatically a British Subject even if born in a foreign country (see http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1914/pdf/ukpga_19140017_en.pdf and also History_of_British_nationality_law).  The main difference in current law is that it can be either the father or the mother and they don't need to be married.Eggybacon (talk) 11:38, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Kentucky Fried Chicken
Didn't Rolf once star as Colonel Sanders in KFC commercials in the UK? 217.155.20.163 19:02, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Highly Revered
Is it true he is as highly revered in Australia as Elvis is in the US? 209.191.205.44 (talk) 21:58, 28 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Who knows? Frank  |  talk  22:02, 28 August 2008 (UTC)


 * No! Elvis is more highly revered in Australia than Harris is in Australia, so I do not think he is as highly revered in Australia as Elvis is in the US. Funny. Format (talk) 20:31, 8 January 2009 (UTC)


 * In the UK Rolf is more revered than God and every Elvis combined. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.27.38 (talk) 18:45, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

As an Australian aged 54 I can affirm that Rolf is popular and held in the affections of many Australians, although "revered" is a term hardly ever used here in any context.Rolf has become a part of "Australiana" and would be essential to any post-World War Two popular culture history.I would also submit that he occupies a totally unique place in the "Art" world by being accessable,humourous, and lacking the pretentions of many art discussions.Some would say he is totally lightweight in this field, but the ability to connect with people about art is one of Rolf Harris's strengths.There was a poll that showed many English thought that Rolf was the artist who painted "Sunflowers" by Van Gogh. There is much to do to educate the public about art!Ern Malleyscrub (talk) 08:51, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Image
When I try to resize the image it changes to a rather strange and minipulated image of a distorted Rolf saying "G'Day" in a speech bubble. Anyone else have this problem? - • The Giant Puffin •  19:27, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * The problem with image size has now been fixed, and the image is now back to its original size and dimensions (i.e. square).


 * The problem with size arose becaused of vandalism to the original image by Phlox, who was the person responsible for a giant-sized distorted image (altering a square image into an oblique one to distort it) &mdash; and then, as you commented, the giant-sized image was replaced by the "G'Day" image by anyone who tried to recapture the correct size of the image. Figaro 21:05, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism
Could this page please be protected against the repeated vandalism against it. Thanks. Figaro 23:01, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:58, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Bindi Harris - Date of Birth
I'm sure I read in Rolf's autobiography that Bindi was born in 1968, and not 1964 as stated here. I may be wrong though and will try to find out. GRJ 17:32, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Not representative?
In the UK, Rolf is primarily considered an artist. His murals with paint rollers are legendary and his Cartoon Time programme well known. Yet this article is almost all about his recording career. Maybe more art-related stuff could be included for balance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.96.164.105 (talk • contribs) 21:26, 18 November 2007


 * He's known as an artist in conjunction with his television career, yes. But that's already covered.  He's not as well known as an artist in his own right.  And besides, his recording career is lengthy and significant in terms of his notability. --Not big and not clever (talk) 21:38, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

TV Show
Harris was involved with a TV show that was centred on India.

Part of the show featured him decorating an elephant that was to take part in an important cultural festival.

Why the show was particularly significant was that it showed various examples of British military art that featured specific Indian scenes; and, often, having significant Indians (rather than Britons) as their major focus. I recall that many of these works were painted by a British artist — who was, it turns out, an ancestor of Rolf. Can anyone supply more details of this fascinating show, and include it in the article? 129.94.117.165 (talk) 03:18, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:The-Money-or-the-Gun.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 02:51, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Re-recording "Two Little Boys"
According to the news Harris will be re-recording "Two Little Boys". Any ideas as to the best place to put this? R Barrett 21:57, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Desert island discs
"In his appearance on the BBC's Desert Island Discs... Harris famously chose eight of his own records, the only artist ever to have done so"

I heard the show, and I'm pretty sure he chose three of his own songs, which is still a lot, but not as many as Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, for example. Does anyone have a reference? Tsuguya (talk) 11:08, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't have a reference, and I am sure this is wrong. I have read that one artist did choose eight of her own records, but it was an opera singer. (Sorry, can't remember her name.) This claim has been tagged Citation needed since December 2009, so I will delete it from the article. HairyWombat (talk) 04:58, 15 March 2010 (UTC)
 * It was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (as Tsuguya said); she chose them because they reminded her of memorable occasions (which could be expected, since she was a world-class performer, to be performances), or of other great artists she had collaborated with. She was, by the way, married to one of the most influential classical record producers, and her recordings figure prominently in her achievements.
 * The premise behind the comment is, I suppose, that choosing 8 of your own disks is narcissism of the highest order. This is undoubtedly an attractive and consoling idea for anyone who doesn't have any recordings he or she could choose.  But if you had made a number 1 hit, or collaborated with, say, The Beatles, wouldn't you want to be reminded of that on your desert island?  --RobertG ♬ talk 07:00, 15 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Rolf has been on Desert Island Discs twice, in April 1967 and August 1999. On the second occasion he chose 3 of his own records; on the first occasion he chose none of his own. Desert Island Discs. Richard Avery (talk) 08:48, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Return to Cardiff
Rolf is appearing at St. David's Hall in Cardiff on Sat 31 October 2009 in a remembrance concert where he will again sing Two Little Boys with a massed male voice choir of 300 voices including the Cardiff Arms Park Male choir (unclewizuk)

80th birthday tour
Just to add that it will be his 80th Birthday tour this year and will be organised and supported by his new gallery association. Maybe www.whitewallgalleries.com should be in the external links? Karenvhs (talk) 11:05, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Honours editing
Someone needs to sort out the formatting in the 'honours' section. I don't know how to do this myself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eatthefrog (talk • contribs) 17:20, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

Music and art
This section is too long (or at least, needs some subdivision). 93.96.236.8 (talk) 09:21, 12 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, do go ahead. Rothorpe (talk) 14:29, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

"Years active"
This appears to need discussion. Why did we use "years active" in the infobox? Firstly, we don't do that for individuals - see Template:Infobox musical artist. Secondly, what happened in 1950 to make him "active" (whatever that means)? 1950 isn't mentioned in the article. And how do we determine that he was "inactive" in 1949? Thirdly, why was the removal summarily reverted as "vandalism"? --RobertG ♬ talk 13:49, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
 * The editor who just repeated the suggestion that your removal was vandalism is badly mistaken, and if I weren't feeling lazy I would explain that point on their talk page. However, I'm explaining here why I did not revert their recent re-addition of the line. At Template:Infobox musical artist, the "For groups only..." text is not saying that this field is only for groups (it is for individuals and groups). As far I can see, you are correct about the 1950, but it's clearly at least roughly correct and so is not worth more excitement. Johnuniq (talk) 23:30, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
 * No excitement, just amused puzzlement. lol  --RobertG ♬ talk 07:02, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

A Midsummer Night's Dream paintings / documentary
Wednesday 29th December, 2010... a 90-minute documentary in the Arena series - "Rolf Harris Paints His Dream"...

"Rolf Harris dreams of painting the hilarious tryst between Titania, Queen of the Fairies and the donkey-headed buffoon, Bottom, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. So Arena invited supermodels Lily Cole and Lizzy Jagger and actresses Emer Kenny and Dervla Kirwan to pose for him as Titania. As he paints them he recalls his 57 years as a singer, musician, artist and regular fixture in the lives of millions." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wyn0g/Arena_Rolf_Harris_Paints_His_Dream/) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.181.55.201 (talk) 09:29, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Bonnie Tyler by Harris
The article sais "In December 2011, a portrait of Bonnie Tyler by Harris was sold by Cathy Sims for £50,000 on BBC’s The Antiques Roadshow.[20]" The footnote does not say it was sold. It just sais the painting was found and that the present owner said she would have to sell it, but it is never stated that the painting was actually sold. I cannot find any news confirming the sale afterwards.

Protect, protect, protect.
Let's just get his article locked/protected now before legal eagles have a field day, shall we? doktorb wordsdeeds 16:36, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Requested here last night - still waiting.....  Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:07, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Done I didn't see the request, but I did see a few unsubstantiated allegations being batted around, and I thought I'd best take a look here. I was surprised to see that it hadn't been done already!  Anyway, I've posted an alert on WP:ANI in case BLP violations start up on any related articles. Stephen! Coming... 12:24, 30 November 2012 (UTC)


 * I've now semi-protected this talk page, too. -- The Anome (talk) 11:53, 8 December 2012 (UTC)


 * REASONS WHY I WANT TO DELETE THIS SECTION: Protection and semi-protection are fine. But they are now in place, and it seems to me that this section is now itself dreadfully (and possibly even dangerously) cruel to a probably entirely innocent person, and is completely morally unjustified (and possibly libelous, though I'm no lawyer) because it tells people there's stuff out there for them to try to find. So I want it deleted as soon as possible.


 * Unfortunately I'm not sure how to proceed, because I fear that there may be technical reasons (related to protection or semi-protection) why it is being kept. Plus I fear ending up in an unwinnable edit war against one or more of the above 4 editors who have contributed to this section. So I will first try to contact each of them before proceeding, though I'm unsure how long I should give them to respond.Tlhslobus (talk) 13:24, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Raise it at WP:BLP/N. Though I've no idea why you might think that any of the editors in this thread would "edit war" - WP:AGF.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:43, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I tried WP:BLP/N first. But, at least on my computer, the link to the administrator-only section doesn't work. And to put it on the other section where any editor can see it will merely further spread the news that there's stuff out there which people can try to find, thus defeating the purpose of the exercise. As for edit warring, I have no particular reason to suspect that any particular editor will engage in what officially counts as an edit war, though I always fear the possibility because of the amount of warnings on the subject in Wikipedia rules. I also use the term as technically inaccurate short-hand for disputes (often just mild and polite disagreements) between editors which abide by the rules and are thus not officially edit wars, but which I dread because they are potentially exhausting and I'm always the first to give up, so it's always a complete and often a rather depressing waste of time for me. In fact, I recall recently having such a dispute (or mild and polite disagreement) with you on a somewhat related topic, which of course as always I lost. And since you haven't said you think deletion would be a good idea, and since the WP:BLP/N option won't work for reasons already mentioned, I take it I've already lost this one too, so I'm throwing in the towel right now. If somebody else more persistent than me wants to fight on, that's up to them, but I'm giving up (so much so that I haven't even got round to mentioning the matter to the other 3 editors, and right now I'm not sure that I'm even going to bother, as I'm not sure there's any longer any point in my doing so). I feel sorry for poor old Rolf, whom I have every reason to think is probably a completely innocent victim having his happiness and perhaps mental and physical health destroyed by the stress of being subjected to false allegations spreading across the kangaroo court that is much of the internet, but I'm afraid I don't think me exhausting myself metaphorically banging my head against a brick wall is going to do anything to stop that.Tlhslobus (talk) 15:24, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Pending changes may be worthwhile here.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 15:43, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Documentary (Nick Hornby)
Just a note to say – if anyone is wondering – that the Nick Hornby mentioned as co-executive producer isn't the author Nick Hornby of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity fame but an executive of the same name at TV production company Optomen. Cybersub (talk) 19:50, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 October 2022 - Rolf Harris' declining health
It's been reported by several reliable sources that Rolf Harris is gravely ill with neck cancer. Could this be added to the article? 89.243.124.57 (talk) 12:46, 5 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:13, 5 October 2022 (UTC)


 * There is some here but it is all a bit hearsay. Harris may well be ill, but there needs to be more direct confirmation.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 14:56, 5 October 2022 (UTC)