Rolf Harris arrived in England from Australia during 1952 full of artistic ambitions, and soon began training at a London art school. It was there that he met his future wife, Alwen- a fellow artist- which doubtless gave him an additional reason to settle in the UK. He had already developed most of his entertainment abilities while still in his hometown, Perth, though his efforts there were mostly on an amateur or semi-professional basis.

Although his early ambitions were in painting, the draw of the entertainment world was too strong for Rolf and he found himself hosting a show on children's TV, from which he soon widened his audience. He was such a good all round entertainer that he might not have been noticed for anything in particular. He was a skilled comedian, musician and cartoonist. He managed to combine the comedy with music on his records and added these to his artistic abilities in his TV shows to become one of Britain's most revered broadcasters, and until his fall from grace in 2014 even a national institution.. Despite the fact that Rolf has been resident in the UK for almost 50 years, he has always kept strong links with his first home, Australia.  

Rolf exploited his Australian background to good effect and his early 1960s singles all had an exaggeratedly strong Australian flavour. Most of his material he wrote himself including his hit with the novelty; 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down'. He has also exploited unusual musical instruments to make all his work very distinctive. These included the 'wobble board', which he invented himself, and the digeridoo.

By the late 1960s it looked as though Rolf's hit making days were probably behind him. However he managed to produce the last UK #1 of the decade with the sentimental 'Two Little Boys' which marked a considerable deviation from his previous Australian oriented output. It's now a long time since he produced singles, but he remained a familiar and popular figure on UK television, and even made regular appearances at Glastonbury to demonstrate that he had lost none of his musical abilities. 

• Listings include UK 45 singles releases only
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