If you were a kid in the UK in the 1960s you know Rolf Harris as the Australian kid presenter who sang Australian folk songs, played a didgeridoo and would take a black canvas and make drawings like he was a performing a magic trick. A squiggle here, a shading there and all the time talking in his thick Australian and then he turn around and he would have a finished picture illustrating the song he was about to sing.
I loved him a lot because in a world of pre-teens being treated almost disrespectfully by the people who produced children's television programs, Harris treated us very well. he was a pleasant, easy going and instructive.
In 1957 Rolf wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down", the story of a dying man in the Australian outback, telling his friends how to take care of the animals he leaves behind. The rhymes are really clever and for a depressing concept, the rhymes come at you with a smile that lessons the bite. In 1963 he covered "Stairway To Heaven" and it became a hit in the UK!
82 year old Harris was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the performing and visual arts and his charity work. It couldn't have happened to a better sport.