Talk:Rolf Harris

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[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] 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)


[edit] 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)

[edit] Lack of Chronology

This article is a mess and does not abide by simpl chronology, its back and forth, it needs a re-write!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)

[edit] 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)[1]. 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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) — 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)

[edit] Vandalism

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

[edit] 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)


[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:The-Money-or-the-Gun.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 02:51, 12 February 2008 (UTC)