How Rolf Harris Fooled Britain...

Comments · 2.4K

• DR

  @drmadstudio6441 · 9 months ago

  Of all the names that ended up charged and jailed during Operation Yewtree, Rolf Harris was the one that genuinely knocked the wind out of me. I mostly remembered him from the BBC show Animal Hospital, which I’d watch every now and again whenever it happened to pop up on TV. People forget just how popular that show really was. It wasn’t some small, passing programme, it was huge. They even sold merchandise for it, which says everything about how deeply it lodged itself into British culture for a while.<br><br>When I used to go shopping in Birkenhead with my mum, the first place we always stopped was Beatties on Grange Road, a proper old-school department store that’s long since vanished. Toys on one side, clothes on the other, the sort of place that had its own atmosphere and smell, and made you feel like you were somewhere special. Whenever I wandered into the toy section, I can still picture the Animal Hospital playsets lined up on the shelves. They were everywhere back then.<br><br>There have been countless shows since about rescuing and caring for animals, but nothing’s had that same presence or warmth that Animal Hospital carried at its peak. For a lot of people my age, it’s tied into memories of family, childhood, and simpler times.<br><br>And that’s what makes everything that came out about Rolf Harris so jarring. Even now, more than two years after his death, it still hits a nerve. The man who fronted a programme about compassion and care turned out to be the exact opposite in real life. It’s unsettling, infuriating, and honestly just sad. I’m still shocked he turned out to be a nonce, it feels like such a violation of the trust a whole generation unknowingly gave him.

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• CH

  @Chrisjb-g7l · 9 months ago

  Even as a teenager in the 1960s I knew that there was something decidedly iffy about Jimmy Saville but Rolf Harris had me fooled one hundred percent.

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• TA

  @tallulahdurand · 9 months ago

  When I was a kid, I thought the guy on the KFC logo was Rolf Harris.

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• GR

  @GrandCustard3D · 7 months ago

  I remember when Rolf died and he was cremated. It was the only time Australia didn’t want the Ashes back.

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• SO

  @sookibeulah9331 · 9 months ago

  70s child here. My mother didn’t know who Rolf Harris was but she didn’t like me watching him and would tell me to change channel saying he was a creep. However, if she saw me watching Jim’ll Fix It she’d go nuts and shout “get than man off the TV”. Her reaction was as though I was watching “adult only” content and I was forbidden from watching him. <br>She didn’t mind me watching any other children’s TV or children’s presenters (I was too old to watch Phillip Scholfiel’s broom cupboard) she just hated those two and didn’t like their phoney familiarity with children. I don’t know how she knew how nasty they were but perhaps her being American meant she meant she didn’t buy into their shtick and saw through the overly affable front. <br>Sadly she died before Saville yet alone Harris were exposed, but I always think of her and her sharp instincts whenever I hear their names.

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• UJ

  @ujustgotpwned2008 · 9 months ago

  I found out he&apos;d died when someone just tweeted &quot;Digeridead.&quot;

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• TH

  @theotv5522 · 9 months ago

  Criminals should not be censored from history. They should be reminded so people will not forget what heinous crimes they did.

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• HE

  @heeeeeeeresrossy · 9 months ago (edited)

  Not gonna lie, this one shocked me when it came to light. Savile was absolutely no surprise, however.

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• BE

  @bettyhappschatt3467 · 9 months ago

  Well done. Real human narration is luxury nowadays.

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• VE

  @Veggie-h3t · 9 months ago

  Saville was obvious and i detested everything about him. Rolf Harris shocked me, i was honestly shocked.<br>But how about all those that knew and did nothing???

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• MA

  @Mandrake42 · 9 months ago

  Im an Aussie and years ago, back in like the early 2000s, I worked in the court system doing court recording. Anyway, just due to the fact that setting up a court was mostly bringing in a mixer, setting up a bunch of mics, taping down a bunch of leads and doing a sound check, a lot of the dudes I worked with were actually musos who did the job as a day gig to actually pay the bills. A couple of them were session musicians who had played with Rolf on several occassions when he was over here and both of them said the guy was a perv and not to trust him around kids. Honestly at the time I was like &quot;Nah, the tie me kangaroo down sport guy? The Jake the peg guy? Naahhh&quot;. People were in the know for ages but I think there were plenty of folks like me who were just like &quot;Nah, no way&quot;. Yes, yes way, and I was warned. I just wasn&apos;t a person in a position of power to do anything, even if I had believed it. Shame on those who did have the power and knew for sure what was going on.

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• OM

  @OMGitsSeppie · 7 months ago

  Rolf Harris lived near my local town, and in the late 90s he was invited as a celebrity guest to our dance school&apos;s end of year show. I still remember, as all 200ish children sat on the stage at the end of the show, how he came on stage and kissed my (rather young, probably in her 20s) dance teacher&apos;s arm all the way up one side and down the other arm. I probably have it on tape somewhere, as I have all my dance shows recorded. As a kid, I didn&apos;t understand that this was clear harrassment, but I knew it was weird and it always stuck out to me how strange it was to do that in front of all those children and a full audience of parents. I remember my teacher trying to move away from him, and as an adult recognise her discomfort.<br><br>When he was convicted of these charges, lets just say it wasn&apos;t a total surprise. If he felt emboldened to harrass a young dance teacher in front of everyone, what was he capable of behind closed doors? I hope Miss Justine is okay.

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