Rolf Harris is dead

Rolf was a good entertainer but not a nice person. Lots of people have both good and bad in them. There's no reason why we shouldn't acknowledge that. Let's face it, most of us have a public face and a private life - it's just that the latter isn't usually illegal.

As Shakespeare put it in Julius Caesar "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones".

I was taken aback when the news about Rolf Harris broke. I had no inkling at all of his proclivities. Unfortunately his family have to live with this knowledge now it must be hard to bear. I agree with Septimia's last paragraph.

I just said good when I heard.
No time for anything to do with paedophiles surprised at myself for responding here even. Yeuk.

Same here Dogsmother

Good riddance 🤮

I used to love to watch Rolf Harris doing his artwork on TV .
I thought that it was
marvellous .

I was so shocked and disappointed to hear that he was a paedophile .

I agree with you , Lady Dedlock; I remember him as a talented artist and entertainer; my daughter said, like you, he was part of her childhood and I don't believe he came anywhere near Savile or G.Glitter as a paedophile.

Agree with you Esmay.

We enjoyed watching Rolf as a family when we were little, he was so unstuffy.
Shocked and profoundly disappointed when the later revelations were made.
I never did have any time for Jimmy Savile or Gary Glitter - far too showy for my taste even then.

I am not conflicted as I thought he was a dreadful entertainer too.

We were all let down by this paedophile who managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.
This is why when politicians accused of similar have colleagues saying what nice chaps they are, for heavens sake, they have no idea of what can go on behind closed doors.

Good riddance

My immediate reaction was also good riddance. There's a special place in hell for paedophiles. And not as bad as Savile or Glitter? I didn't know there was a league table for paedophilia.

I’m another who was so disappointed I liked the Rolf we saw I admired his artistic talents and I saw him in person at a music festival and he seemed such a personable guy but I certainly didn’t admire his other side and felt very disappointed in him

Gary Glitter Saville and others I didn’t like they all gave me the creeps Rolf Harris didn’t before I knew so I was very surprised and let down by him

Nope

Won't be singing his silly songs or remembering anything he did fondly

Because everything he did was to enable his access to children

His memory can die along with him

Not a league table as such, but Saville had offended for nearly fifty years, mainly in plain sight. A lot of people knew. Although why he managed to get so close to Charles, who knows. Harris though, does not seem to have been so rampant.

Blondiescot

My immediate reaction was also good riddance. There's a special place in hell for paedophiles. And not as bad as Savile or Glitter? I didn't know there was a league table for paedophilia.

I meant that I could always see something not right about Savile and Gary Glitter but Rolf Harris was harder to read.

Rolf Harris could and probably was doing this fir 50 years too, paedophiles don’t just do these awful things once or twice, it’s lifelong.

Good riddance. I hope he’s rotting in hell.

eazybee

I agree with you , Lady Dedlock; I remember him as a talented artist and entertainer; my daughter said, like you, he was part of her childhood and I don't believe he came anywhere near Savile or G.Glitter as a paedophile.

What an odd thing to say, he came near to Savile and Glitter in that he was a paedophile, there are not good and bad ones.

As a small child I found ‘Jake the Peg’ hilarious and I loved watching him do those enormous paintings.

When his criminal activities were discovered I actually felt let down in some way. Savile was creepy, Harris didn’t have the same vibe.

Yes, he was part of my childhood and a part of my children’s with Animal Hospital. Would I ever hum his tunes? No. He was a paedophile - end of. I am very surprised by some of the comments about him being a paedophile at the bottom of the scale! What!? I agree with VS - his jobs were all to enable him to get near children.

Hoorah! Another one gone, no more to say

I understand what you mean, LHD, I too always found Savile and Glitter repellent, and there are a couple of performers around at the moment who give me the same creepy revulsion, but Rolf Harris was a happy part of my childhood, and he was a talented artist. I am not excusing him, nor do I think there is a 'league table' of paedophiles, but I was sad when the truth came out about him.

I agree with Septimia - there are undoubtedly many people in the world of entertainment and the arts whose public profile and work we like (or have liked) but whose private life we would disagree with or hate. Like Septimia and her love of Wagner's music, I have a dilemma with Eric Gill's sculpture and paintings. Nowadays, however, it is less easy to hide illegal behaviour whereas, in the past, the exploits of Savile, Harris and Glitter were largely covered up - by the BBC, amongst others - who either didn't believe the victims or didn't want to lose their hugely popular entertainer. I have no particular fond memories of either Jim'll Fix It or the Rolf Harris TV shows but I'm sad that, 50 years on from my clubbing days, I can't just include "Rock and Roll" on my playlist without thinking about the connoitations.