What was your reaction to when you found out Rolf Harris was a pedophile?

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musizlover2008@reddit

Extremely disappointed and upset I was.

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Bubbly_Gap6636@reddit

The third leg and panting were a bit weird in retrospect

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Shyaustenwriter@reddit

Once saw him doing a book signing and he was wonderful with the kids and the parents. Funny, polite and grandfatherly. I was very disappointed

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Infamous_Telephone55@reddit

Rolf was innocent. He was cleared of the most serious offences in the 2017 retrial and maintained that his innocence of all the charges from the day he was arrested until.the day he died.

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Wretched_Colin@reddit

I felt really disappointed.

He sort of had a “grandfather of the nation” image.

Everyone loved him, he played music, painted, did the animal hospital thing.

It just goes to show that everyone has a private and public persona.

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This is why I think that men who want to work in professions concerning kids should be required to undergo a phallometric test to check their reactions to AI generated images depicting underaged people. Basically a pedo test.

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PM-me-your-knees-pls@reddit

So true. It’s just like when we found out that Neil Buchanan was Banksy.

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Substantial_Use_2189@reddit

I had to go and check to see if that was true hahaha

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Able_Ask_4267@reddit

Apparently there's another very high profile Beeb star who is just as bad as Harris and Saville, I'm not going to mention the name but when he dies, the shock and outrage will be much worse than anything you've felt before, I felt personally insulted when I was told.

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TooLittleGravitas@reddit

So people know, but nothing is going to be said/done?

Very unlikely in this day and age.

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CourtneyLush@reddit

Shocked. Did not see it coming tbh. Being a Gen Xer, I grew up with Rolf, 'Rolf on a Saturday', 'Cartoon Time', the Stylophone craze

I'd have been more upset if it had been Tony Hart though. If he was a bad 'un, I don't want to know about.

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AmbientSheep@reddit

Yeah, Tony Hart and Brian Cant.

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b3ta_blocker@reddit

He can

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stealthykins@reddit

Tony Hart was a saint, and there is nothing that will ever convince me otherwise.

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Snoo_85887@reddit

Morph on the other hand, total wrong 'un.

Same with Chaz, sadly (shakes head).

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AmbientSheep@reddit

Chaz was worse.

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Snoo_85887@reddit

The man was a monster.

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debsdogmanhunter69@reddit

I've heard from various reliable sources, that there is another "star" from that time frame who has been completely overlooked. He was married to a well know actress for a while. It'll be interesting to see if anything comes out about him when he dies. I was horrified when I found out about RH. He'd been a big part of my TV life growing up. It sort of turns everything you trusted as a kid, upside down as an adult. As for Savile, the people who were supposed to protect and care for others, were as bad as him. All the "keep your mouth shut, nobody will believe you, he does a lot for us" was total bollocks. Nobody would have made me keep my mouth shut! You look at the people these freaks surrounded themselves with and you wonder if they were the same or at least, what did they know.

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RealisticBug5646@reddit

Let me be clear - I detest sex offenders and paedophiles. They're the lowest of the low.

However, with Rolf Harris, part of my brain wants me to believe it's all just a misunderstanding. I know it's not, and he's guilty of what he was accused of. But because I idolised him growing up (animals and art were my life), in my head he was a kindly, benevolent grandfatherly figure.

I can't compute that with the person be turned out to be. It made me so sad.

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Weird_Georgiana@reddit

Someone said something similar to me, ending with "he wasn't as bad as Savile after all". I told him that actually Savile showed him the ropes because he recognised Rolf for what he was.

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Opening_Succotash_95@reddit

Saville was always a bit creepy. Hid in plain sight. Rolf Harris was genuinely loved by a lot of kids over several decades.

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Wretched_Colin@reddit

That’s how a lot of them get away with it.

There are so many abusers who seemed good, kind, found themselves in positions where they should be caring for kids and instead destroyed them.

Their actions destroy every good thing they might have done in their lives.

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eriometer@reddit

I’m pretty sure all normal people detest SO and paedophiles?

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Aggravating-Desk4004@reddit

I had a friend who's brother worked for the RSPCA and had to deal with him for Animal Hospital programme (or whatever that show was he did). He said he was one of the nastiest people he'd ever met and used to take his leave on filming days. He always said there was something sinister about him. Never had him pegged as a paedo, but just a generally awful human being.

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Opening_Succotash_95@reddit

Someone told me he was cruel to the animals as well.

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loaferuk123@reddit

I have a friends who dealt with him on Animal Hospital and apparently no women were allowed to be alone with him on set.

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StandardComment8941@reddit

Can you tell what I did yet?

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Good_Lettuce_2690@reddit

Loved Rolf's Cartoon Club as a kid. Wasn't that shocked as it seemed all these old weird looking characters from our childhood were being outed as paedos at the time.

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roobarb_the_dog@reddit

I never liked him. He gave me the creeps. So did Saville.

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Extension_Sun_377@reddit

Not surprised. It was known within certain circles but apart from warning people, it was difficult to raise the alarm back then. I remember a 1970s comedy actor (now sadly passed) telling me he really didn't like him and had avoided him, but wouldn't elaborate as to why.

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BeautyGoesToBenidorm@reddit

Can you give a hint about who the comedy actor was? No problem if you don't want to, I'm just curious!

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Extension_Sun_377@reddit

Yeah, I don't think it was a secret that he wasn't liked, and I can't say what the reason was, it's my retrospective musings that he may have been suspected for dodgy goings on, but I interviewed Tim Brooke Taylor for a fan convention once, and he told the story of how he and the other Goodies got into a lift with Harris after they'd taken the piss out of him on one of their shows and Harris was saying how much he liked them and they disliked him so much they wouldn't even be polite and say they liked his show and it ended up being a really awkward silence. He wouldn't be drawn on the reason behind that dislike though.

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BeautyGoesToBenidorm@reddit

Thank you! Maybe he wouldn't elaborate as it could've damaged the Goodies' career, had any comments of his made it into the papers?

It's a bit of a wild guess, but his reaction is very telling!

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ERTCF53@reddit

Why was he not stripped of his duel citizenship and deported on completion of sentence?

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chartupdate@reddit

I thought it to be bollocks because it was clearly a wrongful conviction. All available evidence proves that I was correct.

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

Looks like Rolf's law team have a Reddit account!

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chartupdate@reddit

No, but Rolf's law team did publish a book explaining:

how his most serious conviction was overturned
how he was acquitted in a second trial on bogus charges
why his remaining convictions were unsafe

https://amzn.eu/d/0gyvi1DZ

Required reading for anyone interested in the truth.

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

The truth according to you

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chartupdate@reddit

According to the available facts. Happy to explain any if you don't have time to read the book.

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TheSwiv@reddit

The BBC was a safe hunting ground for these people. Just like children's homes and church groups. The me are obviously disgusting examples of wasted breath. But it's those who facilitated or turned a blind eye, they too are scum. Even now we don't believe women and girls. But we will vilify the handful of trans kid/people I don't think we've moved on as much as we'd like to think

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DefinitelynotDanger@reddit

My college tutor was a camera operator on animal hospital. Bringing it up was banned from then onwards. Naturally we took to playing the theme song when he walked in the room in the morning.

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Dark_Hyperborean@reddit

I am not surprised, and how British people thought he was a kind and fun animal man and not a creepy fucking weirdo is beyond all reason.

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tyrannybyteapot@reddit

Do you mean Phillip Schofield? Because the only shock news about him was to find out he was married to a woman.

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Dark_Hyperborean@reddit

yeahhhh

haha right

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oooohshinythingy@reddit

I used to think he was creepy even as a kid. I wouldn’t watch him if he was on tv

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Status-Mousse5700@reddit

I thought the world’s gone mental no way is Rolf a pedo definitely a mistake….

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macleod2024@reddit

Initially I thought it was a knee jerk reaction to Saville. I thought anyone famous was going to get picked up on people trying their luck.

As others have said rumours about Saville were rife for years and he clearly gave off that vibe, pretty much hiding in plain sight. But to me Harris had hidden it much better. Was bitterly disappointed when the truth come out him.

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re_Claire@reddit

I was sad and disappointed tbh. Not because I adored him, I mean I liked him as a kid because animal hospital was one of my favourite programmes.

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Inevitable_Bit2275@reddit

He came to the summer ball at my uni one year to perform and then the sh@! Hit the fan - we were all shocked!!!

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MyCatIsAFknIdiot@reddit

I was sad as tying my kangaroo down now will have different connotations - and lets not go down the taking my koala back, Jack route

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Background-Shape-429@reddit

I don’t trust anyone with facial hair. It’s actually a decent barometer. Thatcher was a cunt for example.

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Far_Butterscotch_646@reddit

I wasn't too surprised, I had heard from some women I worked with he was pretty 'handsy' when they worked with him.

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Rhissanna@reddit

My mother worked a a children's hospital in the north east in the 70's. He arranged a visit to see the kids and bring them stuff, but only on the condition nothing about the visit was leaked to the press. Absolutely no publicity or he wouldn't show up.

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harrietmjones@reddit

There’s been various people in the spotlight (I’m not going to name them but I’m sure you know who I’m meaning) who’ve been ‘outed’ as dodgy people and I haven’t been at all surprised.

However, he was someone I was incredibly shocked and saddened to learn about. I used to watch Animal Hospital all the time when I was little.

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Yolandi2802@reddit

Shocked. And so disappointed. He was so much a part of our childhood back then.

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Parking-Tip1685@reddit

Thought he was arrested because people were angry that so many let Saville get away with it.

I followed the court case and couldn't believe he was found guilty. There was definitely better proof against the Corrie stars as they were easily proven to be in the area. The only proof of the Harris paedophile aspect was that bloke that testified that he knew it happened in the late 60s because he'd just returned from the Korean war..

I still think he was a common lecherous bloke of that era, no worse than Terry Scott or Sid James. Guilty of slapping somebody's arse and being a bit creepy but a long way from being a child sex abuser. Doesn't really matter now as he's dead anyway.

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No_Split8850@reddit

Reading this (TW) it’s probably difficult to conclude he was “a long way from being a child sex abuser”.

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sentencing-remarks-mr-j-sweeney-r-v-harris1.pdf

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Parking-Tip1685@reddit

? Those are sentencing remarks from after the trial, not evidence. The courts do get it wrong sometimes. The very first conviction mentioned (and youngest girl) was overturned, he was clearly found guilty of that with no evidence that he was even in the country. That one was ridiculous.

I have no idea if he was a prolific sex offender but his trial did have some pretty major issues. This gives a fairly good explanation of some of those issues. He should have been given a retrial.

Like I said, it doesn't really matter now, he's dead.

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llynglas@reddit

Disbelief and disgust.

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Familiar_Radish_6273@reddit

I met him when I was 12, he came to dinner with my family as he'd worked with my Dad, so safe to say I was kind of freaked out...

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PennyyPickle@reddit

Shock as I used to love Animal Hospital when I was little. My geography teacher was a huge fan of him and had loads of memorabilia in his room; we are talking signed pieces or original art etc and I remember going into his classroom the day the news broke and he just cleared the lot right into the bin in one swoop. He was devastated.

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iamdecal@reddit

When I was growing up, absolutely loved him, so much so that when the wife and I bought our forever home we wanted a nice bit of artwork for above the fireplace, and (as the saying goes) while “we don’t know art, we know what we like”, and wanted something we could connect to ….

Wish we’d bought a fucking Tony Hart instead :-(

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Wasps_are_bastards@reddit

Shocked. I loved watching him on tv as a kid

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Hot-Box1054@reddit

Very sad. I grew up watching him smh

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Srapture@reddit

I didn't know who his was beforehand, so I know him as a paedo first and foremost.

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Crivens999@reddit

Bit shocked. Wife on the other hand wouldn’t believe it as she saw him fill up with petrol in Maidenhead once, and thought he looked nice. Seriously…

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Oldsoldierbear@reddit

genuinely shocked

And then I remembered a sketch in NotThe Nine O'clock News -

Children were being rounded up, screaming and crying "NO".They were all.put into the back of this lorry and the doors were shut.

And on the doors were the signs for "Rolf on Saturday"

Someone, somewhere knew

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Extension_Sun_377@reddit

Oh yeah, but like Savile, it was nigh on impossible to prove or get the authorities to act back then. I used to know a comedy actor from back in the 60s/70s who really really disliked him but wouldn't elaborate. Sadly, they've since passed so will never know for sure but there were definitely suspicions within the industry.

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Livewire____@reddit

We call them Paedophiles in the UK.

Not pedophiles. They aren't interested in feet.

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PeaceOrchid@reddit

Unlike Jimmy Saville who always had a ‘vibe’ (not sure if I just thought that growing up bc he reminded me of my Grandad who was a child r*pist).

But I never got that of Rolf Harris, used to watch him as a kid, then loved him on Animal Hospital (I think that’s what it was called).

When I found out I guess I was just inured to so many people being noted as prolific nonces. I definitely didn’t expect him…. but by that time I’m like… ‘standard’ 😱

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SheilaCool@reddit

"Great. Now who else is?" 🙄

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No_Election_1123@reddit

I knew there was trouble brewing when a few months before Fleet Street Fox on Twitter advised anyone owning his artwork to sell it because it'll very soon to be worthless

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Brit-USA@reddit

He did a nice portrait of Queen Elizabeth, and it was consigned to the basement after it all came out.

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Aware-Conference9960@reddit

I was horrified, I loved Rolf on TV and always thought he seemed so nice and a family man. Looks can be decieving

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Suspicious_Banana255@reddit

I loved watching him growing up, he seemed so friendly and safe, so was gutted, to be honest I refused to believe it at first

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prustage@reddit

Same reaction. I used to love the massive paintings he did with a wallpaper brush ("Can you tell what it is yet?"). It was a real disappointment and shattering of illusions.

I didn't feel the same way about Gary Glitter, Jimmy Saville or even Stuart Hall. I always thought Saville and Glitter were creepy so wasn't at all surprised. Stuart Hall was a regular customer in the shop where I worked and although I didn't think he was creepy, I did think he was an annoying twat.

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Significant-Yak-2373@reddit

Im still not convinced to be honest

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EUskeptik@reddit

I felt exactly the same.

I also felt the same about the BBC’s Stuart Hall, whom I had met socially.

As for Jimmy Savile… 🤢🤮

Vile people.

-oo-

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choc_L8@reddit

That learn to swim as he did -“Kids and water, they love it” sealed the deal for me. Then when things started appearing in the news I KNEW Rolf was going to get named.

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Shannoonuns@reddit

I was shocked initially. Like it almost feels like a little bit of a betral to look up to somebody as a kid only to find out they were hurting other kids.

Seems less shocking in hindsight.

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Green_List@reddit

When we were really little Rolf painted a mural on the side of the block of flats we lived in at the Barnfield Estate in Woolwich. My dad said he was a bit weird. Made sure he kept his distance from me and my sisters.

I was surprised until my dad told me about his meeting with him.

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likeyournamebutworse@reddit

I was more surprised and disappointed about this than I was about any of the revelations about Saville. Probably because there was a time when I was younger that I really enjoyed watching his shows. By contrast Saville always seemed like a dodgy fucker.

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josh5676543@reddit

I was reminded of a bit in Peter Kays second autobiography when he is introduced to Harris when he was doing warm up for some TV programme and he is rather surprised that the fist thing he said was some swear filed sexual joke. So I suppose he must have been at least a bit dodgy off camera.

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Waitwhatnow93@reddit

It definitely changed the feeling to some of his songs.

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Paull999@reddit

Never liked him but the issue with Adam & Joe that Adam Buxton mentioned a few times in interviews solidified my view that he was an unpleasant person. After that I wasn’t particularly surprised.

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OkTadpole2920@reddit

I was shocked and disappointed. I knew Saville was odd, he gave me the creeps just watching his television show, but Harris - not a clue.

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whizzdome@reddit

Very surprised when he was arrested, I assumed it was a big mistake. But then when RH took to the witness box one of the first things he spoke about was that he was the inventor of the wobble board, and I thought "This isn't a defence, it's trying to gain sympathy and her the jury on his side," and I immediately thought he must be guilty.

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systemicrevulsion@reddit

Similar to how I felt when it turned out Bill Cosby ain't that great. Here's someone I truly loved and admired. Bought his books. Watched his shows. Even "little bill" the kids show about when he was a kid. Encouraged my kids to love him.

Devastated. As if it was a personal betrayal. Who do you trust if you can't trust him?

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Strange-Horse-686@reddit

It was definitely more of a shock than with Savile as I'd grown up with him on TV and in the charts since the 60s. Even recall his weird 90s cover of Stairway to Heaven. He seemed like safe hands which Savile literally wasn't.

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Aware_Ad_431@reddit

That’s the trouble with predators. They seem like lovely people and hide in plain sight. That’s why victims are scared to speak out or worse, not believed…

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BG3restart@reddit

I was hugely disappointed. Two Little Boys was the first single I ever bought with my pocket money when I was seven.

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JustJoshwaa@reddit

“I didgeridon’t believe it!”

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nineteenthly@reddit

It annoyed me. The thing about Savile, Gary Glitter and probably other people I've forgotten about is that they were notably low on talent, except perhaps in grooming people, but Rolf Harris was actually good at all sorts of stuff. I realise the world doesn't work that way, but it's just annoying that someone who had admirable and impressive talents was also such a complete wanker.

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phetea@reddit

Just passed by...

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jenny_quest@reddit

Angry and gutted. I once made a friend when I was very little round the back of my house, and I left her to go watch Rolf's cartoon time. She said she'd wait but of course she didn't. She was visiting her nan and I should've just skipped rolf the once but couldn't bare to. I still can't throw his books away. I know I should.

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Jane1943@reddit

Years ago we were looking for some new art work and we quite liked one of his paintings. When it emerged that he was a paedophile we thought thank goodness we didn’t buy it.

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vcdaisy@reddit

He'd been on TV all my childhood and had the image of a decent person. I was so shocked to hear who he really was. Really hadn't felt he was creepy. Unlike Saville who clearly was at the least, an oddball, before the revelations. But Harris was another hiding in plain sight who fooled us all

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jay_fran_bee@reddit

Yeah, awful. So upset.

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Captainwozzles24@reddit

My late great uncle had a portrait Rolf had drawn of him. It was pride of place in the house for years until the allegations came out. Everyone was devastated in the family given we’d met him and he’d seemed a sound guy

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byjimini@reddit

Like others, I was very very disappointed in him and felt sick for his victims.

I would have trusted him 100% as an adult and as a kid, and to know he would have taken advantage of that for his sexual pleasure makes me feel ill.

I still have his albums, still think Sun Arise is a beautiful song, but I keep them to myself these days.

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rezonansmagnetyczny@reddit

"Ah fuck not another one"

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Johhnymaddog316@reddit

I loved his art show as a kid but I remember seeing him on another show as an adult where he was discussing his travels or some such and he wasn't "In character". He came across as a grumpy, miserable nasty piece of work. It really changed my perception of him. I'll have to admit I wasn't entirely surprised when I found out.

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GrumpyOlBastard@reddit

I only saw him once a year on a telethon, usually doing Pegleg Jake. My only reaction was "huh. that sucks". Didn't really mean much to me at the time

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Rude_Rhubarb1880@reddit

I tied my kangaroo down, sport

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OrangeyFeel@reddit

Two little boys was a bit of a clue...

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Nige78@reddit

It was a genuine surprise to find out about him for me. A lot of the others I'd either heard rumours about or just had a gut feeling but Rolf seemed nice and normal.

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the_bacon_fairie@reddit

Same. I don't know why, but I didn't see it with him.

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barriedalenick@reddit

By the time it all came out I don't recall being the least bit surprised but if you had asked me in the "Can you tell what it is yet?" days then I would have been shocked.

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julialoveslush@reddit

Not surprised. Always thought he was a bit odd with all his panting and shit. My partner was surprised.

It wasn’t as obvious as Savile tho.

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chewmypaws@reddit

How does his art make him odd?

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chewmypaws@reddit

Gutted. He was one of my favourites growing up and I used to see him on a Sunday at Glastonbury.

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doofcustard@reddit

I was surprised but I never really liked him. He always gave me pervy uncle vibes

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chris5156@reddit

Not surprised. I had a friend - a young woman - who had interviewed him for some event he was doing several years before, and he was incredibly inappropriate with her. A real creep.

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MrMonkeyman79@reddit

Chucked my Rolfs Cartoon Club membership in the bin right next to my Jimll Fix it Badge.

Was quite surprised though, always thought it would be that Rolfaroo character, that one always looked like a wrongun. "Can you guess what it is yet?" Yes its a sex pest.

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Odd_Gap_9491@reddit

Yeah shit innit. I mean all those shows are away in the past long enough for me so it's not like I miss them or he'd have made new stuff I'd have watched. But defo part of my childhood and young adulthood that's just gone.