Former children's entertainer and convicted paedophile Rolf Harris has died at the age of 93, it has been confirmed.

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A registrar at Maidenhead Town Hall confirmed he had died to the PA news agency today (Tuesday 23rd May). Last year it was reported Harris had neck cancer.

The Australian – who was a popular entertainer throughout the '60s and '70s – was convicted of the sexual assault of four underage girls in 2014 after being arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree investigation.

Harris was born in Bassendean, Western Australia in 1930 and found fame after releasing songs such as Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, and Jake the Peg in the '50s and '60s, as well as inventing the musical instrument the wobble board.

In the '60s and '70s he became a household name in the UK for presenting TV shows such as Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital, while he also appeared on a number of other popular programmes.

However, shortly after Operation Yewtree investigations began in 2012, he was arrested and later questioned regarding historical allegations of sexual offences, which he denied.

In 2014 he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after a jury found him guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault on four female victims between 1968 and 1986.

One of those counts was later overturned in 2017 after three judges in London ruled the conviction was "unsafe" – but Harris's application to challenge the other convictions was dismissed.

Harris was released on license in 2017 after serving almost three years of his sentence at HM Prison Stafford.

Following his conviction, Harris was stripped of a number of honours he had received throughout his career, including a CBE, a BAFTA fellowship and several Australian honours.

A new two-part documentary titled Rolf Harris: Hiding In Plain Sight is set to debut on ITVX on Thursday 18th May, examining "how the TV personality got away for his crimes for so long".

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The documentary will feature interviews with Harris's victims, the police who investigated him and his colleagues.

Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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