I was being singled out as the best in the class at this, that and the other, nearly always to do with art. And then I was a very good swimmer from a very early age, and once again the best in the class, and when I was about five or six, I was the best in the school.

Rolf Harris

Categorized in : Good Best Art Age

If it's free put me down for two please

Rolf Harris

economics please two

When you have been in TV and performing for as long as I have, you realise that you probably entertain in your sleep too... as for my catch phrase, I didn't actually say so much 'Can you see what it is yet?

Rolf Harris

tvs sleep long

If you turn a smiling face on the world, you've got a chance of finishing up a good-looking old person.

Rolf Harris

finishing faces world

I was hoping to do an impressionist painting, but I wanted a good likeness and I wanted to create a feeling of the lady as a person, as a human being rather than as a figurehead for the monarchy and a pomp-and-circumstance sort of formal portrait. I wanted more of a relaxed portrait.

Rolf Harris

portraits painting feelings

When I draw my caricature self-portrait, I always do a huge smile.

Rolf Harris

portraits draws self

I've always tried to retain that childlike wonder.

Rolf Harris

tried always childlike wonder

I will never shave off my beard and moustache. I did once, for charity, but my wife said, 'Good grief, how awful, you look like an American car with all the chrome removed.'

Rolf Harris

good you car wife

When I was presenting 'Animal Hospital,' the grey started to creep into my beard and moustache. I used my wife's mascara to darken it.

Rolf Harris

hospital beard wife animal

For sheer creativity and totality of involvement, 'Rolf's Cartoon Club' with HTV in Bristol was an amazing show to work on, but I think the 'Rolf on Art' series, culminating in the painting of the Queen's portrait to celebrate her 80th birthday, just nudges into the favourite spot.

Rolf Harris

queen work birthday art

I was always different from all the other kids, and I was doing things that nobody else did or seemed to have any interest in.

Rolf Harris

nobody doing things always

As I walked up the imposing steps of the Royal Academy, I came fact to face with Alwen Hughes. She looked just as stunning as she had done in my first year at art school.

Rolf Harris

face royal art school

I had always been told by my parents, not implicitly told, but every inference was that Britain was the hub of the universe.

Rolf Harris

parents been always universe

I remember very vividly what it's like to be a child. The adults you liked were the ones who listened to you when you spoke and gave you time to say what you wanted to say and actually listened, and quite often reacted as a result of what you'd said.

Rolf Harris

child you time remember

Try and spread a lot of love and affection around the world. The most important thing is not to 'con' the public. Be real.

Rolf Harris

try important love world

Prison is no hardship, really. I'm in the art room as an assistant to the tutor, and basically, I'm doing what I like.

Rolf Harris

doing like prison art

I regard myself as being enormously lucky to have been accepted by the British public in so many areas.

Rolf Harris

been being myself lucky

People can see you on TV sloshing paint around with big four-inch brushes, and I learned to talk to camera in a friendly voice, not talking down to people, just explaining what I was doing. People like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt did not have a weekly TV programme where people could see them painting.

Rolf Harris

camera you painting people

My approach to painting doesn't involve any heavy thinking about how am I going to present this, what am I going to do.

Rolf Harris

present how painting thinking

I always felt I had to fill silences, usually by singing or whistling. It was nerves and shyness, really.

Rolf Harris

always shyness felt singing

If I could go back in time, I'd return to when my parents were alive and appreciate them more than I did when I was growing up.

Rolf Harris

parents growing-up appreciate time