A Day In Court..................

I am sure everyone has been shocked and sickened as the detail of Rolf Harris's trial unfolded.  This of course has culminated today with his jail sentence. I suppose people of my generation also feel robbed and duped as he was such a family viewing type entertainer.

About 10 years ago my husband and I were staying in a quiet small unassuming hotel in Kenilworth in Warwickshire.  We were enjoying our evening meal when we heard a lot of noise in the lobby area outside of the restaurant. At first we thought it was a wedding party and then I saw Alwen Harris appearing in the doorway.  I recognised her immediately as she had the distinctive beads and braids in her hair.  She was quickly followed by Rolf Harris and his entourage who appeared to be part of a film crew.  In total there must have been about 15 in the party.  At first we were intrigued as the situation seemed surreal - a well known larger than life figure turning up out of the blue in such an obscure place.

Rolf Harris was clearly holding court and as you would expect dominated proceedings.  He was the centre of attention and kept flexing his menu whilst making the well known noises of "aloHa, aloHa, aloHa" well thats what it sounded like!  Now this was funny at first but when he continued all evening it did get a little trying!!

He is a multi-talented person who is blessed with the ability to win an audience over with his singing and story telling but most importantly with his paintings.  It was a pleasure to see him painting such a wide range of subjects and build them into programmes which all could enjoy whether this was a particular interest of yours or not.

What none of us could ever imagine is that he hid such a dark secret which eventually led to his downfall. Today is a day when justice has been done but the victims and the public must find it hard to come to terms with the past , present and future.


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Yesterday we went to the Royal Academy to see their annual art exhibition and as the Rolf Harris case has been so high profile it was inevitable that he would be mentioned.  Maybe this put a bit of a dampener on things as we were not as impressed with the exhibits this year and some of the high profile past exhibitors failed to make a contribution......there is always next year!