Rolf Harris is an excellent bloke. I’ve met him a few times and he has always been charming.

I met him as a small child in Catford after he played buttons in a pantomime (I remember that he emerged from the stage door wearing furry trousers!).

I met him at University (Birmingham) soon after ‘Stairway’. It was his first gig in a tour, and he was visibly shocked at the crowd reaction – genuine enthusiasm and warmth. Apparently that afternoon he walked right into the student union and started saying g’day to people! I ran into him and he painted be a ‘rolfaroo’ which I still have.

I met him in Manchester where he was signing album covers in a record shop. We had a chat about Birmingham and Catford – he remembered both, though he probably bluffed the Catford one. Birmingham was a big thing for him, he said.

Lovely, lovely man.