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Rolf Harris Painting


togger

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Morning all,

Just been talking to one of my mates at work and explaining about Sheaf Valley Baths, where it was, how long it was there etc. I also mentioned that Rolf Harris had opened the baths and done a painting which hung on the wall for years. Now, i have searched these forums and found several topics on the Baths, but i have not seen anywhere an actual image of the painting. Can anyone help so that i can show my mate at work please?

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Would I be right in thinking that the painting was taken somewhere else when the baths closed but has since been destroyed in a fire.

If this is the case and the actual picture no longer exists we are only left with the hope that it was at one time photographed if we are to see it again.

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When did Sheaf Valley baths open?

Was it at the time that Rolf was doing a TV advertising campaign called something like "Learn to swim" or "Be safe in the water" to promote swimming and safety.

I believe Rolf himself was, at one time, a very competent swimmer which is why he was chosen to front this campaign and possibly why he was chosen to open the Sheaf Valley baths.

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Yes you would be correct. The painting was purchase for £8000 from Sheffield City Council by Fletchers Bakeries and was destroyed in the fire several years ago.

There must be an image somewhere of the painting, surely?

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When did Sheaf Valley baths open?

Was it at the time that Rolf was doing a TV advertising campaign called something like "Learn to swim" or "Be safe in the water" to promote swimming and safety.

I believe Rolf himself was, at one time, a very competent swimmer which is why he was chosen to front this campaign and possibly why he was chosen to open the Sheaf Valley baths.

I think he was an Australian junior champion at one time.

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Yes, when he first came to Britain and started to make a name for himself as an entertainer around 1960-ish I am sure he was some sort of Australian swimming champion.

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I remember the painting

His paintings will becoming quite rare, he said in court that his daughter destroyed two!

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isnt there also a mural by Rolf Harris on the side of the Radio Sheffield building?

It's on the wall of Sheffield Archives, next to Radio Sheffield. The Council have decided to have it removed or painted over. What I'd like to know is how did it come to be there? I didn't realise it was actually by him until the latest trouble blew up.

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To be honest I have seen it lots of times when I've gone to the Archives but I never took much notice of it because I just thought it was some more graffiti.

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Is the picture painted over by him or just of him?

In the 70s Rolf presented a programme called Cartoon Time. In the opening titles he quickly (time lapsed) sketched himself in cartoon form, head and face only, and gave himself a Kangaroo body which then became animated.

The picture painted out bears a very strong resemblance to the cartoon head and face Rolf drew of himself, a caracature everyone would recognise as being him, except this time it had a human body (but not with 3 legs as would be befitting of one of his other songs).

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With Rolf Harris in the news so much lately it got me thinking of that painting he did hung in the Sheaf Valley Baths (funny I remembered the place as Pond Street Baths must have been what we called it) and I too was wondering if it still existed.

I always enjoyed going there I thought it was a great place and couldn't believe it when I read they were pulling it all down.

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Would we feel the same about the mural were he to, at sometime in the future, become a "must have artist", in view of his notoriety?

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