Yesterday I mentioned how nice it is to be awoken by rays of golden sunshine, particularly when shortly afterwards you realise that you don’t have to go to work!

This morning I was awake before the alarm clock went off (despite staying up until the small hours of the morning to watch the Chinese Grand Prix). The alarm in question is a clock radio, which we have tuned to ABC Classic FM as I rate by woken up by radio commercials below being woken up by dogs barking. Usually, we find ourselves being eased into the working day by a soothing symphony, but this morning’s wake-up call was a little stranger…

I thought I was hearing things as sounds of a male voice choir filled the bedroom; the words were familiar, but the sound was not. Realisation dawned after a few seconds that what I was listening to was a rendition of the classic Australian hymn, Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport.

This may not be as good a start to the day as discovering that you have an entire day off work, but Rolf Harris never fails to entertain me, so I rate that as a good start to the day.

I’m a big fan of Rolf’s and have been ever since I was a small boy and he was cheerfully drawing cartoon characters on the television with huge, thick marker pens while whistling or humming a tune. I remember seeing his face on the box of the stylophone my parents gave me and thinking wow, that can’t be the same guy. Rolf was also part of a Learn to Swim campaign when I was small. Even them I remember wondering if there was any end to this bloke’s talents when I heard that as a small boy he was the Australian junior backstroke champion. Out of all of the entertainers in the World, Rolf is the only one who I can think of who has entertained me all the way through my life, including the time I saw him perform live.

My favourite Rolf memory (so far) is that he was kind enough to autograph a boomerang that James sent him, which we then gave to Kris as a present, hoping that he would return from his travels to Australia (isn’t it odd that now he and his wife-to-be are living in London and K and I are over here in Melbourne?). I’d like to buy Rolf a beer for that (Rolf, if you’re reading, do pop in and see me next time you’re Down Under)!