Tie me CBE down, sport??

'Lucky' Rolf speaks of CBE honour

Last updated at 14:01pm on 2nd November 2006

A proud Rolf Harris shows off his CBE after receiving it at the Palace today

Can you tell what it is yet? Rolf Harris was asked to produce a portrait of the Queen for her Eightieth birthday celebrations

Rolf Harris said today he was "thrilled" to receive a CBE as he modestly summed up his 40-year career in showbusiness as a "lucky" achievement.

Harris has been one of the nation's most popular entertainers for more than 40 years with a string of TV shows and chart hits but he played down his achievements as he received the honour at Buckingham Palace and said: "I regard myself as being extraordinarily lucky in having been able to take my enthusiasms and fit them into the entertainment world as it were.

"To take painting, which I love, and manage to get it into an entertainment situation has been great. And of course there's been the singing and the mucking about and the silly sound effects.

"But it's amazing and it's really thrilling to receive the CBE."

Born in Perth, Western Australia - his parents were originally from Wales but moved Down Under before he was born - he moved to England in 1952 to study art.

He landed a job as a children's TV presenter and in 1967 was given his own programme, The Rolf Harris Show - a mixture of art, music and story-telling which lasted until 1974. The star developed his "Can you tell what it is yet?" catchphrase as he created his paintings.

In the Eighties he presented Rolf's Cartoon Club and from 1994 to 2004 hosted the hit BBC show Animal Hospital.

Most recently he has returned to his first love of painting. In 2001 his show Rolf On Art began on BBC1. It was a runaway success and is credited with getting millions of viewers interested in the subject, with Harris recreating masterpieces including Constable's The Haywain.

But his most important commission was the official portrait of the Queen to mark her 80th birthday. The entertainer, 76, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, received his honour as his sculptress wife Alwen, daughter Bindi, who is also an artist, and grandson Marlon, 10, looked on.

He added: "I still feel Australian but I feel honoured to be accepted here as well, I feel very much at home here. Every day I think to myself, what a charmed existence I've had - the way everything's gone.

"We've all had our ups and downs over the years. There's been times when you think your career's going down the pan and a call comes and it's for work like Animal Hospital, which was a wonderful change of direction, or Rolf On Art, which gave me the chance to do something I love to do and which got the ordinary person at home interested and enthused in taking up painting."

Today's investiture service was held by the Princess Royal after it was announced last night the Queen would not be taking the ceremony due to her continuing bad back problems.

Harris said: "Anne was really lovely. She said, 'this is a pleasure I didn't expect to be having', which was really nice."

The Australian entertainer topped the charts with Two Little Boys - a favourite of Margaret Thatcher - in 1969 and had hits with Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and Sun Arise.

His singing was accompanied by the distinctive sounds of his famous wobble board - an instrument he invented himself - and the didgeridoo.

Harris added: "I'm in the middle of doing some stuff at the moment. I'm just putting together a series of songs which are going to make a new album.

"It's mostly country and I love doing it."