'They thought I was Rolf Harris'

LIKENESS: David Waltham, who used to be mistaken for Rolf Harris as a young man. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

The saga of disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has a special poignancy for a Masterton man who knew Harris when the two were schoolboys and was often mistaken for him.

David Waltham was born in Fremantle, Western Australia, but was educated in Perth at a school only a walk away from Modern School in the Subiaco district where Harris was a pupil.

"I was at Perth Boys' High just down the road and we used to either walk or bike to Modern School to use the woodwork room.

"I was the same height as Harris, looked like him, had the same hair style and the two of us wore glasses, so I was sometimes mistaken for him.

"On one occasion I remember a teacher calling out to me saying 'get off your bike, Harris'.

"I said 'I am not Harris' and was told not to answer back."

Mr Waltham, who has long since left Australia and is a naturalised New Zealander, said he could recall being annoyed over that incident because Harris was actually four years older.

Mr Waltham said he clearly recalled Harris and remembered him, even as a schoolboy, being "very egotistical, a show-off but charming."

"He loved the girls but then we were teenage boys so we all did, or nearly all."

Mr Waltham also recalls Harris as a champion swimmer and this is borne out by Australian records that show Harris as a teenager was Australian junior 110-yards backstroke champion, and between 1948-52 he was Western Australia swimming champion over a variety of distances and strokes.

It was while Harris was at Modern School that his artistic bent took hold. His self-portrait in oils was selected to hang in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, as one of 80 from 200 submitted as entries in the 1947 Archibald Prize.

Mr Waltham said he certainly did not condone what Harris - who has been jailed for five years and nine months on 12 charges of indecent assault on women between 1969 and 1986 - did.

"But I do question the sudden rise in the number of alleged victims. Where were they 30 years ago?"

He said he hoped the fact Harris had become a very wealthy man was not being brought into the equation and that newly emerging allegations were not being lodged only with an eye to seeking financial compensation.