Now 78, the Australian musician, singer, composer, painter and TV presenter still shows no signs of retiring and fading away quietly.

In July this year, he was inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame and was joined on stage by the Seekers to perform his famous Jake the Peg routine and Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport – which he sang, with the Beatles on backing vocals, on BBC radio in 1963.

That was at the other end of a long career in which he has presented TV shows, performed at Glastonbury Festival four times, worked with Kate Bush, provided commentary for Song For Europe and released various hit singles.

His best-known song, Two Little Boys, reached No 1 in the UK singles chart in 1969. Other hits include Jake the Peg, Waltzing Matilda and covers of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

In 2005 he painted a portrait of the Queen, who liked the result, in contrast to many critics. The next year he added a CBE to his MBE and OBE.

Harris plays an assortment of instruments, particularly the didgeridoo (the sound of which was imitated on Sun Arise by four double basses), the jew’s harp, the stylophone and the wobble-board, which he devised.

Musicport, the country’s biggest indoor world-music festival, runs from October 17-19.

Website: www.musicportfestival.com