Rolf Harris, artist, musician, singer, TV presenter and entertainer, is to guest host Have I Got News For You, the BBC’s top-rating topical comedy quiz show, for the very first time.

Born in Bassendean, Western Australia, but resident in the UK for more than half a century, Rolf will join regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on 15 May 2009 for the fourth programme in this new series, the 37th, which starts this week on BBC One on Friday 24 April.

One of the most loved, respected and enduring figures in British showbusiness, Rolf has a CBE and is a Member of the Order of Australia. He has received many entertainment industry awards, written best-selling books, had chart-topping hits and been voted Glastonbury’s most popular entertainer.

He has exhibited his paintings in the National Gallery and his portrait of HM The Queen to celebrate her 80th birthday was the subject of a BBC worldwide TV documentary.

In December 2008 he played a record-breaking, sell-out season at the Sydney Opera House Playhouse Theatre.

Rolf says: “I’ve been a big fan of Have I Got News For You for many years and am very excited to be invited to sit in the hot-seat – but also rather nervous, as Paul and Ian are both as sharp as a tack!”