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Fred Harris (born 1947) is a British comedian[1] and children's television presenter. Formerly a schoolteacher, he began his television career as a presenter of the BBC children's programme Play School, on which he appeared regularly between 1973 and 1988. During this time he was also a presenter on Ragtime and Chock-A-Block.
During the rise of the microcomputer in the early 1980s he fronted several home computing BBC programmes, including Micro Live (which formed part of BBC's ongoing Computer Literacy Project).[2] He also presented a number of educational and schools programmes on the subject of maths, including ATV's Figure it Out (memorable for having a set which included a giant pocket calculator), Central Television's Basic Maths and Channel 4's Make It Count. In 1980 Harris appeared as a contestant on the first episode of The Adventure Game.
His career in comedy involved regular appearances in radio shows such as Huddwinks, The Half-Open University, The Burkiss Way and Star Terk II and in the television show End of Part One.
In the 1990s, he presented the Radio 4 programme The Litmus Test.
From the late 1990s until circa 2009 he worked on the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) children's programme Room 785.[3] On this show he presented the "Broom Cupboard" slot introducing the forthcoming programmes.
He is the father of playwright Ed Harris (playwright).