He was a host of the BBC2 music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test from 1972 to 1979, and was a co-founder of the listings magazine Time Out, co-editing until the early part of 1969.

He has presented The Country Show on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday nights since April 1999, and Sounds of the 70s on Sunday afternoons since November 2024, replacing Johnnie Walker.

Born on 11 April 1946 in Northampton, England, Harris first followed in his father's footsteps and joined Northamptonshire Police as a cadet for two years.

[6] His first appearance on the show was as chair of a debate on the Night Assemblies Bill, based on his experience as a journalist and at the invitation of producer Richard Williams.

His hippie-style beard and laid-back presentation made him a favourite target for parody, most notably by Eric Idle on the 1970s BBC comedy show Rutland Weekend Television.

[5] Harris later became notorious among the younger generation for distancing himself on air from Roxy Music's first performance on the show and deriding the New York Dolls as "mock rock".

[7][8] In the summer of 1974, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood included Harris ("or the 'Sniffing Whistler' as we know him") on a "Hates" list on their "You're going to wake up one morning and find out which side of the bed you've been lying on" T-shirt.

[10] In 1981 Harris moved to BBC Radio Oxford, presenting the weekday afternoon show from 15:00-17:00, taking over from Timmy Mallett.

[citation needed] In spring 1997, Harris returned to the national airwaves, this time on BBC Radio 2, where he took up an 11 pm to 1 am Saturday night slot.

On 9 January 2022, Harris started a weekly show on Boom Radio, sponsored by Find My Past, which explored how songs link together with other tracks.

"At a time when media is ruled by the loud, the crass and the cruel, Harris is the anti-Cowell: a soft-spoken but fiercely witty presence, whose velvet delivery is as much a part of British rock culture as Roger Daltrey's stutter or the rolled letter "r" in Johnny Rotten's invective."

[20] In 2018 Harris made a cameo appearance in Tom Harper's country music drama film Wild Rose.

[21] In 2018 Harris joined 26 other celebrities at Metropolis Studios, to perform the original Christmas song "Rock with Rudolph", written and produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn.

The song was created in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital and was released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment on 30 November 2018.