The prosecution is due to deliver its opening address later today in a London court in the child sexual abuse case against Australian entertainer Rolf Harris.

The 84-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of indecently assaulting four girls between the late 1960s and mid-1980s.

After a jury of six men and six women was sworn in, the charges were read out as Harris stood in the dock.

One of the complainants was seven or eight years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

The judge, Sir Nigel Sweeney, told the jury that the case they would hear included evidence of events which took place in Australia and New Zealand.

Potential jurors in the case were excused from duty if they had any friends or family living in Australia or New Zealand, or if any friends or family were travelling there in the near future.

Mr Justice Sweeney instructed the jury not to read about the case they were about to hear or discuss it with anyone.

He said the members should pool their "common sense and experience of life" to assess the witnesses and evidence presented to them in order to reach "true verdicts".

Harris was charged last year under Operation Yewtree, Scotland Yard's operation resulting out of the scandal surrounding the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile.

Savile is now accepted to have abused hundreds of young boys and girls, some of them in care homes.

Harris was arrested under a strand of Operation Yewtree relating to people not connected directly to Savile but whose alleged crimes have come to the police's attention following the publicity surrounding the Savile revelations.

Celebrity publicist Max Clifford recently became the first person to be convicted under Operation Yewtree.

Clifford was sentenced last week to eight years in prison after being found guilty of a string of sexual assaults on girls and young women.

Until that point, public prosecutors had faced allegations that they were being overzealous in bringing cases against high-profile figures in the wake of the Savile affair.

Trial could last until late June

Harris arrived at Southwark Crown Court ahead of jury selection with his wife Alwen and daughter Bindi. A small group of friends and other family members also came to court.

Asked how he was feeling, Harris replied: "Good."

He then remarked to his wife that there were "lots of cameras" present.

Later he gave the thumbs up when a cameraman complimented him on one of his trademark colourful ties.

Since first being questioned in relation to the allegations of indecent assault 18 months ago, Harris has made no direct public comments about the charges.

Harris is a well-known and much-loved celebrity in the UK, where he has lived for many years.

He has carved out a successful career as a children's entertainer, cartoonist, singer and painter, and in 2005 painted a portrait of the Queen.

After he was charged he was dropped as the presenter of the UK's Channel 5 television program Animal Clinic.

The jury has been told that the case could last until June 27 "at the very latest".