Simon Townsend, star Australian children’s TV presenter, dies aged 79
The veteran children’s television star Simon Townsend has died aged 79, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
The former newspaper and television journalist launched Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! on Channel Ten in 1979 with mascot Woodrow the bloodhound. The groundbreaking show made him a household name in the 1980s, delighting young audiences with magazine-style stories which covered a wide range of topics including mental health, bullying, grief, social justice and war.
He always signed off with “and remember, the world really is wonderful”.
Wonder World ran until 1987 clocking up almost 2,000 episodes, winning five Logie awards and stellar ratings for Ten.
Townsend’s family confirmed he died on Tuesday.
“In his final days, Simon was surrounded by his family and a mix of journalists, writers, actors, political activists and Italians,” his family said.
“The conversation to the last was loud, passionate and full of laughs.”
Townsend was famously a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war in 1967, spending 28 days in Long Bay jail and making front page news.
According to his family, when he was conscripted, Townsend refused orders saying “wars will cease when men refuse to fight”.
He later found himself at odds with broadcasting authorities as he pushed to produce shows that never talked down to children.
“Simon often found himself in a stoush with Australian children’s television regulators, fighting to maintain his show’s boundary-pushing ethos and preserve his children’s TV rating,” his family said.
The TV and radio presenter Amanda Keller, who worked for Townsend as a researcher, offered her condolences in a post on social media.
“I was a researcher there, and was lucky enough to work alongside some of the most talented people of my generation,” she said.
“Many of my closest friends today are from those days. I’ll be forever grateful to the show, and to the groundbreaking force that was Simon Townsend.”
Journalism was in his blood. His father, Lewis Townsend, was the chief subeditor of the Sydney Morning Herald and Simon left school at 15 to take a cadetship with the Central Coast Express in Gosford.
He got his start in television as a reporter on the ABC’s This Day Tonight and went on to work with Mike Willesee on A Current Affair.
After Wonder World, Townsend created an entertainment show for the ABC, TVTV, which launched in 1993.
TVTV featured interviews with television personalities and reviews. Edith Bliss from the original Wonder World lineup was a reporter, along with the musician and broadcaster James Valentine.
Townsend suffered a series of strokes in later years.
He is survived by his three children, Lisbeth, Michael and Nadia, five grandchildren, Rex, Lenny, Lola, Ollie and Augie, and brothers David and Stephen.
