Remembering a wonderful world: RIP Simon Townsend

It was with a great personal sadness today that I learned of the death of Simon Townsend.

For a Gen X kid like me, Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! was an after-school TV staple.

Charging through the front door on a weekday arvo, making myself an icy cold Milo (strict ratio of half milk, half Milo), my 80s childhood would simply not have been complete without having Simon and his trusty sidekick Woodrow the bloodhound to greet me with the program that blended current affairs with entertainment, tackling issues such as mental health, bullying and social justice.

Former ABC Radio Sydney Breakfast host and triple j presenter Angela Catterns was one of the original reporters on the popular kids’ TV show.

Breakfast radio host Amanda Keller’s first professional media job was in 1983 as a researcher for the program.

And it was Townsend who set radio’s Jonathon Coleman on his media journey.

Townsend himself had a radio background.

In the mid 70s, he was one of the writers at 2UW for The John Laws Show.

Former radio producer Richard Monk worked with Townsend and paid tribute on social media, remembering him as a lovely bloke.

“We produced some interesting radio. Not once did he edit my scripts or demand anything in production. Easy and funny man.”

Townsend first made headlines in 1967 when he loudly objected to Australia joining the Vietnam War, declaring himself a pacifist.

When he was conscripted, Townsend refused orders, appeared in court and subsequently spent 28 days in solitary confinement at Sydney’s Long Bay gaol.

Townsend – who’d been battling an aggressive form of cancer – always signed off each TV episode with “Remember, the world really is wonderful.”

He was 79.