Trivia

Best known as creator and host on children's television show Wonder World, which dominated the Australian afternoon time slot from 1979 to 1987.

He first made headlines in 1967 as a young journalist and conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. Active in the anti-war movement, he made a point of showing up to protests in a three-piece suit.

Mr Townsend got his start in Australian television from 1970 and worked as a reporter for ABC's This Day Tonight.

Townsend suffered three strokes. In August 2005, he told ABC TV he feared the next stroke might kill him.

Simon Townsend was an Australian journalist who became a popular television producer and host as presenter of Simon Townsend's Wonder World from 1979 to 1987.

Becoming a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War, Townsend gained national prominence on his anti-conscription stance. He later said "I suddenly decided to be a . . . objector to the Vietnam War. I then went to Sydney, I met people, I joined the groups and I read. And suddenly I had an intellectual basis for my objection to the Vietnam War. And that was when I got very busy, objecting, going to court and I ended up in Long Bay Gaol for a month. And in 1968 I ended up in the army prison for a month. I was court-martialled while I was there.".

Townsend also created TV shows, board games and TV lotteries, produced radio programs and also worked in property development.

Townsend also appeared on a celebrity version of Sale of the Century.

In 1970, Townsend joined the ABC as a reporter with the current affairs program This Day Tonight, before moving to Channel 10, to host and produce the popular children's show, Simon Townsend's Wonder World.

Townsend became a journalist in the mid-1960s, working as a columnist for a community paper in Woy Woy, New South Wales.