Children's TV presenter and journalist Simon Townsend dies aged 79 after 'short battle with aggressive cancer'

Simon Townsend, who is best known as creator and host on children's television show Wonder World, died earlier this month.

The Australian star’s family confirmed the sad news after he died on Tuesday (January 14). He had recently been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.

"In his final days, Simon was surrounded by his family and a mix of journalists, writers, actors, political activists and Italians," his family said in a statement. “The conversation to the last was loud, passionate and full of laughs.”

The family went on to say in their tribute statement that he was often fighting against Australian TV regulators to feature “boundary-pushing” segments for his young audience. “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. The edict to all involved in making the show was that they never talk down to children."

Townsend was best known as creator and host on award-winning children's television show Wonder World, which dominated the Australian afternoon time slot from 1979 to 1987. It provided a daily dose of informed entertainment and news for youngsters, as well as a music segment in every episode.

The show won five Logie Awards for Most Popular Children's Television series. Townsend's Wonder World sidekick, Woodrow the bloodhound dog, was also loved by audiences.

Many tributes have been paid to Townsend since the news of his death broke. One of Wonder World's first reporters, broadcaster Angela Catterns, whose role also involved picking up Woodrow, said it was "possibly the greatest job I've ever had in my life". "He was delightful of course, but he really knew what he wanted, he wasn't about to compromise and he was actually a lovely boss," she told ABC Radio Sydney.

Townsend would end every show with his signature sign off: "And remember, the world really is wonderful!"

As well as being a children’s presenter, Townsend was also a very well known journalist. He made headlines himself in 1967, when he was a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. As an active in the anti-war movement, he was known for attending protests in a three-piece suit.

When he was conscripted, he refused orders. In court, he declared himself a pacifist and he was deemed by the magistrate to be "insincere" and jailed for a month. This was followed by incarceration in military prison for 28 days in solitary confinement with bread and water. It resulted in front-page news and there were "Free Townsend" protests and graffiti in Sydney.

His daughter actor Lisbeth Kennelly, who had been given up for adoption by Townsend and her birth mother during his time of incarceration amid the Vietnam War but reunited with him in the 1990s. shared on ABC Radio Sydney: "He scratched some words into the cell wall where he wrote, 'wars will cease when men refuse to fight'."

After his release he turned his passion into a journalism career, and in 1970 he got his first job as a reporter for ABC's This Day Tonight. Then, nine years later, came Wonder World. After Wonder World, he created more TV shows, board games and produced radio shows. In 1993, he also started hosting an ABC show called TVTV, where he interviewed famous celebrities about their own television projects.

Townsend had been married to Rosanna and the pair had two children; Nadia Townsend, who is also an actor, and Michael Townsend. In 1991, because of a change in adoption laws, Townsend was united with his first daughter, Lisbeth Kennelly.

Rosanna died in 2003, leaving Townsend devastated. Years later he rekindled a relationship with Kerrie Gleeson, a girlfriend from his younger days, and they lived together until her death in 2015.

Townsend struggled with ongoing health issues later in life, suffering five strokes over the years. He is survived by his three children, his brothers and his five grandchildren. In tribute to her father, Kennelly added in her ABC Radio Sydney interview: “He was a wonderful, fascinating, complex person and a wonderful family man.”