Simon Townsend

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Simon Townsend (born 27 November 1945) is an Australian journalist who became a popular television presenter during the 1980s. He is currently a tutor in journalism.

He gained national prominence in the mid-1960s when he was jailed as a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War, but he is best remembered in Australia as the host and producer of the popular children's show, Simon Townsend's Wonder World.

In recent years Townsend has suffered three strokes. In August 2005, he told ABC TV he feared the next stroke might kill him. On his anti-conscription stance he 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 jail for a month. And in 1968 I ended up in the army prison for a month. I was court-martialled while I was there."^[1]