Review: Curious Recollections: Life in the Curiosity Show by Rob Morrison

Like many kids who grew up in Adelaide (or anywhere in Australia, really,) in the 1980s I used to tune in to The Curiosity Show every week. I was part of the last generation to experience first run broadcasts of the show; sadly it finished up in 1990 when I was nine years old and just old enough to try out a least a few of the experiments on the show for myself. I can still remember some (or at least parts of,) the segments now. Where else could a kid learn how ships were able to be placed in bottles, how pencils were made, and how you could make your own pair of sunglasses using a bit of cardboard?

In Curious Recollections,  Curiosity Show co-host Rob Morrison gives a fun and honest insight into his time with the show--from the time his demonstration led an errant Humphrey B Bear shout the f-word on television, to how he was called upon to give expert evidence about dingoes in the famous Lindy Chamberlain trial. (Morrison gave evidence in the Morling Inquiry in 1986.) There's also plenty of anecdotes about the many adventures that he and his co-host Deane Hutton experienced during the shows impressive eighteen year run. (It turns out that yes, they really are subjected to people shouting, "Curiosity!" at them in public, along with certain other things that I disagree with.) 

Just the right length and a lot of fun, this book is the perfect addition to the bookshelves of fans of the series. 

Highly recommended.

This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2020.

PS Morrison and Hutton also now own the rights to their programme which they have made available free on their YouTube Channel. Check it out here.

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