Healthy, Wealthy and Wise should not be confused with Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb.
| Genre: | Lifestyle |
| Creator: | Michael Dickinson Gavan Disney |
| Presenter: | Ronnie Burns Felicity Kennett (seasons 6 & 7) Jacki MacDonald (season 1) |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 8 |
| Executive Producer: | Gavan Disney |
| Producer: | Michael Dickinson |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Channel: | Network Ten |
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise was a lifestyle television program shown in Australia. It was shown on Network Ten and was aired from 1992 until 1998.[1]
The show was created and produced by Michael Dickinson. Gavan Disney, once the producer of the Nine Network's long-running variety show Hey Hey it's Saturday, served as executive producer and the show was packaged by Disney Entertainment P/L for the Ten Network and its affiliates throughout the world.
The title takes its name from the proverb, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." This quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin since it appeared in his Poor Richard's Almanack; however, it was first used in print by John Clarke in a 1639 book of English and Latin proverbs.
Notable people associated with the programme included Felicity Kennett, wife of the then-Premier of Victoria Jeff Kennett, and Jim Brown, a former Ten eyewitness news journalist. Jacki MacDonald, who formerly appeared on Disney's previous programme Hey Hey it's Saturday, was a presenter during the first season.
Others used the opportunity to develop ongoing TV careers with the show as a starting point, including chef Iain Hewitson and crafts presenter Tonia Todman. The show's finance guru Ross Greenwood enjoyed particular success and became network finance editor on the Nine Network.
Some featured reporters and presenters on the show included:
The series was also broadcast on television in the United Arab Emirates on Channel 33, on Bahrain TV Channel 55 in Bahrain and on the Australia Television network in various countries including Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Maldives, Macau, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Korea.