News on Toast: Ian Turpie’s top YouTube moments

A musical YouTube tribute to the late, great Ian “Turps” Turpie, fee-free ATMs come at a price and when to have THAT talk with the kids: The morning’s hot topics in bite-sized pieces just right for dunking.

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RIP Ian Turpie: YouTube’s greatest Turps moments

Aussie TV legend Ian Turpie has died aged 68.

Twitter tributes are still pouring in for Australian TV legend Ian “Turps” Turpie after news of his death broke yesterday afternoon. The former Price is Right and Supermarket Sweep host died aged 68 after a year-long battle with cancer of the oesophagus.

Turps not only had a moustache that was the envy of hipsters the world over, he always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step. We loved him because as well as being the consummate TV personality he never shied away from taking the mickey out of himself, whether over those dodgy erectile dysfunction ads or on comedy shows like Swift and Shift Couriers or Housos.

He was also an accomplished musician – at 17 he got his own TV special The Young Entertainers alongside Olivia Newton-John, who went on to become his girlfriend, and he made regular appearances on Bandstand.

So in tribute to our beloved Turps, here are some choice musical moments you may never have seen:

IAN TURPIE SINGS NIRVANA

The moustachioed one proves he can rock out with this rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit on comedy show Club Buggery with Roy and HG.

TURPS SINGS THE BLUES

Pre-moustache, a totally hip and swingin’ Turps sings Mean Woman Blues on Bandstand. PS: Just WHAT is that guy in the stripy jumper doing with his face?

YOUNG TURPS SINGS TO OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

A fresh-faced Turpie sings a love ballad in 1965 telemovie Funny Things Happen Down Under. Not sure if that innuendo was intended or not – for Turps’ sake, I’d like think it was. (Look out for a teenage Olivia Newton-John in this clip!)

TURPS DOES TOM JONES

It’s not unusual to love Ian Turpie – especially in this groovy undated black and white clip.

RIP Turps, you’ll be missed.

>> Do you have a favourite Ian Turpie memory?

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Fee-free ATMs come at a cost – your time

ATMs that display commercials could do away with transaction fees.

Would you watch a 30-second commercial on an ATM to avoid paying that pesky $2 transaction fee? That’s the question machine provider Customers ATM is trying to answer before bringing the concept to Australia.

American company Free ATMs NYC introduced ad-charged teller machines to New York last year, with millions of customers now happily avoiding bank fees by watching commercials for up to 30 seconds before withdrawing their cash. Many of the new ATMs also provide a coupon on the receipt – like those shop-a-dockets you get from supermarkets.

Anything that banishes bank fees has got be a good thing, however as I am already the world’s most impatient person I’m not sure that adding an extra 30 seconds per transaction is my favourite idea. Especially as I always seem to find myself in line behind 84-year-old Elsie or 90-year-old Bert who already find the buttons confusing and take five minutes just to put their card in the slot.

Of course there is ANOTHER solution to these annoying bank fees – which Australians pay every year to the tune of $750 million – and that’s to eliminate them altogether. If only someone in Parliament would propose that idea… oh wait, they have? Can we like, get behind this please?

>> Would you be happy to watch an ad in exchange for a fee-free ATM transaction, or would you rather have your 30 seconds to yourself? Do you support Adam Bandt’s proposal to ban ATM fees altogether?

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The (early) birds and bees better for kids

"Johnny, you know how we said you came from a stork? Well..."

How early is too early to have THE talk with your kids? When they start decorating their rooms with posters of Justin Bieber or Megan Fox? Their first word? Birth?

OK, birth may be a TAD too early but with new research that shows 32 per cent of kids have had sex by Year 10, and that nearly 40 per cent of those teens aren’t practising safe sex (I am SHOCKED by this), it seems the earlier you can have the “birds and the bees” talk, the better.

With girls going through puberty at a much earlier age, and kids starting to have sex before they’ve even hit high school the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) says children may need to be educated about sex earlier.

Just how MUCH earlier is unclear, as the Department of Education says Australian schools begin general sex ed discussions in early primary school. So maybe birth ISN’T too soon after all…

For further reading on this, JustB’s own Nikki Parkinson-Smith wrote a very good piece last week. If you have a daughter, you might want to sit down first.

>> When do you think kids should learn about sex? How early is too early? When did you have “the talk” with your kids, and how did you do it?

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 And there’s your first serve of News on Toast for the week – hope that got your Monday off to a good start. See you tomorrow for more crunchy hot topics, but in the meantime – leave me a comment below!

Main pic: Ian Turpie from News.com.au