John Pickup's lengthy ABC career included everything from recording rhinos to covering the Olympics

John Pickup and John Croyston tried to record the sounds of a rhinoceros at Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo in 1961. (ABC: Color Prints)

When John Pickup first began working for the ABC, risk assessments weren't quite as rigorous as they are today.

For instance, while working as a sound effects officer, he was given the task of recording a rhinoceros 'roaring' at Sydney's Taronga Zoo in 1961.