Esther Rantzen

Esther Louise Rantzen CBE (born on 22 June 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for her long stint in That's Life! and her child protection activities as founder of the charity ChildLine.

Biography

Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England into a Jewish family, and educated at Somerville College, Oxford, Rantzen began her television career as a production assistant on the BBC 2 documentary series Man Alive in the mid-1960s. In 1968, Rantzen became one of the onscreen researcher/presenters of Bernard Braden’s pro-consumer show Braden's Week. When Braden appeared in margarine advertisements, the BBC decided that this was inconsistent with his image as a consumer advocate and replaced Braden’s Week with the more populist That's Life!. The format was very similar, including a Fletcher (Cyril not Ronald) to read out amusing misprints. Braden's replacement by Rantzen was deeply resented by his wife Barbara Kelly, who spoke bitterly of it some thirty years later. The Central Television series Spitting Image parodied That's Life at least twice. On one occasion they said that Rantzen was unable to present the show as she was recovering from shock after a viewer had sent in his penis because it looked like a carrot (as opposed to a running gag on That's Life itself, which featured viewers sending in photographs of suggestive-looking fruits and vegetables). On another occasion her puppet was presenting That's Life And Death. The show featured a totalizer which went up and down according to the number of viewers watching and correspondingly raised money for a girl who needed a liver transplant. When Esther said that the girl would live, the totalizer went down. Esther's final outburst, when it had dropped almost to the bottom, was "That does it! I'm leaving!" at which the red marker shot to the top of the totalizer and flew out towards the ceiling in a cloud of glitter. Rantzen also developed the documentary series The Big Time in 1976, which launched the singing career of Sheena Easton. She also briefly hosted a junior version of That's Life in the 1980s. Rantzen devised a TV series called "Hearts of Gold" in 1988 celebrating people who have performed unsung acts of outstanding kindness or courage. The uplifting theme tune was composed by her friend Lynsey De Paul. In the 1990s, Rantzen presented a talk show, Esther, on BBC2. In 2004, Rantzen participated in the BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing (later exported to the U.S. as Dancing With The Stars). In 2006, Rantzen took part in the BBC 2 programme Excuse my French, and was selected to present a new consumer affairs show with former Watchdog presenter Lynn Faulds Wood, under the title Old Dogs New Tricks. ^[1]

Scandal and marriage

In 1970, Rantzen began an affair with Desmond Wilcox that caused a considerable scandal. Not only was Wilcox her Department Head (boss, essentially) but he was also married at the time to Esther's good friend Patsy. The BBC management solution was to move the entire production team on That's Life! out of Wilcox's department. What they didn't consider was that the new arrangement brought Esther and Patsy into daily contact. To say that Esther was unpopular with her peer group at that time would be an understatement. The furore died down somewhat when Esther and Desmond married in 1977. They had three children (including fellow journalist Rebecca Wilcox) before Desmond died of an aortic dissection in 2000.^[2]

Honours

In 1991, Rantzen was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting, and received honorary doctorates from Southampton Institute and the London South Bank University for the creation of Childline and her career as a broadcaster. She was raised to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on June 17, 2006. In September 2007, Rantzen opened a branch of Cancer Research in Highgate, London, with fellow presenter Cilla Black. Rantzen bought some undergarments and a flask. In June 2007, Rantzen visited the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to promote the use of the Liverpool Care of the Dying Pathway for terminally ill patients.

Footnotes