Esther Rantzen

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

Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England into a Jewish family, and educated at Somerville College, Oxford, she began her television career as a production assistant on the BBC Two documentary series Man Alive in the mid-1960s. In 1968, she became one of the onscreen researcher/presenters of Bernard Braden’s pro-consumer show Braden's Week. When Braden appeared in margarine adverts the BBC decided that this was inconsistent with his image as a consumers' advocate and replaced Braden’s Week by the more populist That's Life!, presented by Esther Rantzen. 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.

She 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. Esther also 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 she presented an audience discussion programme, Esther, on BBC2.

In 2004, she participated in the BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing. In 2006 she took part in the BBC Two 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]

[edit] Scandal and marriage

In 1970, she 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 compute 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 before Desmond died of an aneurysm in 2000.^[2]

[edit] Honours

In 1991 she was created an Officer 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 British Empire (CBE) on 17 June 2006.