Childline Founder Esther Rantzen Dies at 86 After 21 Years Fronting That's Life!
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 30
Childline Founder Esther Rantzen Dies at 86 After 21 Years Fronting That's Life!
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 30
Summary
Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster who created Childline and later Silver Line, has died at 86 after living with terminal lung cancer.
21 years at the helm of BBC consumer show That's Life! made her one of Britain's best-known TV figures; the programme ran from 1973 to 1994 and often drew 20 million viewers.
1986 marked her launch of Childline, while 2013 brought Silver Line, extending her public role from broadcasting into support for children and isolated older people.
In her final years, Rantzen became a leading advocate for assisted dying, saying this month she was too physically fragile to travel to Dignitas after MPs again rejected legal change.
Tributes from Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the BBC and the NSPCC cast her as a broadcaster and campaigner whose work changed millions of lives.