Tributes have come in from across the South to the “remarkable” broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, whose death at the age of 86 was announced on Wednesday.
She was best known for presenting the BBC TV programme That’s Life! for more than two decades, as well as for setting up the charity Childline.
In her later years, the legendary broadcaster permanently relocated from the capital to her cottage in Bramshaw in the New Forest, Hampshire.
Local Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis had struck up a regular correspondence with his constituent over recent years. He said Dame Esther had been “an absolutely scintillating, glittering and unforgettable personality”.
She had led the “introduction of so many things of benefit to so many vulnerable groups in society”, he added.
Having been born in Hertfordshire, Dame Esther studied at the University of Oxford before forging her career in London.
In 2021 Dame Esther reflected on her move to Hampshire, which came after the Covid-19 pandemic, telling BBC Radio Solent that the forest was “always my haven”.
“If we had a birthday party, if we had a wedding to celebrate, it was always here in the New Forest,” she said.