{"id":632438,"date":"2026-09-30T20:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/632438\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:18:12","slug":"dame-esther-rantzen-broadcaster-campaigner-and-charity-founder-dies-aged-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/632438\/","title":{"rendered":"Dame Esther Rantzen, broadcaster, campaigner and charity founder, dies aged 86"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Esther Rantzen &#8211; broadcaster, charity founder, and assisted dying campaignerpublished at 19:15 BST<\/p>\n<p>19:15 BST<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dame Esther with fellow That's Life! presenters Howard Leader, Kevin Devine, and Gavin Campbell in 1993\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/111ffb30-2e5b-4daf-a2b3-2baa82dfbb3a.jpg.webp\"  width=\"2204\" height=\"1240\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rantzen with fellow That&#8217;s Life! presenters Howard Leader, Kevin Devine, and Gavin Campbell in 1993<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A broadcaster <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dame Esther Rantzen presented the BBC show That&#8217;s Life! for 21 years during its run from 1973 to 1994, a show that blended consumer rights investigations and entertainment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She later went on to appear in Strictly Come Dancing, and was inducted into the Royal Television Society&#8217;s hall of fame in 1997.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A charity founder<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It was through her work on That&#8217;s Life! that Rantzen founded Childline in 1986, a charity that offers a private and confidential helpline for children. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When they set up a helpline for an episode of the BBC television programme on child abuse, the presenter&#8217;s team was inundated with calls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Afterwards, Rantzen realised there was an urgent need for an outlet for vulnerable children to talk about the taboo subject of child abuse.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rantzen poses in a red dress and red hat after being made a dame in 2015\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/db3b4046-7c4f-4c6c-9e76-95ac818afcb4.jpg.webp\"  width=\"1021\" height=\"574\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rantzen was made a dame at a Buckingham Palace ceremony in 2015<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Later on in 2013, Rantzen set up another telephone service. The Silver Line helpline provided a line for people aged 55 or older to tackle feelings of loneliness and isolation that many older people experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In 2015, Rantzen was recognised for her charity work when she was made a dame for her services to children and older people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">An assisted dying campaigner <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rantzen joined the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023, and became a vocal campaigner for the UK&#8217;s Terminally Ill Adults Bill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rantzen said she had become &#8220;too physically fragile&#8221; to travel to Dignitas, and said the law around assisted dying &#8211; which she called &#8220;messy and cruel &#8211; must &#8220;change and change quickly&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Esther Rantzen &#8211; broadcaster, charity founder, and assisted dying campaignerpublished at 19:15 BST 19:15 BST Image caption, Rantzen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-632438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}