Dame Esther Rantzen's Biography
Esther Rantzen studied at North London Collegiate school and Somerville College, Oxford.
In 1963, Esther Rantzen joined the BBC as a secretary. She ended up working for over 40 years in the broadcast media.
She became most famous presenting the BBC consumer programme That's Life, which ran from 1973 to 1994.
Rantzen had recently been a researcher on a similar show, Braden's Week. Both shows were produced by Desmond Wilcox, who, in 1977, married Esther Rantzen.
After That's Life, Esther Rantzen presented a daytime talk show on BBC Two called Esther.
Esther Rantzen was 68 years old when she became a contestant on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2008.
Esther was the fifth celebrity voted off I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here was not Esther Rantzen's first time on reality TV. Previous occasions were Strictly Come Dancing and Excuse My French.
She is president of ChildLine, the charity she founded in 1986.
In 2006 Esther Rantzen was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list and a Dame in the 2015 New Year Honours.
In 2008 she wrote If Not Now, When? Living the Baby Boomer Adventure.
On 14 June 2016, Channel 4 announced that Dame Esther Rantzen would be on a special edition of First Dates.
In 2019 she featured on Channel 5's Do The Right Thing with Eamonn & Ruth.
In May 2023, Dame Esther Rantzen revealed her lung cancer, which she was diagnosed with in January, was in stage four.
In 2024, she was awarded the Royal Television Society gold medal.
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