Esther Rantzen – That’s Life!

As famous for four decades of cutting edge TV and setting up ChildLine as she is for battling it out for a Parliamentary seat, Esther Rantzen tells Barbara Walshe why failure has always been an option. 

It’s impossible to get anywhere fast with Esther Rantzen on your arm.  I meet the former BBC presenter-turned reality TV contestant-turned aspiring politician at the headquarters of NSPCC in Shoreditch, East London.  And she is itching to get out. 

“I’d love an ice-cream,” she announces, which is how I find myself chaperoning one of Britain’s best known faces up Curtain Road in search of a spot in the sun and a bowl of ice-cream. 

There’s a few things slowing us down.  Firstly, Rantzen’s heels.  She may have turned 70 last month, but it hasn’t stopped her wearing three (four?) inch T-bar sandals with an on-trend floral dress.  “I’m regretting them now.”

Then there’s her penchant for shopping.  Heading down a side street, Rantzen ducks into Start boutique, one of Shoreditch’s best, for a quick scan before professing loudly: “My daughters would love all this!”

And finally, there’s the people.  Like the trendy guy in his mid-30s who strides up, arm outstretched, ‘Esther Rantzen, I’d like to shake your hand’, and the others pointing and staring when we eventually settle outside a bar after declaring: “I love this place!” (she has a habit of announcing rather than saying things).

Today we’re here to discuss ChildLine, the charity she set up 23 years ago, which gives children in danger or distress access to a freephone telephone number they can call to get help or talk to a counsellor.  She started this after producing and presenting a BBC programme in 1986 called Childwatch, which alerted the public to the prevalence of child abuse. 

It was a revolutionary concept at the time, with 50,000 attempted calls made on its first night alone, and has been copied in 150 countries since.  But for all its fame, people began to forget it was a charity.  Until 2005, the year of the Tsunami, an earthquake in Pakistan and famine in Niger, when ChildLine discovered a huge fundraising deficit, and had just two weeks running costs left in the bank. 

The answer was to merge with NSPCC. “They recognised our USP,” she explains.  “Children trust and refer themselves to ChildLine whereas, at the NSPCC, children are referred by adults.”  Rantzen stayed on as president, became a trustee of the NSPCC, and now spends her time raising awareness and funds for both.

That is, when she’s not taking part in reality TV programmes like Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Or standing as an independent candidate for parliament, as she did in May for Luton South.

She hasn’t had much success with any of these.  Rantzen was voted off third on Strictly, was fifth out in the jungle and came fourth among eight candidates in the local elections this year.  She received just 1,872 votes after the campaign set her back £7K, including the £500 deposit required to stand.

‘Humiliating defeat’ were the words newspapers used, though there’s no sign of any humiliation today.  “I can’t say I turned out to be the best rumba dancer but I had fun trying.  And I won’t serve kangaroo’s parts at my next dinner party, but it was fun in the moment.  If you haven’t got an adventure in your life, what’s the point?” she says, laughing.

“And though I wasn’t notably successful in the election, I did bring very positive publicity to a town which has been quite buffeted over the years with unemployment and racial tension.  I’m a bit peculiar, or very peculiar, in how I never mind failure if something is worth trying.”

Rantzen refers to herself variously as ‘peculiar’, ‘odd’ and ‘mad’ during our conversation, and she may be onto something.  There’s a softness to this woman, who admits loving surprises, but also a toughness no doubt essential for tackling difficult issues on TV in the past.

But there’s also something more.  She tends to retreat into her own world intermittently, studiously taking in her surroundings, before erupting with pleasure over the tiniest thing – like a shop, a street or even ‘ice-cream in glass!’  It’s partly her personality, I suspect, partly down to a life lived out in front of the camera and partly a survival mechanism.   Which is why words like ‘humiliating defeat’ just don’t stick.

Originally from Hertfordshire, Esther was educated in London before reading English at Oxford.  After training as a secretary, she became a trainee studio manager at the BBC, then moved into TV in the mid-60s, working as a researcher on everything from satire to current affairs to documentary programmes. 

She got her first presenting job in 1968 on Braden’s Week, which became That’s Life! in 1972 and which she fronted for the next 21 years, reaching audiences of 18 million.  During that time, she had an affair with, and married, Desmond Wilcox, her department head at the BBC, and had three children – Emily, Rebecca and Joshua.

Rantzen continued working throughout.  Alongside probing programmes on drugs, stillbirth and mental health, she also did her fair share of puff, including Search for a Star and The Big Time, the 70s version of Britain’s Got Talent and X-Factor. 

“We worked with a young producer called Simon Cowell,” she remembers.  Has he changed much?  “He was slightly less outspoken then, though we didn’t give him the opportunity.  But he understood the power of television, just as he does now.”

These days, though Rantzen is well into pensionable age, she is years off retirement.  In fact, aside from losing those closest to her, including her husband to heart disease in 2000, she is positively relishing older age – thanks to three best friends in her children, good health, and more time to decide on the projects she likes. 

If she’s honest, missing out on a seat in Westminster is probably a blessing in disguise.  Rantzen is thoughtful.  “I like to be able to seize the moment and I think if I’d been in parliament, I wouldn’t be enjoying sunshine as we speak.  An ill-win,” she announces, before popping another spoon of vanilla and chocolate ice-cream into her mouth.

Coutts’ Senior Client Partners are aiming to raise £150,000 for the NSPCC between April 2010 and April 2011.  If you would like to make a donation, contact mark.evans@coutts.com

By Barbara Walshe