ENTERTAINERS

Esther Rantzen

A factual, funny and fearless speaker/presenter, Esther Rantzen is one of the best-known faces on British television. For twenty-one years she produced and hosted ‘That's Life!’ the most successful consumer programme in the history of television, reaching audiences of more than twenty million viewers.

For seven years she hosted her own talk show, ‘Esther’, for the BBC and ITV's social action programme, ‘That's Esther’. She has presented the leading radio topical programmes, ‘The Jimmy Young Show’ for Radio Two, and ‘The Nicky Campbell Show’ for Radio Five.

In addition to her vast experience of business, corporate life and the needs of the public, she has made numerous ground-breaking documentaries about social issues such as child abuse, drugs, mental health and childbirth, several of which resulted in changes in laws and practice.

She has created a number of entertainment shows, including the talent show ‘The Big Time’, which discovered international singing star Sheena Easton, the awards programme ‘Hearts of Gold’, and ‘Children of Courage’ for Children in Need. A versatile performer as well as a talented presenter/producer, amongst her many acclaimed guest appearances was one as Edith Piaf on ‘Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes’.

Since 1986 she has been Chair of the children's charity, Childline, the national children's helpline for children in distress or danger. It now has call centres throughout the UK, answering well over one million calls a year. In addition she is patron or president of numerous charities connected with children, or supporting people with disabilities.

In 1991 she received the OBE for services to broadcasting, and honorary doctorates from Southampton Institute and the South Bank University for the creation of Childline and her career as a broadcaster. She has served on a number of Government committees including the National Consumer Council, the Home Office Fear of Crime Committee, the Health Education Authority and the Campaign for Quality Television.

Esther is greatly in demand as an events presenter, and motivational speaker. She draws from her considerable experience of inventing innovative, pioneering ideas, and turning them into solid reality.

She has an unrivalled stock of personal anecdotes from the many distinguished personalities she has met and interviewed, from Sir Richard Branson to Joan Collins, and from Hillary Clinton to Sir Norman Wisdom.

An award-winning entertainer, her audiences invariably respond to the wisdom, experience and humour in her speeches. As her hugely successful broadcasting career demonstrates, she is also an authoritative Chair, and a revealing interviewer.

Esther specialises in tailoring her presentation to meet the needs of every specific occasion. As a journalist and now a novelist, she is adept at creating verse, and even songs, celebrating the personalities in her audiences.

Among her most popular subjects:

As a working woman, Esther has sound advice for everyone seeking to succeed in a challenging world.

How, as the mother of three children, she has personally experienced the inevitable challenge of "juggling" a successful career with family life.

The lessons of life; Esther's experiences on how, as the widow of award-winning documentary producer Desmond Wilcox, to whom she was married for twenty-two years, she watched the creation of many of his most memorable films, notably the story of ‘The Boy David’.