Esther Rantzen, is best known for hosting the BBC’s That’s Life for 21 years and founding the charity ChildLine which enables children in distress to seek help. She is a formidable networker and campaigner with a “let’s do it” attitude. She now gives talks and advises others. Recently she took part in a reality television show about how she was starting to date again after the death of her husband, Desmond Wilcox, in 2000. There were makeovers, hidden cameras, and commentator “experts” watching her every move. Esther Rantzen is 65 today.
RGT
Sir Hugh Annesley, Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, 1989-96, 66; Jack Bailey, secretary of MCC, 1974-87, 75; Lord Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 60; Sir Christopher Booth, gastroenterologist, 81; Lieutenant-General Sir Robin Carnegie, director-general of Army Training, 1981-82, 79; D. H. B. Chesshyre, Clarenceux King of Arms; Gary Connolly, rugby league player, 34; Nicholas Forwood, judge, European Court of First Instance, 57; Field Marshal Sir Roland Gibbs, Chief of the General Staff, 1976-79, 84; Graham S. Hill, solicitor, 78; Professor Sheila Hollins, Professor of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability, St George’s Hospital Medical School, 59; Ian Howe, former chairman of Kwik Save, 65; Bruce Kent, nuclear disarmament campaigner, 76; Professor D. A. Low, president of Clare Hall, Cambridge, 1987-94, 78; Robert J. Montague, founder of Tiphook, 57; Gordon Oakes, Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, 1976-79, 74; David Owen, Chief Constable of North Wales, 1982-94, 74; Lord Randall of St Budeaux, Labour MP for Hull West, 1983-97, 67; Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham, 87; Prunella Scales, actress, 73; Alastair Stewart, broadcaster, 53; Meryl Streep, actress, 56; Lord Wakeham, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, 1995-2002, 73.