I have got a new hobby: writing letters to the papers, including of course The Telegraph. You kindly published me, even when I outed myself as an ardent Remainer. So many older people ringing the Silver Line have told me that it’s been years since they had fun. If I were Prime Minister, I’d bring in a law that everyone must have fun at least once a day. I have loads of fun. My children and grandchildren invariably make me laugh. When I was a child, I had a local GP who was on call day and night. Now I have a local surgery with a group of GPs, all excellent, and I don’t mind having telephone conversations instead of trips to the surgery. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: At Childline, we take what children tell us seriously. This should also apply to children who tell us they cannot bear to live as the gender they have been assigned. Years ago, when I was presenting That’s Life!, I met ‘Mike’ who was desperately distressed and hated his/her girl’s body.

If they tell us they feel suicidal because they cannot bear being in the wrong body, we take that seriously. In every case, we see our role as giving the child confidence, and assuring them that they are valued, and that we care about their safety. You have three adult children: Miriam, 45, Rebecca, 43, and Joshua, 41. What have you learned about parenting, specifically parenting during the difficult teen years? We may not all achieve what Dame Esther has, but here we can soak up her wisdom, laugh with her, learn from her, embrace the passing years and march boldly on. Loneliness a huge issue, not only for older people. Is there something we should be doing, at a grassroots or government level, to combat it?

About this book

In 1968, Rantzen, at the time a researcher for Braden's Week, became a presenter for the show, then a few years later the BBC replaced Braden's Week with That's Life! with Rantzen as the main presenter. That's Life! ran on BBC1 for 21 years becoming one of the most popular shows on British television.

But then I remember the wonderful people I’ve had the privilege of knowing: the Childline and Silver Line staff and volunteers, and Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved a generation of Czech Jewish children. We have to remember the proverb ascribed to Edmund Burke: ‘For the triumph of evil, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.’ And women, of course. You were asked to apply for the job of BBC One Controller, which would have made you the first female controller of any television channel. Is it true that you turned it down out of fear?

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Yes, I was a complete wimp. Although being controller is such a huge, demanding job it would have meant I spent far less time supporting Childline. And I would have had to give up That’s Life!, which would have meant not exposing Crookham Court, a boarding school owned by a paedophile who employed several paedophile teachers and routinely abused the boys. When I was an undergraduate, universities were aware of their responsibility in loco parentis. Now that 18-year-olds are officially adults, too many universities don’t stay alert and protective. The original subtitle for her book Older & Bolder was ‘My A-Z of Surviving Everything’. ‘I told my oncologist that I’d better change the title,’ she says. ‘He agreed – which is why it’s now “My A-Z of Surviving Almost Everything”.’

A graduate from Oxford, Esther Rantzen’s career in broadcasting began with BBC Radio as a sound effects assistant. From there she moved into television as a researcher/reporter for Braden’s Week and then in 1973 as producer/presenter of That’s Life, which ran for 21 years on BBC Television. Esther has made a number of pioneering programmes on subjects such as British women’s experience of childbirth, stillbirth, mental health and child abuse. In 1986 she invented the concept of ChildLine and chaired the charity for 20 years. I’m not good at regrets. What I treasure most are the fantastic friendships I have made thanks to That’s Life! during the last 50 years, the people I met, and the team who worked so hard, and laughed so hard, together for so long.” But how soon, how late, I do not know. It does concentrate your mind to be told you've got Stage 4 lung cancer, you do think well wait a minute, I've got less time than maybe I had assumed. Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life. In 1968, Rantzen started an affair with Desmond Wilcox, who was the head of her department and married to Rantzen's friend Patsy who also worked at the BBC. They decided to live together after many years.In 1976, Rantzen devised the documentary series The Big Time, which launched Sheena Easton's singing career. Multi-award-winning broadcaster, founder of Childline and The Silver Line, campaigner, mother, grandmother and joyous trailblazer of our times, Dame Esther Rantzen dazzles in the glory of getting older and ever bolder. She is now at her New Forest home and ‘enjoying each day in a granular way that I never did when I was tearing around like a wasp in a jam jar’, she says. ‘Having stage 4 cancer does concentrate the mind, and makes each day even more precious.’ Dame Esther Rantzen has issued a heartbreaking health update in her first TV interview since she announced she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. The journalist and TV presenter, who has had a career spanning 50 years, revealed she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in January and said it had spread.