‘Any way you make yourself stand out from the others is useful.’ Esther Rantzen lives up to her advice: In the past 70 years of her life, she has not only been presenter of legendary BBC-shows such as ‘That’s Life!’ and ‘Esther’, but also founded the charity ChildLine, and ran as an independent candidate for parliamentary elections in 2010.

It all started in Oxford: ‘I used the opportunities. I don’t think you can make your own luck, but you can take advantage of the luck that comes your way.’ After graduating in English literature, she started to work as a sound engineer in broadcasting. ‘But after they made me fall on the ground eight times to produce a realistic sound effect, I resigned.’ The six months of unemployment that followed she remembers as ‘horrible - I found out that it was possible to spend 24 hours in bed’.

Rantzen openly admits to having used personal contacts in order to get her first job in the then male-dominated BBC: ‘If you have an obscure relative or friend, go for it. You want to get through the door somehow. Be hungry, motivated and committed, and people will notice.’ As a researcher, she learnt the basic techniques of the discipline. ‘Always start low’, she recommends, ‘That’s the only way you will see how the skeleton is brought together.’

The TV-show ‘That’s Life!’ ran on BBC for 21 years (from 1971 to 1994), reached up to 18 million viewers, hugely influenced public opinion – and established presenter Rantzen as a ‘TV personality’. This consumer protection program was one of the first formats in the UK to use hidden cameras and uncover scandals in daily life. For one of their most famous stories, the reporters followed a two-year-old with a chronic liver disease for one year until he died after having eventually received an organ donation. ‘This completely transformed the public opinion on transplantations. People consequently gave permission to use the organs of their relatives who died’, Rantzen recounts.

Out of all she has done in her life, what does she consider her greatest achievement? Esther Rantzen does not hesitate for a moment: ‘It was ChildLine – even though it never feels like an achievement, but more like a challenge.’ Britain’s first anonymous telephone hotline for abused children was launched exactly 25 years ago, after an initiative by ‘That’s Life!’. Since then it has been run 24/7 by currently 1500 volunteer counsellors, who listen and talk to 2000 children every day and answer 2.5 million calls every year.

’Child abuse is not always associated with poverty. Children suffer in the most affluent, seemingly loving families, and they have no one to talk to about it. When people tell me that it was ChildLine that made all the difference to their lives, I feel like I have achieved something.’

Rantzen especially remembers the case of a boy who called when he was about to commit suicide. ‘He called too late. He was ready do it, but he survived – and is now one of our most dedicated fundraisers, because he wants to make sure that other children do not call too late. We depend on children’s second thoughts.’

Social issues are Esther Rantzen’s passion. ‘You need to feel needed.’ She quotes the famous phrase by the Jewish scholar and religious leader Hillel, who died 10 CE: ‘If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am ‘I’? And if not now, when?’ The last question she used as a maxime when she decided to run as an independent candidate in Luton South for the general elections in 2010. ‘At first, I was angry. The people complained that their current MP Margaret Moran did not care about them at all. Then I got fascinated by politics and the processes behind it. And then I got fond of Luton.’ Even though she lost her deposit, she does not regret her decision. ‘But I would not do it again.’

Currently being patron of 15 charities, which care for children, elderly and disabled, she keeps herself busy even at retirement age. ‘I’m also doing a bit of broadcasting, maybe entertaining the occasional viewer. I’m not being offered to present huge series anymore, but I have no grants for saying that the reason for this is because I’m old. It could be because I’m ugly or untalented.’ However, Rantzen is convinced that ageism is a problem in the BBC – ‘both before and behind the cameras. When I was trained I was told that every generation had to be represented in your team. That has been lost. But there is plenty of space to accommodate everyone!’

In other areas, equality in the BBC has improved greatly: ‘The glass ceiling was so low we could barely walk under it when I started. Now they do not dare to make a show without a woman on the screen, the only exception being ‘Top Gear’.’