Burniston inherited both her mother's liberal ideals and breadth of vision about the value of education and enjoyed a carefree but disciplined upbringing, later described in her autobiography Life in a Liberty Bodice.

In 1950, after the collapse of her wartime marriage to Stanley Burniston, she moved to Southport with her young daughter Elizabeth and started the North-West School of Speech and Drama.

Other professional organisations recognised the merits of this approach and were later to reflect ESB's ideas – notably the 1963 Newsom Report Half Our Future.

She was external examiner in spoken English at the Education Institute of the Universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, Durham, Leicester, Newcastle and Nottingham.

[1][7] Burniston moved to Cheltenham in 1998 to write and see more of her family, continuing to promote the work of ESB with the help of Jocelyn Bell, her professional colleague and companion.

[7] ESB retains The Christabel Burniston Fund, a grant to provide financial support to candidates who might not otherwise be able to access its exams.