She studied English at Somerville College, Oxford, where the Principal was Dame Janet Vaughan and one of her tutors was Mary Lascelles.

In the late 1850s, her great-great-grandfather emigrated to Britain and settled, as a cap-maker, in Spitalfields, a slum district of London's East End.

[5] Rantzen's great-grandfather moved to a more comfortable neighbourhood with the help of his brother-in-law, Barney Barnato (born Barnett Isaacs), who had become extremely wealthy as the owner of the Kimberley Diamond Mine in South Africa.

Having worked as a researcher on a number of current affairs programmes, she moved to the award-winning BBC2 documentary series Man Alive in the mid-1960s.

[7] During that time, it expanded the traditional role of the consumer programme from simply exposing faulty washing machines and dodgy salesmen, to investigating life-and-death issues, such as a campaign for more organ donors, which featured Ben Hardwick, a two-year-old dying of liver disease whose only hope was a transplant.

also had some humorous spots, such as readings of amusing misprints sent in by viewers; it also featured comic songs that often matched the theme of each show, specially written and performed by artists such as Lynsey de Paul, Victoria Wood, Richard Stilgoe and Jake Thackray.

was influential in many different ways, not least in the introduction of the videolink for child witnesses in court procedures, and it was responsible for the launch of Childline in 1986, the first national helpline for children in danger or distress.

The aim of the programme was to find better ways of detecting children at risk of abuse; to that end, viewers of That's Life!

[7] Rantzen suggested that after that edition of That's Life!, the BBC should open a helpline for children, in case any young viewers suffering current abuse wished to ring in to ask for help.

This gave Rantzen the idea for a specific helpline for children in distress or danger, to be open 24/7 throughout the year, the first of its kind in the world.

The Childwatch team consulted child care professionals, who agreed that children would use such a helpline, but said it would be impossible to create.

Ian Skipper OBE, a noted philanthropist who had already helped Rantzen set up a special fund in memory of Ben Hardwick, agreed to underwrite the helpline's running costs for the first year.

[7] The Childwatch programme screened on 30 October 1986 and, based on the results of the survey, launched Childline with a specially written jingle (by B.

[11] In 2013, Rantzen set up The Silver Line, a charity to benefit elderly people, by combating isolation and loneliness, to provide information and advice and to offer a free confidential helpline.

In addition, The Silver Line offers a telephone befriending service, in which trained volunteers make regular weekly calls to older people.

In 1988, Rantzen created a BBC One television series called Hearts of Gold, celebrating people who had performed unsung acts of outstanding kindness or courage that became a prime time ratings hit[12] Its theme tune was written by her close friend Lynsey de Paul, and was released as a single on the CBS record label.

She created the 'Children of Courage' segment for the BBC's Children in Need programme, and the series The Big Time which discovered singer Sheena Easton.

[16] Rantzen is also patron of Erosh, a national charity which promotes good quality sheltered and retirement housing and provides resources for its members who support older people.

[18][19][20] On 26 May 2009, on Stephen Rhodes's BBC Three Counties Breakfast Show, Rantzen announced her intention to stand as an independent candidate for Parliament, if the incumbent Labour MP Margaret Moran stood for Luton South again.

Labour Party candidate Gavin Shuker won the seat with 34.9% of the vote, the Conservatives got 29.4% and the Liberal Democrats 22.7%.

[23] In August 2014, Rantzen was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote against independence from the United Kingdom in the referendum on that issue.

"[26] Abuse campaigner Shy Keenan, writing in The Sun newspaper, subsequently claimed that, using a different name, she had told Rantzen 18 years earlier of allegations that she had heard about Savile.

[27] Writing for The Daily Telegraph before the broadcast, Katy Brand also criticised Rantzen for failing to act on rumours she had heard about Savile.

[33] After Rantzen and Wilcox married in December 1977,[34] BBC management moved her back into the General Features department run by him.

[32] This created tension among colleagues in General Features,[35] who ascribed the success of the programme to Wilcox's relationship with Rantzen.

[32] As a result, Wilcox resigned,[32] and set up his own independent production company, making award-winning documentaries such as The Visit, which included a series of programmes about The Boy David.

I have decided not to keep this secret any more because I find it difficult to skulk around various hospitals wearing an unconvincing disguise, and because I would rather you heard the facts from me.