Older and Bolder: My A-Z of surviving almost everything

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Even the way our courts treat child witnesses has improved, though not consistently and not enough. Juries used to be warned that children who disclosed sexual abuse should not be believed unless there is corroboration. She later set up the Silver Line in 2013, a charity that supports elderly people in the UK who experience loneliness. 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. Read more Look Inside Details Speaking of her romantic relationships, she was married to a British television producer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and television executive, Desmond Wilcox. Esther Rantzen pictured with her late husband, Desmond. (Source: Daily Mail) Talking about how she always asked people 'How do you do?' when meeting, Esther added: "Unfortunately, as I grumble in my new book, people now say 'How are you?' So actually I could give a complete list of everything that has been stopped, collapsed, lifted...no I may not tell you about that."

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?

In the meantime, she’s happy hunkered down at home in the New Forest, surrounded by her family, with much to be proud of and no regrets. She’s keeping busy, but it’s a different kind of busy these days. Of course, the treatments have improved, and technology has changed hugely. I’ve discovered a new condition that hits you during the months before your next scan, and until the results. It’s called ‘Scanxiety’. In Older & Bolder, you say ‘the killer question’ is, what do you do for fun? Because many older people sadly can no longer remember. What’s your own answer to that question? 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”.’ 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.

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. Most wounding of all, Cassandra claims that the TV star left Desmond Wilcox alone on the night before he died. But a source close to Rantzen said yesterday: 'Esther left Desmond's side briefly to fetch a Jewish prayer book and she is terribly keen to set the record straight over that. But she was very definitely with Desmond when he died.' Rantzen went public in January with her diagnosis, saying in a statement: “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. Even though she gave up smoking in the middle, she put on weight which is why she took up smoking again. A mother of three and grandmother of five, Rantzen was widowed in 2000 when she lost her husband of 23 years, Desmond Wilcox. In 2016, an endearing appearance on Celebrity First Dates featured a powerful moment when she talked about having ‘lots of people to do something with, but no one to do nothing with’.

Unlike That's Life - axed for becoming 'dull and predictable' - the Rantzen family feud has plenty of mileage left. Cassandra has now promised that tomorrow she will reveal 'my mother's unpublished manuscript, which tells of her marriage to my father, how she felt Esther stole him from her and how my mother felt.'