Born in Hertfordshire, Rantzen, 83, was educated at Oxford University. In 1973, she began presenting Thatâs Life!, a popular BBC show which ran for 21 years. In 1986, she founded Childline, and later the Silver Line, which is now part of Age UK. In 2023, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and joined Dignitas. She supports the UK campaign for Dignity in Dying, which has launched a petition for assisted dying to be debated in parliament. She lives in the New Forest and has three children with her late husband, the documentary maker Desmond Wilcox.
What is your greatest fear?
Being boring.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Alan Bates, Lord Arbuthnot and Nick Wallis for exposing the Post Office and Fujitsu and, letâs hope, for ensuring everyone is properly compensated.
Aside from a property, whatâs the most expensive thing youâve ever bought?
My hybrid car. Not glamorous, not fast, but indispensable.
What is your most treasured possession?
My photo albums.
Describe yourself in three words:
Young, beautiful, deluded.
What would your superpower be?
To have conversations with animals. And plants.
What makes you unhappy?
Reading accounts of children suffering.
What scares you about getting older?
Possible dementia.
Who is your celebrity crush?
Judi Dench (especially as Elizabeth I).
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Most of it.
Who would play you in the film of your life?
Samantha Spiro already has.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A teacher and a nightclub singer.
Would you choose fame or anonymity?
Fame was fun, but either will do.
What was the last lie that you told?
That was delicious, said to the cook.
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What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Messaging from my phone at all hours.
To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?
To everyone Iâve bored.
What does love feel like?
Like intoxication, sometimes followed by a hangover.
Which living person do you most despise, and why?
Donald Trump. He follows Hitlerâs propaganda techniques. When Hitlerâs version of events was contested by journalists, he accused them of Lügenpresse. Itâs a term which translates as âfake newsâ.
What is the worst job youâve ever done?
When I started as a researcher in the BBC, I was working for an editor who was a self-confessed misogynist. He used to practise shooting by aiming his air gun at an aerosol can balanced just over my head. I made it a matter of pride not to flinch as the pellets whizzed by.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Maybe I should have agreed to take the job of controller of BBC One when Bill Cotton offered it to me. I do feel a wimp; I would have been the first woman in the job.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I donât really claim credit, I hope, for helping to launch Childline and the Silver Line and Silver Stories. It is an achievement that they all exist, but that is down to their amazing teams.
Would you rather have more sex, money or fame?
Time, please.
