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.

Esther was on The One Show to promote her new book, 'Older & Bolder: My A - Z of Surviving Almost Anything'. It is out next Thursday. 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’. Last week, Esther - who became a huge TV star 30 years ago as host of BBC1's That's Life - published the first extracts from her autobiography. It includes intimate details not only of her 32-year relationship with Wilcox and the triumphs of their television work together but also of his painful death shortly after they had re-celebrated their marriage vows. She said of Wilcox: 'He radiated warmth and light into our lives and for the moment we fear that we have lost the sunshine we depended on.' First and foremost my family. My three children, Miriam, Rebecca and Joshua, have been the most wonderful support, company, and source of love and laughter and I am deeply grateful to them. My friends have been amazing and have created memories which sustain me and give me strength. 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”.’

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But how soon, how late, I do not know. It does concentrate your mind to be told you've got Stage 4 lung cancer, you do think well wait a minute, I've got less time than maybe I had assumed. Writing a book of life lessons felt right because ‘with so much life experience, I have opinions on everything’, she says, adding that it was ‘huge fun’ to write. I can attest it’s as much fun to read, partly because it’s very much written in her voice. ‘I had strict instructions from my children not to sound like Saint Esther of the Telephone, but to be myself,’ she admits. ‘I obeyed them.’ So you prioritise. Because as much as I love it and as much as I respect people who want to die working, for me I didn't want to die working."

I have got a new hobby: writing letters to the papers, including of course The Telegraph. You kindly published me, even when I outed myself as an ardent Remainer. Earlier this year, Esther released a statement about her diagnosis that read: "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. Loneliness a huge issue, not only for older people. Is there something we should be doing, at a grassroots or government level, to combat it?Furthermore, she is waiting for test results to determine the best course of treatment for her condition. Esther Rantzen is an English journalist & television presenter who announced on 29 January 2023 that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Now, several fans have one question ‘Is Esther Rantzen a smoker’ arising after her announcement. 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." 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.

Three of them went to prison as a result of the That’s Life! investigation. In the end, I made the right decision. Maybe not a complete wimp, then. Just a bit wimpish. Miriam, who has ME and lives at home with Rantzen, is clearly extremely proud of her mum. ‘It’s very moving when people helped by Childline or the Silver Line share what her work means to them,’ she says. ‘But my overriding gratitude is for everything that Mum has taught me about cultivating joy, and being creative and undaunted in the face of challenges.’ The veteran broadcaster said: “I’m not good at regrets. What I treasure most are the fantastic friendships I have made thanks to That’s Life! during the last 50 years, the people I met, and the team who worked so hard, and laughed so hard, together for so long.” And the embittered step-daughter is Cassandra, the child of legendary TV producer Desmond Wilcox, to whom Rantzen was happily and very publicly devoted for 32 years. 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?

In May, Rantzen revealed she has been trying a new cancer treatment, but needs to wait for a scan to see if it’s been working. She tells me she’s ‘still waiting’. Multi-award-winning broadcaster, founder of Childline and The Silver Line, campaigner, mother, grandmother and joyous trailblazer of our times, Dame Esther Rantzen dazzles in the glory of getting older and ever bolder. Yes, I was a complete wimp. Although being controller is such a huge, demanding job it would have meant I spent far less time supporting Childline. And I would have had to give up That’s Life!, which would have meant not exposing Crookham Court, a boarding school owned by a paedophile who employed several paedophile teachers and routinely abused the boys.

I’m not good at regrets. What I treasure most are the fantastic friendships I have made thanks to That’s Life! during the last 50 years, the people I met, and the team who worked so hard, and laughed so hard, together for so long.” The journalist added that she had decided to disclose her condition ‘because I would rather you heard the truth from me’ and ‘because I find it hard to skulk around different hospitals wearing an implausible disguise.’ Rantzen's friend told The Observer: 'Esther is simply not going to engage with all this. She has no intention of getting into a dispute with her step-daughter.' But her complete memoir, as the publicists are always keen to point out, will be in all good bookshops soon.So many older people ringing the Silver Line have told me that it’s been years since they had fun. If I were Prime Minister, I’d bring in a law that everyone must have fun at least once a day. I have loads of fun. My children and grandchildren invariably make me laugh. One of the worst things about this disease is how it can take down a person who seems utterly invincible. During Rantzen’s ‘wasp in a jam jar’ years, she was one of the most recognisable faces in the UK. 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.'