Thought For The Day – Thursday 1^st October 2026

Today is the International Day of Older Persons. 

We remember those in community who are older and elderly.

We thank them for all they have done, and for all they very much continue to do.

We know that we have duty to look after and support older, and elderly, persons, just as they have shown duty, and support, to us.

One person who was recognised for her support of old, and indeed young, people was Dame Esther Rantzen O.B.E., who passed away from this life yesterday, aged 86.

There were many tributes paid to Dame Esther.   The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham M.P., said the broadcaster and campaigner had “changed countless lives”.

Most importantly, Dame Esther’s family paid tribute to the “most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother”,  whose compassion would live on through her charities.

Esther Rantzen was born in Hertfordshire, in Berkhamsted, on the 22^nd of June 1940, in the early stages of the Second World War.

From 1973 to 1994, Dame Esther produced, and presented, a B.B.C. programme called “That’s Life”.   Attracting 20 million viewers, this television programme featured moral investigations and stories, as well as, to offer cheer, occasional light-hearted items.  Dame Esther Rantzen was a ground-breaking woman broadcaster.

And charity campaigner. In 1986, forty years ago, Dame Esther Rantzen launched “Childline”.  This was a counselling service for children and young people in the U.K., and was truly historic.  Children could call the “Childline” number for free, without the telephone number showing up on a household bill.  It was open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day.

Dame Esther Rantzen helped those at the other end of the age spectrum, launching “The Silver Line” in 2013 to crucially help elderly people suffering from isolation and loneliness.

We never, ever forget elderly, and older people, who are on their own.

Very appropriately, in 2015, Dame Esther Rantzen was made a Dame for her services to people, young and old.

Later in her life, Dame Esther Rantzen became a prominent campaigner for the legalisation of assisted dying.  This is a very complex and sensitive area, which many people have different, and equally important, respected, and valued, views on.

One particularly special moment in the career of Dame Esther Rantzen came in a 1988 episode of “That’s Life”.

Dame Esther had been told the story of Nicholas Winton, pictured above and below, and decided to bring it to national attention.

Remarkably, Nicholas, had organised the rescue of 669 children from the now Czech Republic, which was occupied in 1939 by the Nazis.

Crossing borders, and with immense courage and skill, Nicholas, who was born to German-Jewish parents,  was knighted in 2003, and passed away, aged 106, in 2015,  organised homes for the children in the United Kingdom.

Nicholas’ incredible story was not widely known for almost fifty years,  until his wife found a scrapbook in their loft, which contained the names of children he had rescued.

Sir Nicholas Winton was always sad he could not save more people.

In 1988, Dame Esther Rantzen invited the very humble Nicholas on “That’s Life”, together with two of the children he had rescued, to surprise him and show him the inspirational thing he had done.

“I wanted to prove to this extraordinary man that every life he had saved was precious”, said Dame Esther.

It was after that programme that more people, whom Nicholas had rescued, contacted “That’s Life”.

In an iconic moment, on a subsequent edition of “That’s Life”,  Dame Esther Rantzen further surprised a tearful Sir Nicholas Winton by asking everyone in the audience to stand up who had been saved by his exceptional and outstanding care: https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/cz9987l2998o