The broadcaster and campaigner joked in 2005 that “it always makes me laugh when the Jewish media search for a Jewish angle”.

Dame Esther was born in Hertfordshire on June 22, 1940, to Katherine (née Leverson) and Henry Rantzen.

In an episode of the BBC’s genealogical programme Who Do You Think You Are? in 2008, she traced her paternal line back to Warsaw, Poland, in the 1760s.

On her maternal side, her great-grandfather Montague Leverson was one of the founders of the West London Synagogue.

Her television career began in the 1960s as a researcher before she became the presenter of That’s Life! in 1973.

The show ran until 1994 with two episodes dedicated to Sir Nicholas Winton in 1988, which have become viral sensations on social media.

In the first, Sir Nicholas, who saved 669 children from the Nazis, didn’t realise he was seated next to Vera Gissing and Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, whom had saved as children.

“That was the only time in my career when I had to stop recording to wipe away my tears,” Dame Esther said.

The That’s Life! production team was inundated with calls from people who realised their connection to Sir Nicholas — leading to one of the most famous moments in British television history.

Dame Esther recalled: “In our next episode, I asked all those who owed their lives to him to stand, and Nicky, whom we had seated on the front row, turned to see the whole ground floor of the Television Theatre on their feet.”

Dame Esther subsequently made a documentary for ITV called Winton's Children.

in 2014, Dame Esther was guest speaker at a Manchester Jewish Community Care fundraising lunch at Whitefield Hebrew Congregation.

“It is very impressive how we, as a community, look after our old people,” she said.

“Older people are an integral part of Jewish family life.

“I know that during my younger years, my two grandmothers were always there on Shabbat and on the High Holy Days.”

Dame Esther was equally well-known for her campaigning.

She set up ChildLine — the first national helpline for children in danger or distress — in 1986, and, in 2013, she established The Silver Line to help combat loneliness in the aged.

She met her husband, documentary maker Desmond Wilcox, who converted to Judaism, through her local synagogue.

She said: “I ran the youth club at the synagogue and we used to have a guest speaker. He was the speaker one week and that was it. He was a wonderful man.”

Dame Esther had told the Jewish Telegraph that her husband was much more religious than her.

Wilcox died in September 2000 at the age of 69.

The couple’s three children — Emily, Rebecca and Joshua — each marked their respective bat and barmitzvot at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue.

Dame Esther appeared in the 2008 series of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!, and was the fifth celebrity to leave the camp.

She was also in the first episode of Celebrity First Dates in 2016

In 2018, Dame Esther presented a Channel 5 consumer advice show called Esther Rantzen’s House Trap.

In January 2023, Rantzen announced that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and four months later she revealed it had reached stage four.

She was a strong supporter of the assisted dying bill and had hoped to end her life at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.

But in early September she proclaimed that she had become “too physically fragile to make the journey and go through the Dignitas process”.

In an emotional letter released following her death at her home in the New Forest, Dame Esther wrote: “Dear Everybody, I am so sorry I cannot send you each individual thanks for the fun, the support and the help you have been to me.

“I have been immensely lucky in the friendship and the professional advice I have had from you which has enabled me to live such a long and happy life.

“If any of you would like to donate something to charity in my name as a celebration of what we have had together, I do know that the Dignitas charity in Switzerland is facing serious challenges and would be very grateful.

“And the Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington has also been wonderful to me. And Cathy would like me to pay tribute to Cats Protection of course.

“Sadly, all good things come to an end, as they say. So I particularly wanted to say goodbye and thank you so very, very much.

“Perhaps I will see you eventually, on the other side. I do hope so. With very good wishes, as ever, Esther.”

The Association of Jewish Refugees said Dame Esther holds “a special place in the hearts” of many of its members”.

It added: “AJR was honoured to bring together members who had journeyed to safety on Sir Nicholas Winton’s transports — Lord Alf Dubs, Hana Eardley, Alexandra Greensted, Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, Vera Schaufeld, Renate Collins, Emanuela Norton and Lia Lesser, alongside Rev John Fieldsend — to thank Dame Esther for taking their story ‘to a global audience’.

“Their final words to her feel especially poignant today: ‘Having stood up to thank him, we are now standing up to honour you’.

“Today, the AJR stands with them in honouring Dame Esther and the remarkable role she played in ensuring their story would never be forgotten. May her memory be a blessing.”

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