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Amazon.co.uk Review
So you think you know BBC television's Esther Rantzen? The familiar, forthright tone of Esther: the Autobiography, easily matches the author's TV persona...but you can be sure there are also surprises in store. Born and raised in North London, Esther led a typical middle-class existence for most of her younger life. Her sphere of experience, although small and often blinkered by lifelong good fortune, is actually very revealing. The real interest here lies perhaps less with the author and more with her candid acceptance of the social systems she has lived through. Certainly, on one level at least, this autobiography functions well as a sociological text--looking at the institutionalised class system within higher education and the BBC (perhaps remarkable, since the book is published by the BBC itself). Rantzen's tales of collegiate life are peppered with the names of student chums who rode the conveyor belt from Oxbridge straight to top jobs in broadcasting ("Peter Snow was always lovely", and "I slept in Melvyn Bragg's bed"--indeed.) Once inside Broadcasting House, Rantzen regularly questioned the patriarchal atmosphere within--but then had no qualms about giving jobs to the "old" boys instead.
Of course there is also a more human element here. Its subject comes across as well intentioned and, although perhaps not a great visionary, she seems blessed with a confident talent to communicate and promote herself and her ideas. It was this "let's do it!" no-nonsense bulldozer effect that helped Esther Rantzen host 21 years of the TV show That's Life! and go on to work benevolently with Childline and various other good causes. There was--as in most lives--a certain amount of scandal to contend with. Esther married her late husband Desmond Wilcox (who died in September 2000, just before this autobiography was completed) after beginning her relationship with him as the mistress to a married man--here she neither shirks blame nor responsibility. It is the throwaway lines--an admission of an affair with the late Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn, for example, which really elicit some sharp intakes of breath. Away from her TV persona, the final passages of "Esther: the Autobiography" are the work of someone who has been touched by great pain and is trying--with difficulty--to come out the other side. Until this point, perhaps, this was the autobiography of a high-achieving woman. Wilcox's death transforms it instead into the work of a real woman--who has achieved.--Helen Lamont --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Esther Rantzen reads her autobiography, in which she reviews her professional and private life to date. From her beginnings at the BBC working in sound affects, later working as a production assistant on Man Alive (where she met future husband Desmond Wilcox) and as a reporter on Braden's Week, through to presenting That's Life in the 70s and 80s, she has risen to become one of the most powerful women in television. She is also famous for setting up the children's charity, Childline, and she currently hosts a daytime BBC discussion programme. On a personal level, Esther writes about family ups and downs, serious illnesses, and her partnership with Desmond Wilcox who, tragically, died whilst she was writing the book. Now in her 60th year, Esther gives a candid and fascinating account of her life and work, including some of the most entertaining anecdotes from behind and in front of the camera. She also has the opportunity to air her views on a wide range of issues - and the book promises some hitherto unknown revelations about her private life.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
i bought this book not long after it came out. And read it in a week and not long afterwards i was lucky enought to meet Esther at a talk she gave in Nottingham. It was fascinating and atferwards there was a book signing. I admire the way she has coped with her husband Desmonds death she talked about how he encouraged her to write the book and would set her deadlines. i recommend this book it's inspiring
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