// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
How That's Life! gave Esther Rantzen a career-defining moment
Esther Rantzen surprises Nicholas Winton on That's Life!
Dame Esther Rantzen's commitment to charitable causes is something she will forever be remembered for.
Along with founding Childline, a helpline for children, and The Silver Line, which supports older people struggling with loneliness, she also created a broadcasting legacy during her time on That's Life!
She presented the hugely popular BBC One show from 1973 to 1994, helping transform it from a consumer rights programme to an issues-based series, drawing in huge audiences.
One of her most memorable career moments came during one particular episode in 1988 - the footage of which has gone viral several times over in recent years.
Dame Esther had been told the story of Nicholas Winton, the man who had organised the rescue of 669 children from Czechoslovakia, which was occupied in 1939 by Nazi forces.
Sir Nicholas Winton in 2014 receiving the highest order of the Czech Republic, the White Lion.
Sir Nicholas was able to rescue the mainly Jewish cohort of children after briefly visiting Prague.
Sir Nicholas, who was born to German-Jewish parents, made a list of the children that needed sponsorship and found homes for them to go to in Britain.
He worked alongside activists and humanitarians , externalin Czechoslovakia to navigate complex political obstacles, such as getting children to Britain through the Netherlands, which had closed its borders to Jewish refugees.