Esther Rantzen and the TV Moment That Introduced Britain to a Holocaust Hero

Dame Esther Rantzen is being remembered not only for her charitable legacy but also for a single television episode that turned a quiet humanitarian into a national figure. As the creator and long-time presenter of the BBC One programme *That's Life!*, she helped bring the story of Sir Nicholas Winton to public attention in 1988, in a broadcast that has since become one of the most replayed moments in British television history.

Rantzen presented *That's Life!* from 1973 until 1994. Under her stewardship, the programme evolved from a consumer rights show into an issues-driven series that attracted large audiences and mixed investigations with human interest stories. Her work on the programme, alongside founding the children's helpline Childline and the loneliness charity The Silver Line, forms the core of a career defined by public service.

The story at the centre of the famous episode concerns Winton, who organised the rescue of 669 children from Czechoslovakia after Nazi forces occupied the country in 1939. Born to German-Jewish parents, he travelled briefly to Prague and compiled a list of children in need of sponsorship, then set about finding homes for them in Britain.

Winton worked with activists and humanitarians in Czechoslovakia to overcome considerable political obstacles. Among the difficulties was arranging for children to reach Britain through the Netherlands, which had closed its borders to Jewish refugees. His efforts succeeded in part because of a House of Commons ruling passed a couple of months before the rescue mission began, which allowed young refugees into the country.

With help from his mother, Winton published photographs of the children in British magazines, including Picture Post, in an attempt to find them families. He also arranged for hostels to take in some of the refugees and raised money to cover travel costs and to provide essentials once the children arrived on British soil.

Despite the scale of his achievement, Winton's work went largely unreported for nearly five decades. The story only came to light after his wife discovered a scrapbook in their loft containing the names of the children he had saved. The scrapbook was passed to Holocaust researchers, who used it to trace some of the people Winton had helped.

The breakthrough into public awareness came in February 1988, when Winton appeared on *That's Life!* and Rantzen told viewers about his story. Speaking in February 2024, Rantzen recalled that when she first contacted Winton, whom she called Nicky, she congratulated him on his extraordinary achievement.

She told *The Radio Times* that Winton had expressed disappointment about his efforts, saying that not enough people had been saved. Rantzen said she was devastated that he felt he had failed and wanted to prove to him that every life he had rescued was precious.

During his first appearance on the programme, Winton's scrapbook was shared with the audience. Two women he had saved as children, Vera Gissing and Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, then revealed their identities to him on television. They were seated on either side of Winton, who had no idea the surprise had been arranged. Rantzen later described the moment as incredibly moving.

Lady Milena is among the most well-recognised Holocaust survivors in the UK. She left Prague with her younger sister Eva at the age of nine on a special train arranged by Winton. The sisters were cared for by a Tameside family until their mother arrived the following year, having escaped via Norway. Gissing, rescued from Prague in 1939 at the age of 11, lost most of her family during the Holocaust and settled in the UK after the war.

Rantzen said it was the only time in her career that she had to stop recording to wipe away her tears. The production team was subsequently contacted by viewers who had watched the show and realised their own connection to Winton. That response gave the programme's team the idea for a follow-up that would become one of British television's most famous scenes.

In the next episode, Rantzen asked everyone in the audience who owed their lives to Winton to stand. Winton, seated on the front row, turned to see the entire ground floor of the Television Theatre rise to its feet. Rantzen recalled the moment in detail, noting that he had no prior knowledge of what was about to happen.

The footage has been rediscovered by new audiences in the years since, thanks to social media, and remains a TV moment many people remember. Rantzen said she watched the episode many times and found herself deeply moved on each occasion.

She kept in contact with Winton after the broadcast, meeting him regularly until his death in 2015 at the age of 106. He had been knighted in 2003 for his humanitarian work, and in 2014 he received the highest order of the Czech Republic, the White Lion.

Rantzen said that while the programme forged a lasting connection between them, hearing the stories of the children Winton saved also made her feel immensely lucky to have been a Jew born in England in the 1940s.

Winton's life has since been the subject of numerous films and documentaries. The most recent is the biopic *One Life*, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The renewed attention reflects how a story that remained hidden for nearly 50 years became part of the national consciousness through a single television appeal.