Paying Tribute to Dame Esther Rantzen

We were very sad to hear of the passing of Dame Esther Rantzen this week.

Rising to television fame as the presenter of That’s Life!, Dame Esther became perhaps even better known for her campaigning and charity work. Her work founding Childline, challenging the abuse of children wherever it might occur, set a standard that the rest of us can only aspire to and changed countless lives. She later founded Silver Line to support older people experiencing isolation and loneliness, and subsequently became a prominent campaigner for assisted dying and the right of people to determine their own destiny. Across all these causes, her work touched the lives of countless people.

The reason British Naturism is paying tribute to her, however, is her openness and positive attitude towards the human body.

Throughout her life and career, Dame Esther was happy to have her name associated with Naturism. She spoke on many occasions about her own experiences of outdoor nudity and the benefits that such an attitude could bring. She celebrated both her 50th and 80th birthdays by running naked around her garden. On one occasion, she explained:

It was the down-to-earth honesty of her approach to Naturism that set her apart. There was no pretence and no fanfare. Unlike many celebrities who have engaged with nudity, she did it simply because she wanted to. And her explanation of why was equally honest:

This is exactly the message that we all know, but which we sometimes struggle to make heard.

She was similarly upfront about the negative judgement that Naturists can sometimes encounter:

If only we could all be so matter-of-fact about the human body, the world would be a much better place.

So we pay tribute to Dame Esther. There has never been another quite like you, and probably never will be.

Thank you for being so open, so honest and so wonderfully matter-of-fact about something that should never have needed defending in the first place.

Photograph: Andrew Parsons, National Archive