From Childline to Silverline to assisted dying: the campaigning life - and death - of Dame Esther Ranzten.

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Matthew Bannister on: The campaigning life - and death - of Dame Esther Ranzten. As presenter and producer of 'That's Life' for over two decades, she lead numerous high-profile campaigns. They included a change in the law to enforce the wearing of children's seat belts in the rear of cars, and the replacement of hard surfaces in children's playgrounds. Esther went on to create Childline, a national telephone helpline for children suffering abuse or neglect. She later became a renowned campaigner for older people and, in the last years of her life, for the legalisation of medically-assisted death. Esther's friend Angela Rippon spoke to Matthew about what made her such and effective and persuasive campaigner throughout the whole of her professional life. Catherine Webb, the civil servant who played a significant part in some of the biggest events the UK has faced over the course of the last two decades. In her role at the Treasury, Catherine worked on the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, she worked in Beijing promoting our economic interests in China, and was the only woman among the senior Brexit negotiators. Sir Tom Scholar - former Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury worked closely with Catherine throughout much of her career. He told Matthew that Catherine’s management skills came to the fore when she took the lead on adapting the Treasury’s working patterns following the pandemic lockdown. If you love watching TV on your big flat screen hanging on the living room wall – you can thank Professor Cyril Hilsum who has died aged 101. He was a physicist and a material scientist who became the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Officer. In his long career he made many technological breakthroughs, but perhaps the most well-known was his work leading the development of stable liquid crystals which are now used in the many screens that surround us. Cyril’s daughter, the Channel 4 journalist and author Lindsey Hilsum took us through Cyril's eventful life. This included being caught speeding by one of his own inventions, beating Alan Turing at chess and substituting fruit and vegetables in favour of wine and chocolate. Presenter: Matthew Bannister Producer: Ed Prendeville Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Colin Paterson Archive: BBC News at Six, 14/09/2007; Asia Business Report, BBC News, 14/10/2013; Archive IT, Interviewed by Elisabetta Mori, 17/01/2020; The Royal Society (YouTube), 20/10/2014; That's Life, 16/03/1974; That's Life All Over, 29/05/1994; Braden's Week, 22/11/1969; That's Life, 16/06/1973; Private Passions, BBC Radio 3, 06/03/2022; Meeting Myself Coming Back, BBC Radio 4, 28/05/2021