[Red Moon]

Esther Rantzen - an old jungle cat who doesn't give a monkey's

Oh, I really do hope I grow old (er) like Esther.

There she is in that jungle, never having spent a night under canvas or even in a caravan in her life.

She confesses that her training for the experience was to learn how to walk in flat shoes.

Her one little luxury is a stick of mascara when she's used to an entire cosmetics counter laid out before her every morning and yet, she's in there with gusto.

There have been the snipers, of course, there always are.

What is a woman of 68 humiliating herself like that for? Is she that desperate to keep her career going?

Why doesn't she retire gracefully?

To be fair, it's the same as every contestant on 'I'm A Celebrity...' gets with a few customised bells on.

'Load of Z-listers', sneer the columnists.

'Don't even know who half of them are'.

They can't say that about Esther.

She is a TV somebody, one of the best broadcasters of her generation, but still there's the shaking of heads and whistling through teeth.

'Why doesn't she have some dignity?' But Esther, bless her, doesn't give a flying fig about dignity. This old girl wants to have fun.

Her exact quote before going in was: "I am 68, how many more adventures will life throw at me?"

Quite right, none of us know the answer to that one and Esther wasn't about to let this adventure go by.

While others agonise about the effect on their career, if they'll get a book deal afterwards, whether people will like them, Esther does it because she wants to.

Just as she wanted to do 'Strictly', just as she posed a couple of years back in a basque and just as she dyed her hair that rather frightening red.

I hold no truck with the view that she's 'clinging on'. She's moving on.

Just because she's the wrong side of 60 doesn't mean she has to settle in a siding while the express train rattles through.

We're so damn patronising to oldies. Throughout the whole Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand debacle, I was alternately amused and appalled by the portrayal of SEVENTY-EIGHT YEAR OLD Andrew Sachs.

While I thought the dastardly duo behaved reprehensibly, I don't quite buy the idea that Andrew, because of his age, was going to be anymore shocked by the answering machine message than anyone else.

He's a 78-year-old actor, for god's sake, who has been around the block a bit.

He knows about the birds and the bees and he's heard bad words before.

The person who always sticks out in my mind is Amanda Barrie, the dear, departed Alma of Coronation Street.

She is of Andrew Sachs' vintage and if you get her started over a white wine and soda she'll tell you stories that would make your hair curl. She's been there, done that... and him... and her.

I wouldn't want to presume about Esther's private life, though I think we know enough to conclude she's no naif. That's irrelevant.

The fact is she's smart, she's gutsy and she's in that ludicrous jungle with that ridiculous assortment of ne'er-do-wells for no other reason than she wants to be, and that's a wonderful way to be at any age never mind 68.

Source: Daily Record