A whole generation thinks odd-shaped vegetables and dogs who say "Sausages" when they think of Esther Rantzen - while another thinks of the children's charity ChildLine.

Both versions of Esther - the serious and less-so-serious - who was on our screens for more than a decade and is now a tireless charity worker and campaigner, will be revealed in her debut tour, marking her 50 year milestone in broadcasting.

The That's Life presenter, who has an OBE for services to broadcasting, CBE for services to children, and a DBE for services to children and older people, presented the BBC1 show from 1973 to 1994, and founded ChildLine in 2013, as well as most recently The Silver Line, to combat loneliness and isolation in older people, in 2013.

She also appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2008 and was on the BBC's Strictly in 2004.

But one thing she hasn't done in that time is tour - and she's breaking her tour duck with her debut tour, Esther Rantzen: That's Life - My Family and other vegetables this spring.

She will be in conversation with her daughter, the presenter and journalist Rebecca Wilcox, the middle of her three children.

They will be discussing their careers, personal lives and family ties, making the show a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the country’s national treasures.

The show comes to Folkestone Quarterhouse on Wednesday, March 28 and she wants to ensure her audience is primed and ready to go with plenty of questions.

Working with her daughter has been a joy, she says. "This is the fun we have because we make eachother laugh. She has a script which she never sticks to. That's why it's so important that the audience come with questions. We go wherever the audience takes us, there are a lot of question and answer moments."

Are there any topics off the table?

"The only banned topic is sex," she says, "because Rebecca does not want to hear about that from me! And Brexit."

So how does it feel for Esther to look back on 50 years of broadcasting?

"It feels like a rather pleasant, quite long, walk through all kinds of varied scenery with lots of people stepping out and coming alongside you for a while. I have been so lucky. Working with programmes like That's Life, it has given me an opportunity to meet such extraordinary people and get their stories."

Esther may be about to be 78 in June, but there is no sign of her slowing down. In fact the tour dates have had to be arranged around her very busy schedule.

"My three children sat me down and told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was working too much and needed to stop it. I have got a very firm telling off from my three children. I do agree with them, but it's hard when there's so much to do."

Besides her work with ChildLine, she launched the Silver Line, an information, friendship and advice line for older people, which now takes 10,000 calls a week. And Esther, like her That's Life days, still has no time for conmen.

"They are a complete pest. A lot of older people use landlines and they ring and try to catch someone who is vulnerable. It's terrible."

She is keen to stress that the tour involves plenty of laughs and tales.

"It is lovely on this tour, we have such a good time and it's interesting to hear Rebecca's side of things. And yes, we'll have an odd shaped vegetable together."

And bringing it to Folkestone is the icing on the cake.

"I love Folkestone," she says. "I like the harbour and they have that fantastic Battle of Britain air show every year. We wouldn't be here without those amazing pilots, some of whom were just teenagers."

DETAILS

There are some tickets still available for the show at Folkestone Quarterhouse on Wednesday, March 28 at 8pm cost £22.50. There are a handful left. To book call 01303 760750 or visit quarterhouse.co.uk

ESTHER'S CAREER

Esther is best known for her 21-year stint on That’s Life (BBC1), hosting the magazine show from 1973 to 1994.

Her varied and acclaimed broadcasting career includes appearances on some of the UK’s biggest TV shows from Who Do You Think You Are?, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! to Grumpy Old Women, New Tricks and Would Like To Meet.

She founded ChildLine, the first national helpline for children in danger or distress, in 1986 and in 2013 set up the charity The Silver Line, to help combat isolation and loneliness in older people.

That's Life! was influential in many ways, including in the introduction of the videolink for child witnesses in court procedures, and it led to the launch of ChildLine after Esther suggested a Childwatch programme to BBC 1 controller Michael Grade after the death of a toddler who had starved to death, locked in a bedroom.

Rebecca Wilcox began her television career as an investigative undercover reporter on BBC3's Conning The Conmen. A regular reporter and consumer journalist on Watchdog, she has also presented Your Money Their Tricks (BBC1) with Sian Williams and Nicky Campbell and co-presented the undercover restaurant expose series Dishing The Dirt (ITV) with chef Phil Vickery and is a consumer expert for ITV's This Morning.

Rebecca is one of Esther's three children, with Miriam and Joshua, with her husband and fellow broadcaster Desmond Wilcox who died in 2000.