FOOTAGE RESURFACES OF RANTZEN REUNITING WINTON WITH RESCUED CHILDREN

Footage from a 1988 episode of the BBC programme That's Life! has resurfaced showing Dame Esther Rantzen reuniting Sir Nicholas Winton with dozens of people he rescued from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during the Second World War, according to reports. The clip has drawn renewed attention following Rantzen's death, reports said. In the footage, Winton is shown sitting in the studio audience believing himself to be an ordinary member of the public. Rantzen produces a scrapbook documenting his wartime work before asking whether anyone present owed their life to him. Dozens of adults seated around him then stand and applaud.

Winton organised trains that evacuated 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Britain in 1938 and 1939, according to reports. He arranged foster families for the children in Britain but kept his role secret for almost fifty years. His actions came to light only after his wife found a scrapbook in the attic of their home containing the children's names and photographs, reports said. That discovery led to his appearance on That's Life!, where Rantzen revealed the scrapbook on air without his prior knowledge. The broadcast became one of the programme's best-known moments, according to reports.

Rantzen said she watched the episode "many times" and that she "each time found myself deeply moved", according to the BBC. She said she remained in contact with Winton, meeting him regularly until his death in 2015. The clip resurfaced after Rantzen's own death, announced on Wednesday, according to reports. Winton's wartime work went largely unreported for nearly fifty years before the scrapbook's discovery brought it to public attention. The reunion remains one of the programme's most referenced broadcasts, according to reports.