Sandi Toksvig

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Sandi Toksvig
180
Born 3 May 1958 (1958-05-03) (age 50)
Copenhagen, Denmark

Sandi Toksvig (born 3 May 1958 in Copenhagen) is a Danish comedian, author and radio presenter based in the United Kingdom.

Contents

[edit] Career

Toksvig began her comedy career at Cambridge University where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Cambridge Footlights. She was also a member of Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society while a student at Girton College, Cambridge, and moved via children's television onto the comedy circuit. She performed at the first night of The Comedy Store in London and was once part of The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational comedy team.[1]

Her television career has included presenting the children's series No. 73, The Saturday Starship, Motormouth and Gilbert's Fridge, and on factual programmes such as Island Race. She has appeared as a panellist in shows such as Call My Bluff, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You. She appeared in the very first episode of Have I Got News For You in 1990.[2]

She is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners, as the chair of The News Quiz, having replaced Simon Hoggart in September 2006. She continues to be the main presenter of the BBC Radio 4 travel programme Excess Baggage. She is also a frequent guest on shows such as I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. For three years until December 2005 she presented a weekday lunchtime programme on London talk radio station LBC 97.3, featuring regular guests including Bonnie Langford, Alkarim Jivani and Annie Caulfield.

She has written several fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, starting in 1994 with Tales from the Norse's Mouth, a fiction tale for children. In 1995, she sailed around the coast of Britain with John McCarthy. In 2003, she published her travel biography, Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey, about her travels in the USA retracing her childhood. She writes regular columns for Good Housekeeping and the Sunday Telegraph.

In February 2006 she joked that, as a result of being Danish and having studied Muslim law, in the light of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, she had never been so sought-after.[citation needed]

She appears in Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions which was released in August 2006.

In December 2006, she hosted and sang at the London Gay Men's Chorus' sold out Christmas Show, Make the Yuletide Gay at the Barbican Centre in London.[citation needed]

In 2007 she was named Political Humourist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards [3] and Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild.[4]

[edit] Politics and activism

She has appeared on the BBC's Question Time.[citation needed]

In 2003 she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, supporting a campaign against student fees.[5] She was defeated in the first round of voting, achieved 1179 first-place votes out of about 8000 cast[6]. The election was won by Chris Patten.

In 2000, Sandi became a Trustee for international animal welfare charity, the Born Free Foundation.[citation needed]

[edit] Personal life

Her father (Claus Toksvig) was a foreign correspondent for a Danish television channel (Danmarks Radio) and Sandi spent most of her youth abroad. She studied law and archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge graduating with a first class degree and receiving two prizes for outstanding intellectual achievement (The Raemakers and the Theresa Montefiore Awards). Her brother, Nick Toksvig, attended Hull University and was a friend of journalist and Beirut hostage John McCarthy (with whom Sandi undertook a round Britain yachting adventure in 1995).

She and her ex-partner Peta (Petaline Stewart) are mothers to three children, conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd-Pack: two daughters (born 1988 and 1990) and a son (born 1994). In 1994 Save the Children dropped her services after she came out, although the charity later apologised.[7]

On an edition of BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, she mentioned that she enjoyed editing historical entries on Wikipedia in order to make unsuspecting children fail their GCSE coursework. However, this was later revealed to be a joke.[8]

[edit] References in popular culture

In Little Britain, starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams, the character Bernard Chumley lives in a building called Sandi Toksvig House.[9] In Bottom, Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson have used 'Sandi Toksvig' as a swear word. In the TV Series Shooting Stars Bob and Vic would often mimic her walk. She has been referred to by Jan Ravens on Dead Ringers as "the original Hobbit".[citation needed]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books for children

  • Hitlers Kanarie Sandi Toksvig, Valerius uitgeverij, Vlaardingen, Holland, April 2006 ISBN 90-78250-02-X [Dutch translation]
  • Hitler's Canary, Sandi Toksvig, Doubleday, July 2005
  • The Troublesome Tooth Fairy, Sandi Toksvig, Transworld, November 2000, ISBN 0-552-54663-1
  • Super-Saver Mouse to the Rescue, Sandi Toksvig, Transworld, April 2000, ISBN 0-552-54541-4
  • Super-Saver Mouse, Sandi Toksvig, Transworld, September 1999, ISBN 0-552-54540-6
  • If I Didn't Have Elbows, Sandi Toksvig, Deagosti, April 1998, ISBN 1-84089-048-7
  • Unusual Day, Sandi Toksvig, Transworld/Corgi, April 1997, ISBN 0-552-54539-2
  • Tales from the Norse's Mouth, Sandi Toksvig, BBC Books, March 1994, ISBN 0-563-40358-6

[edit] Books for adults

  • Melted into Air, Sandi Toksvig, Little Brown, July 2006
  • Whistling for the Elephants, Sandi Toksvig, Little Brown, August 1999
  • Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey, Sandi Toksvig, Little Brown, 2003, ISBN 0-7515-3328-9
  • The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton, Sandi Toksvig and Sandy Nightingale, Little Brown, September 2002
  • Flying Under Bridges, Sandi Toksvig, Little Brown, April 2001
  • Whistling for the Elephants, Sandi Toksvig, Transworld, August 1999, ISBN 0-593-04480-0
  • Great Journeys of the World, Sandi Toksvig et al, Penguin, 1997
  • Island Race: an improbable voyage round the coast of Britain, John McCarthy and Sandi Toksvig, BBC Books, 1995

[edit] References

  1. ^ Comedy Store Players Official Site - History -retrieved on 16 May 2008
  2. ^ Have I Got News For You episode guide at TV.com - retrieved on 16 May 2008
  3. ^ Channel 4 Newsroom Blog - Behnind the scenes at the Channel Four Political Awards retrieved on 16 May 2008
  4. ^ 2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards - retrieved on 16 May 2008
  5. ^ Toksvig enters chancellor race
  6. ^ Polly Curtis (2003-03-17). Patten wins Oxford prize: EducationGuardian.co.uk. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  7. ^ David, Smith (November 1994). "Comedian and actress Sandi Toksvig, a well-known face on the popular comedy improvisation TV show, Whose Line is it Anyway, came out as a lesbian in the pages of the Sunday Times and Daily Mirror.". Gay Times (194). Millivres. ISSN 0950-6101. 
  8. ^ The News Quiz, 15 June 2007
  9. ^ BBC comedy guide to Little Britain. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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