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Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE (/ˈtɒksvɪɡ/; Danish: [ˈsænti ˈtsʰʌksˌviˀ]; born 3 May 1958)[1] is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian.[2]

Sandi Toksvig

Toksvig in 2013
BornSandra Birgitte Toksvig
(1958-05-03) 3 May 1958 (age 65)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation
  • Comedian
  • writer
  • presenter
Citizenship
  • Denmark (1958–present)
  • United Kingdom (2013–present)
Alma materGirton College, Cambridge
Years active1982–present
Spouse
Debbie Toksvig
(m. 2007)
Children3
Parents
RelativesSigne Toksvig (great-aunt)
Website
www.sanditoksvig.com

Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI in 2016 (series 'N'), having been a guest a number of times and she spent ten years hosting The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. From 2017 to 2020 she was co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off, alongside comedian Noel Fielding. In 2020, she stepped down and was replaced by Matt Lucas.[3][4]

Toksvig was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch from 2015 to 2017.

Early life

Toksvig was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father, Claus Toksvig, was a Danish journalist, broadcaster, and foreign correspondent; as a result, Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark, mostly in New York City. Her mother, Julie Anne Toksvig (née Brett), is British.[5] She has an older brother, Nick, who is a journalist, and a younger sister, Jenifer, a librettist, who was born when Sandi was 12. When Sandi was 24, she was appointed Jenifer's legal guardian.[6][7] In 1969, her father covered the landing of the first man on the moon from mission control; she was holding the hand of Neil Armstrong's secretary during the landing.[8] While her father was based in London, she attended Tormead School, an independent girls' school near Guildford. Her first job, at the age of 18, was as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.[9][10]

She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes (The Raemakers and the Theresa Montefiore Awards) for outstanding achievement.[11] One of her law supervisors was Lord Denning.[12]

Career

When I see comedian—and 'comedienne', of course I hate it—I think 'Oh, really?’ because I think of myself as a writer and broadcaster. Sometimes it's funny but I've just done a piece for Radio 3 all about Mary Wollstonecraft, and there's not a joke in it.

The Times[13]

 
Toksvig performing in 2008

Beginnings

Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton,[14] where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Footlights. She was there at the same time as Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, and Emma Thompson, and wrote additional material for the Perrier award-winning Cambridge Footlights Revue. She was also a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society.

She started her television career on children's television, presenting No. 73 (1982–1986), the Sandwich Quiz,[15] The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilbert's Fridge, for Television South, and factual programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show, produced by Open Media for Channel 4. In 2000, she appeared as a guest presenter on Time Team, at a dig in York (season 7 episode 13).

Comedy

In the comedy circuit, Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London, and was once part of their Players, an improvisational comedy team.[16]

In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff (a regular as a team captain), Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Mock the Week, QI, and Have I Got News for You, where she appeared on the first episode in 1990.[17] She was also the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show.

On radio, she is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners, having appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Unbelievable Truth, and as the chair of The News Quiz, where she replaced Simon Hoggart in September 2006, but left in June 2015 in order to enter politics to champion women's rights. Her final show was first broadcast on 26 June 2015. She presented Radio 4's travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012. [18]

Drama and factual

In 1993, Toksvig wrote a musical, Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace, for Nottingham Playhouse, co-starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs. In 2002, it was re-written, with Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, in which they appeared with Bonnie Langford.[19] Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction, The Pocket Dream, which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run. The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One, in which she also starred. She has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors.

In 1996, she narrated the Dragons! interactive CD-ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings, along with Harry Enfield.[20] The software was primarily aimed at children and featured songs and poems about dragons. She also narrated the Winnie the Witch CD-ROM. She appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions, 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.[21] Over Christmas and New Year 2007/2008, she narrated the pantomime Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre. In October 2011, she narrated the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen's Theatre, London. In 2011 she hosted a second season of BBC Two's Antiques Master.

Toksvig wrote a play entitled Bully Boy which focused on post-traumatic stress among British servicemen. The play premièred at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton in May 2011, and starred Anthony Andrews.[22] The play then launched the debut season of St James Theatre in September 2012, the first new West End theatre to open in 30 years.[23]

In the 2013 Christmas Special of BBC's Call the Midwife, Toksvig made a cameo appearance as grumpy ward nurse Sister Gibbs.[24][25]

On 28 April 2015, it was announced that Toksvig would leave BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz in June at the end of the 28th series, which was scheduled to begin on 15 May of that year. She said: "I have decided it is time to move on and, of course, I feel sad but I think it's the right moment. The show is in great shape and, like a good house guest, you should always depart when people still wish you'd stay a bit longer." The BBC said Toksvig had made the "difficult decision" to leave in order "to embark on a new and exciting stage of her career".[26] On 30 April 2015, Toksvig announced that her decision to quit The News Quiz had been made in order to allow her to help set up a new political party named the Women's Equality Party.[27][28]

In November 2015, Toksvig was a guest of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her choices included Joe Nichols ("What's a Guy Gotta Do"), Gustav Winckler, The Weather Girls, Barbra Streisand, and Bonnie Langford. Her book choice was The Ashley Book of Knots, and her luxury item was an endless supply of the Daily Mail.[29]

Her most recent play Silver Lining opened at the Rose Theatre Kingston on 11 February 2017, before touring to Portsmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich, Keswick, York, and Salford. It centres around five elderly ladies and a young carer in a retirement home which is about to be flooded by a storm. It stars Rachel Davies, Keziah Joseph, Maggie McCarthy, Joanna Monro, Sheila Reid, and Amanda Walker. Toksvig's son, Theo Toksvig-Stewart, made his professional stage debut in the play.[30]

On 11 June 2019, Toksvig appeared on former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard's podcast. Notably, Toksvig states "Wikipedia is a marvelous idea and the idea is that it is a crowd sourced encyclopedia of knowledge, what a fantastic notion. But what's happening is that women are disappearing so 90% of Wikipedia's content is about men and their achievements and 9% is about women. 1% are still making up their mind. So that proportion is completely out of kilter and we desperately need to do something about it. Part of the problem is that it is edited by volunteers but there are about 350,000 "uber" volunteers that tend, no offence to them, to be the same kind of guy who has the time to sit and do it and doesn't have laundry to do and are actively editing women out. There are two issues: 1) women's achievements are not being inputted and 2) women are actively being edited out... I am intent on trying to change this if we can."[31]

During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020, Toksvig created and performed "Vox Tox", a YouTube mini-series,[32] from her home. These 10-minute sessions promoted the activities of women across the ages, being inspired by items from Toksvig's own library of books and biographies.

Writing

Toksvig has written more than twenty 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, who had been held hostage in Beirut. In 2003, she published Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey, about her travels in the USA retracing her childhood. She writes regular columns for Good Housekeeping, the Sunday Telegraph and The Lady. In October 2008, she published Girls Are Best, a history book for girls.[33]

In 2009, her collected columns for The Sunday Telegraph were published in book form as The Chain of Curiosity. In 2012, she published her book, Valentine Grey, an historical novel set in the Boer War.[34] Her 2006 young adult book, Hitler's Canary is a Holocaust story told by a boy named Bamse and his family.[35][36] The characters are based on Toksvig's own father and grandmother; the family heroism in the story closely resembles the author's father's own experiences during the war.[37] Her memoir Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus was published on 29 October 2019.

In 2020, Toksvig wrote and presented a podcast series called We Will Get Past This[38] which aimed to provide "virtual chicken soup for the soul"[38] during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, by sharing stories of notable women from her book collection.

Television presenter

In 2012–13 Toksvig presented 1001 Things You Should Know for Channel 4 daytime. Toksvig began presenting the revival edition of the daytime game show Fifteen-to-One in April 2014.[39] It is an hour-long instead of the original half-hour edition presented by William G. Stewart. After two series had been broadcast, in June 2015, Channel 4 announced that a further eight series would be made, hosted by Toksvig until the revived series ended on 28 June 2019.[40]

Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of QI, making her "the first female presenter of a British mainstream TV comedy panel show", a fact she found extraordinary in 2016.[41] Her first appearance as host (or Bantermeister) was the first episode of the show's series "N", which was broadcast on 21 October 2016.[42]

On 16 March 2017 she was announced as the new co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4, alongside Noel Fielding. They replaced the previous hosts, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc. In January 2020, she announced she was leaving the show to focus on other work commitments, and was replaced by Matt Lucas.[4]

Toksvig presented Channel 4's four-part travel series Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig, which premiered on 10 February 2021.[43] In December 2021, Channel 4 renewed the series for a second series,[44] which premiered on 17 February 2022.[45]

Politics and activism

Toksvig first came to wider public prominence in 1994 because the charity Save the Children dropped her services as compere of its 75th anniversary celebrations after she came out.[13] The decision led to a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers,[46] and the charity apologised.[47][48]

Toksvig supports the charity and pressure group Liberty, hosting its 2012 awards ceremony.[49] She was appointed president of the Women of the Year Lunch.[50] An atheist and humanist, Toksvig is a patron of Humanists UK.[51]

In October 2012, as the scale of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal became apparent, and amid claims that during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, there was a culture within the BBC which tolerated sexual harassment, Toksvig stated that she was groped by a "famous individual" on air in the 1980s.[52][53] Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC "did not surprise me at all". In September 2018, as the BBC gender pay gap controversy continued to unfold, Toksvig reported that she was only paid 40% of what Fry, her predecessor, had received. Toksvig had earlier told the Radio Times it would be "absurd" if she did not receive the same salary as him for chairing QI.[54]

In 2003, she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford, supporting a campaign against student fees.[55] She was defeated in the first round of voting, achieving 1,179 first-place votes out of about 8,000 cast.[56] The election was won by Chris Patten. Almost a decade later she succeeded Sheila Hancock as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.[57]

Toksvig's party-political sympathies have developed over the years. She was part of Red Wedge's comedy tour in the 1980s, which supported the Labour Party. By the 2004 elections, she was a high-profile celebrity supporter of the Liberal Democrats.[58][59] She has received some criticism for joking about the Tories in 2011 (they've "put the 'N' into cuts" to child benefit),[60] but has said Prime Minister Theresa May is "a good person".[41] She has also joked about UKIP leader Nigel Farage.[61] In 2012, she said in an interview that "I don't think there's a party that represents anything I believe in".[62]

In 2023 Toksvig stated the reluctance of the Church of England to accept same sex marriage was harming gay people. Toksvig stated "The problem is there is only one side that is impinging on the lives of others. And I'm afraid the very conservative people who interpret the Bible with less love than I would hope are causing severe mental health problems for the LGBTQ+ community. My wife works in mental health with the queer community and the figures are shocking for a young LGBT person committing suicide, or attempting suicide, not because they feel bad about who they are, but because of the way society stigmatises them. So it's not an equal battle that we're having here." Toksvig is campaigning to end 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords.[63]

Women's Equality Party

In April 2015, Toksvig chaired the first, informal, conference of a new political party, the Women's Equality Party,[64][65] and then left her job as presenter of The News Quiz to formally co-found it.[27][28] She later explained that she had decided that it was "not too late to fight the good fight, after all".[66] In September the same year, she announced the dates for a comedy tour to raise funds for the party.[67][68] The party's full set of policies was launched at Conway Hall, 20 October 2015.[69][70]

Personal life

I wouldn't care if they came from Tesco. I don't care about the blood thing. They call me Mummy and I earned it. We love each other. You can't do better than that. Lots of families don't.

Toksvig commenting on her children in The Times[71]

Toksvig is the mother of two daughters and a son, born in 1988, 1990 and 1994 respectively.[72][73][74][75] The children were carried by her partner, Peta Stewart, from whom she separated in 1997,[71] and were conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd-Pack,[13] younger brother of the actor Roger Lloyd-Pack.[76][77]

It was having three young children that made her decide to come out, because, to the best of her knowledge, there were no out lesbians in British public life, and she did not want her children to grow up ashamed of having two mothers. Toksvig was warned she might never work again, and the family faced death threats and had to go into hiding.[2]

She lives on a houseboat in Wandsworth[78] with psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig,[73] whom she joined in a civil partnership in 2007.[79] They renewed their vows on 29 March 2014, the day same-sex marriage was introduced in England and Wales,[80] and in December 2014, their civil partnership was converted into a marriage.[81]

Toksvig became a British citizen in 2013.[82] She describes her "posh" accent as being the result of a deliberate attempt to copy the voice of Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, after being ostracised at boarding school for having an American accent.[29]

In her late 50s, she lost a significant amount of weight on medical advice and credits this with giving her the confidence to go back to television.[41]

In late 2022, Toksvig was hospitalised in Australia with bronchial pneumonia and was forced to cancel her upcoming New Zealand tour dates.[83] On 6 December 2022 she announced that she had left hospital but was still not well enough to travel.[84] On 15 December, it was reported that she had returned to the UK.[85]

Honours and awards

  • 1997 – The Grand Order of Water Rats Show Business Personality of the Year
  • 2007 – Political Humourist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards[86] and 2007 – Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild[87]
  • 2007 – Read it or Else Award from Coventry Inspiration Book Awards for Hitler's Canary
  • 2008 – Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards
  • 2009 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Individual Contribution to Radio
  • 2013 – Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (Roberts Radio Special Award)
  • 2017 – CoScan (Confederation of Scandinavian Societies) International Award[88]

National honours

Decorations and medals
Country Date Decoration Details
  United Kingdom 31 December 2013 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

[89]

Scholastic

University degrees
Location Date School Degree
  United Kingdom Girton College, Cambridge First-class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Archaeology and Anthropology
Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
Location Date School Position
  United Kingdom 31 October 2012–2017 University of Portsmouth Chancellor[90]
  United Kingdom 2012 Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[91]
  United Kingdom 2016 Newnham College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[92]
  United Kingdom 29 January 2019 Girton College, Cambridge Honorary Fellowship[93]
Honorary degrees
Location Date School Degree Gave Commencement Address
  United Kingdom 2010 University of Portsmouth Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
  United Kingdom 2012 York St John University Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[94]
  United Kingdom 20 July 2012 University of Surrey Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[95]
  United Kingdom 2016 University of Westminster Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[96]
  United Kingdom 17 July 2018 University of Leicester Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[97] Yes[98]

Bibliography

Books for adults

  • Toksvig, Sandi; et al. (1994). Great Journeys of the World. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37050-5.
  • ——; McCarthy, John (1995). Island Race: an Improbable Voyage Round the Coast of Britain. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37053-X.
  • —— (1999). Whistling for the Elephants. Transworld. ISBN 0-593-04480-0.
  • —— (2001). Flying Under Bridges. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-85635-5.
  • —— & Nightingale, Sandy (2002). The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-86007-7.
  • —— (2003). Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-7515-3328-9.
  • —— (2006). Melted into Air. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-86117-0.
  • —— (2012). Heroines & Harridans – A Fanfare of Fabulous Females. The Robson Press. ISBN 978-1849-54-3385.
  • —— (2012). Valentine Grey. Virago. ISBN 9781844088317.
  • —— (2013). Peas & Queues: The Minefield of Modern Manners. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1781-25032-7.
  • —— (2019). Between the Stops: The view of My Life from the Top of the number 12 Bus. Virago. ISBN 978-0-349-00637-6.
  • —— (2020). Toksvig's Almanac. Trapeze. ISBN 9781398701632.

Books for children

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External links

Party political offices
New political party Co-founder of the Women's Equality Party
2015
With: Catherine Mayer
Succeeded by
Sophie Walker
as leader

sandi, toksvig, sandra, birgitte, toksvig, danish, ˈsænti, ˈtsʰʌksˌviˀ, born, 1958, danish, british, writer, comedian, broadcaster, british, radio, stage, television, also, political, activist, having, founded, women, equality, party, 2015, written, plays, nov. Sandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE ˈ t ɒ k s v ɪ ɡ Danish ˈsaenti ˈtsʰʌksˌviˀ born 3 May 1958 1 is a Danish British writer comedian and broadcaster on British radio stage and television She is also a political activist having co founded the Women s Equality Party in 2015 She has written plays novels and books for children In 1994 she came out as a lesbian 2 Sandi ToksvigOBEToksvig in 2013BornSandra Birgitte Toksvig 1958 05 03 3 May 1958 age 65 Copenhagen DenmarkOccupationComedianwriterpresenterCitizenshipDenmark 1958 present United Kingdom 2013 present Alma materGirton College CambridgeYears active1982 presentSpouseDebbie Toksvig m 2007 wbr Children3ParentsClaus Toksvig father Julie Anne Brett mother RelativesSigne Toksvig great aunt Websitewww wbr sanditoksvig wbr comToksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI in 2016 series N having been a guest a number of times and she spent ten years hosting The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 From 2017 to 2020 she was co presenter of The Great British Bake Off alongside comedian Noel Fielding In 2020 she stepped down and was replaced by Matt Lucas 3 4 Toksvig was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch from 2015 to 2017 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Beginnings 2 2 Comedy 2 3 Drama and factual 2 4 Writing 2 5 Television presenter 3 Politics and activism 3 1 Women s Equality Party 4 Personal life 5 Honours and awards 5 1 National honours 5 2 Scholastic 6 Bibliography 6 1 Books for adults 6 2 Books for children 7 References 8 External linksEarly life EditToksvig was born in Copenhagen Denmark Her father Claus Toksvig was a Danish journalist broadcaster and foreign correspondent as a result Toksvig spent most of her youth outside Denmark mostly in New York City Her mother Julie Anne Toksvig nee Brett is British 5 She has an older brother Nick who is a journalist and a younger sister Jenifer a librettist who was born when Sandi was 12 When Sandi was 24 she was appointed Jenifer s legal guardian 6 7 In 1969 her father covered the landing of the first man on the moon from mission control she was holding the hand of Neil Armstrong s secretary during the landing 8 While her father was based in London she attended Tormead School an independent girls school near Guildford Her first job at the age of 18 was as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar 9 10 She read law archaeology and anthropology at Girton College Cambridge graduating with a first class degree and receiving two prizes The Raemakers and the Theresa Montefiore Awards for outstanding achievement 11 One of her law supervisors was Lord Denning 12 Career EditWhen I see comedian and comedienne of course I hate it I think Oh really because I think of myself as a writer and broadcaster Sometimes it s funny but I ve just done a piece for Radio 3 all about Mary Wollstonecraft and there s not a joke in it The Times 13 Toksvig performing in 2008 Beginnings Edit Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton 14 where she wrote and performed in the first all woman show at the Footlights She was there at the same time as Stephen Fry Hugh Laurie Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson and wrote additional material for the Perrier award winning Cambridge Footlights Revue She was also a member of the Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society She started her television career on children s television presenting No 73 1982 1986 the Sandwich Quiz 15 The Saturday Starship Motormouth Gilbert s Fridge for Television South and factual programmes such as Island Race and The Talking Show produced by Open Media for Channel 4 In 2000 she appeared as a guest presenter on Time Team at a dig in York season 7 episode 13 Comedy Edit In the comedy circuit Toksvig performed at the first night of the Comedy Store in London and was once part of their Players an improvisational comedy team 16 In television she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff a regular as a team captain Whose Line Is It Anyway Mock the Week QI and Have I Got News for You where she appeared on the first episode in 1990 17 She was also the host of What the Dickens a Sky Arts quiz show On radio she is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners having appeared on I m Sorry I Haven t a Clue The Unbelievable Truth and as the chair of The News Quiz where she replaced Simon Hoggart in September 2006 but left in June 2015 in order to enter politics to champion women s rights Her final show was first broadcast on 26 June 2015 She presented Radio 4 s travel programme Excess Baggage until it was axed in 2012 18 Drama and factual Edit In 1993 Toksvig wrote a musical Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace for Nottingham Playhouse co starring with Anita Dobson and Una Stubbs In 2002 it was re written with Dilly Keane for the Watford Palace Theatre in which they appeared with Bonnie Langford 19 Toksvig and Elly Brewer wrote a Shakespeare deconstruction The Pocket Dream which Toksvig performed at the Nottingham Playhouse and which transferred to the West End for a short run The pair also wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One in which she also starred She has appeared in a number of stage plays including Androcles and the Lion Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors In 1996 she narrated the Dragons interactive CD ROM published by Oxford University Press and developed by Inner Workings along with Harry Enfield 20 The software was primarily aimed at children and featured songs and poems about dragons She also narrated the Winnie the Witch CD ROM She appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions 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 21 Over Christmas and New Year 2007 2008 she narrated the pantomime Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre In October 2011 she narrated the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen s Theatre London In 2011 she hosted a second season of BBC Two s Antiques Master Toksvig wrote a play entitled Bully Boy which focused on post traumatic stress among British servicemen The play premiered at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton in May 2011 and starred Anthony Andrews 22 The play then launched the debut season of St James Theatre in September 2012 the first new West End theatre to open in 30 years 23 In the 2013 Christmas Special of BBC s Call the Midwife Toksvig made a cameo appearance as grumpy ward nurse Sister Gibbs 24 25 On 28 April 2015 it was announced that Toksvig would leave BBC Radio 4 s The News Quiz in June at the end of the 28th series which was scheduled to begin on 15 May of that year She said I have decided it is time to move on and of course I feel sad but I think it s the right moment The show is in great shape and like a good house guest you should always depart when people still wish you d stay a bit longer The BBC said Toksvig had made the difficult decision to leave in order to embark on a new and exciting stage of her career 26 On 30 April 2015 Toksvig announced that her decision to quit The News Quiz had been made in order to allow her to help set up a new political party named the Women s Equality Party 27 28 In November 2015 Toksvig was a guest of BBC Radio 4 s Desert Island Discs Her choices included Joe Nichols What s a Guy Gotta Do Gustav Winckler The Weather Girls Barbra Streisand and Bonnie Langford Her book choice was The Ashley Book of Knots and her luxury item was an endless supply of the Daily Mail 29 Her most recent play Silver Lining opened at the Rose Theatre Kingston on 11 February 2017 before touring to Portsmouth Oxford Cambridge Ipswich Keswick York and Salford It centres around five elderly ladies and a young carer in a retirement home which is about to be flooded by a storm It stars Rachel Davies Keziah Joseph Maggie McCarthy Joanna Monro Sheila Reid and Amanda Walker Toksvig s son Theo Toksvig Stewart made his professional stage debut in the play 30 On 11 June 2019 Toksvig appeared on former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard s podcast Notably Toksvig states Wikipedia is a marvelous idea and the idea is that it is a crowd sourced encyclopedia of knowledge what a fantastic notion But what s happening is that women are disappearing so 90 of Wikipedia s content is about men and their achievements and 9 is about women 1 are still making up their mind So that proportion is completely out of kilter and we desperately need to do something about it Part of the problem is that it is edited by volunteers but there are about 350 000 uber volunteers that tend no offence to them to be the same kind of guy who has the time to sit and do it and doesn t have laundry to do and are actively editing women out There are two issues 1 women s achievements are not being inputted and 2 women are actively being edited out I am intent on trying to change this if we can 31 During the COVID 19 lockdown period in 2020 Toksvig created and performed Vox Tox a YouTube mini series 32 from her home These 10 minute sessions promoted the activities of women across the ages being inspired by items from Toksvig s own library of books and biographies Writing Edit Toksvig has written more than twenty 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 who had been held hostage in Beirut In 2003 she published Gladys Reunited A Personal American Journey about her travels in the USA retracing her childhood She writes regular columns for Good Housekeeping the Sunday Telegraph and The Lady In October 2008 she published Girls Are Best a history book for girls 33 In 2009 her collected columns for The Sunday Telegraph were published in book form as The Chain of Curiosity In 2012 she published her book Valentine Grey an historical novel set in the Boer War 34 Her 2006 young adult book Hitler s Canary is a Holocaust story told by a boy named Bamse and his family 35 36 The characters are based on Toksvig s own father and grandmother the family heroism in the story closely resembles the author s father s own experiences during the war 37 Her memoir Between the Stops The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus was published on 29 October 2019 In 2020 Toksvig wrote and presented a podcast series called We Will Get Past This 38 which aimed to provide virtual chicken soup for the soul 38 during the COVID 19 lockdown in the UK by sharing stories of notable women from her book collection Television presenter Edit In 2012 13 Toksvig presented 1001 Things You Should Know for Channel 4 daytime Toksvig began presenting the revival edition of the daytime game show Fifteen to One in April 2014 39 It is an hour long instead of the original half hour edition presented by William G Stewart After two series had been broadcast in June 2015 Channel 4 announced that a further eight series would be made hosted by Toksvig until the revived series ended on 28 June 2019 40 Toksvig took over from Stephen Fry as host of QI making her the first female presenter of a British mainstream TV comedy panel show a fact she found extraordinary in 2016 41 Her first appearance as host or Bantermeister was the first episode of the show s series N which was broadcast on 21 October 2016 42 On 16 March 2017 she was announced as the new co presenter of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 alongside Noel Fielding They replaced the previous hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc In January 2020 she announced she was leaving the show to focus on other work commitments and was replaced by Matt Lucas 4 Toksvig presented Channel 4 s four part travel series Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig which premiered on 10 February 2021 43 In December 2021 Channel 4 renewed the series for a second series 44 which premiered on 17 February 2022 45 Politics and activism EditToksvig first came to wider public prominence in 1994 because the charity Save the Children dropped her services as compere of its 75th anniversary celebrations after she came out 13 The decision led to a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers 46 and the charity apologised 47 48 Toksvig supports the charity and pressure group Liberty hosting its 2012 awards ceremony 49 She was appointed president of the Women of the Year Lunch 50 An atheist and humanist Toksvig is a patron of Humanists UK 51 In October 2012 as the scale of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal became apparent and amid claims that during the 1960s 1970s and 1980s there was a culture within the BBC which tolerated sexual harassment Toksvig stated that she was groped by a famous individual on air in the 1980s 52 53 Toksvig said the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the BBC did not surprise me at all In September 2018 as the BBC gender pay gap controversy continued to unfold Toksvig reported that she was only paid 40 of what Fry her predecessor had received Toksvig had earlier told the Radio Times it would be absurd if she did not receive the same salary as him for chairing QI 54 In 2003 she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford supporting a campaign against student fees 55 She was defeated in the first round of voting achieving 1 179 first place votes out of about 8 000 cast 56 The election was won by Chris Patten Almost a decade later she succeeded Sheila Hancock as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth 57 Toksvig s party political sympathies have developed over the years She was part of Red Wedge s comedy tour in the 1980s which supported the Labour Party By the 2004 elections she was a high profile celebrity supporter of the Liberal Democrats 58 59 She has received some criticism for joking about the Tories in 2011 they ve put the N into cuts to child benefit 60 but has said Prime Minister Theresa May is a good person 41 She has also joked about UKIP leader Nigel Farage 61 In 2012 she said in an interview that I don t think there s a party that represents anything I believe in 62 In 2023 Toksvig stated the reluctance of the Church of England to accept same sex marriage was harming gay people Toksvig stated The problem is there is only one side that is impinging on the lives of others And I m afraid the very conservative people who interpret the Bible with less love than I would hope are causing severe mental health problems for the LGBTQ community My wife works in mental health with the queer community and the figures are shocking for a young LGBT person committing suicide or attempting suicide not because they feel bad about who they are but because of the way society stigmatises them So it s not an equal battle that we re having here Toksvig is campaigning to end 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords 63 Women s Equality Party Edit In April 2015 Toksvig chaired the first informal conference of a new political party the Women s Equality Party 64 65 and then left her job as presenter of The News Quiz to formally co found it 27 28 She later explained that she had decided that it was not too late to fight the good fight after all 66 In September the same year she announced the dates for a comedy tour to raise funds for the party 67 68 The party s full set of policies was launched at Conway Hall 20 October 2015 69 70 Personal life EditI wouldn t care if they came from Tesco I don t care about the blood thing They call me Mummy and I earned it We love each other You can t do better than that Lots of families don t Toksvig commenting on her children in The Times 71 Toksvig is the mother of two daughters and a son born in 1988 1990 and 1994 respectively 72 73 74 75 The children were carried by her partner Peta Stewart from whom she separated in 1997 71 and were conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd Pack 13 younger brother of the actor Roger Lloyd Pack 76 77 It was having three young children that made her decide to come out because to the best of her knowledge there were no out lesbians in British public life and she did not want her children to grow up ashamed of having two mothers Toksvig was warned she might never work again and the family faced death threats and had to go into hiding 2 She lives on a houseboat in Wandsworth 78 with psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig 73 whom she joined in a civil partnership in 2007 79 They renewed their vows on 29 March 2014 the day same sex marriage was introduced in England and Wales 80 and in December 2014 their civil partnership was converted into a marriage 81 Toksvig became a British citizen in 2013 82 She describes her posh accent as being the result of a deliberate attempt to copy the voice of Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter after being ostracised at boarding school for having an American accent 29 In her late 50s she lost a significant amount of weight on medical advice and credits this with giving her the confidence to go back to television 41 In late 2022 Toksvig was hospitalised in Australia with bronchial pneumonia and was forced to cancel her upcoming New Zealand tour dates 83 On 6 December 2022 she announced that she had left hospital but was still not well enough to travel 84 On 15 December it was reported that she had returned to the UK 85 Honours and awards Edit1997 The Grand Order of Water Rats Show Business Personality of the Year 2007 Political Humourist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards 86 and 2007 Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild 87 2007 Read it or Else Award from Coventry Inspiration Book Awards for Hitler s Canary 2008 Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards 2009 Voice of the Listener amp Viewer Award for Individual Contribution to Radio 2013 Voice of the Listener amp Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Roberts Radio Special Award 2017 CoScan Confederation of Scandinavian Societies International Award 88 National honours Edit Decorations and medalsCountry Date Decoration Details United Kingdom 31 December 2013 Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE Civil Division Appointed in the 2014 New Years Honours List 89 This list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items June 2020 Scholastic Edit University degreesLocation Date School Degree United Kingdom Girton College Cambridge First class honours Bachelor of Arts BA in Archaeology and AnthropologyChancellor visitor governor rector and fellowshipsLocation Date School Position United Kingdom 31 October 2012 2017 University of Portsmouth Chancellor 90 United Kingdom 2012 Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge Honorary Fellowship 91 United Kingdom 2016 Newnham College Cambridge Honorary Fellowship 92 United Kingdom 29 January 2019 Girton College Cambridge Honorary Fellowship 93 This list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items June 2020 Honorary degreesLocation Date School Degree Gave Commencement Address United Kingdom 2010 University of Portsmouth Doctor of Letters D Litt United Kingdom 2012 York St John University Doctor of Letters D Litt 94 United Kingdom 20 July 2012 University of Surrey Doctor of Letters D Litt 95 United Kingdom 2016 University of Westminster Doctor of Letters D Litt 96 United Kingdom 17 July 2018 University of Leicester Doctor of Letters D Litt 97 Yes 98 This list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items September 2020 Bibliography EditBooks for adults Edit Toksvig Sandi et al 1994 Great Journeys of the World BBC Books ISBN 0 563 37050 5 McCarthy John 1995 Island Race an Improbable Voyage Round the Coast of Britain BBC Books ISBN 0 563 37053 X 1999 Whistling for the Elephants Transworld ISBN 0 593 04480 0 2001 Flying Under Bridges Little Brown ISBN 0 316 85635 5 amp Nightingale Sandy 2002 The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton Little Brown ISBN 0 316 86007 7 2003 Gladys Reunited A Personal American Journey Little Brown ISBN 0 7515 3328 9 2006 Melted into Air Little Brown ISBN 0 316 86117 0 2012 Heroines amp Harridans A Fanfare of Fabulous Females The Robson Press ISBN 978 1849 54 3385 2012 Valentine Grey Virago ISBN 9781844088317 2013 Peas amp Queues The Minefield of Modern Manners Profile Books ISBN 978 1781 25032 7 2019 Between the Stops The view of My Life from the Top of the number 12 Bus Virago ISBN 978 0 349 00637 6 2020 Toksvig s Almanac Trapeze ISBN 9781398701632 Books for children Edit 1994 Tales from the Norse s Mouth BBC Books ISBN 0 563 40358 6 1997 Unusual Day Transworld Corgi ISBN 0 552 54539 2 1998 If I Didn t Have Elbows Deagosti ISBN 1 84089 048 7 1999 Super Saver Mouse Transworld ISBN 0 552 54540 6 2000 Super Saver Mouse to the Rescue Transworld ISBN 0 552 54541 4 2000 The Troublesome Tooth Fairy Transworld ISBN 0 552 54663 1 2005 Hitler s Canary Doubleday ISBN 0 385 60889 6 2006 Hitlers Canary in Dutch Vlaardingen Holland Valerius uitgeverij ISBN 90 78250 02 X 2008 The Littlest Viking London Yearling ISBN 978 0 440 86830 9 2009 Girls Are Best London Red Fox ISBN 978 1 86230 429 1 2015 A Slice of the Moon London Doubleday Childrens ISBN 978 0 857 53191 9 2017 The End of the Sky London Doubleday Childrens ISBN 978 0 857 53192 6 References Edit Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Sandi born 3 May 1958 writer and comedian Who s Who Oxford University Press 1 December 2007 doi 10 1093 ww 9780199540884 013 37818 a b Reporters Telegraph 1 August 2016 Sandi Toksvig Coming out was terrifying We had death threats and had to go into hiding with the children for two weeks The Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 17 January 2019 Ross Alice 16 March 2017 Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig to host new Great British Bake Off The Guardian London a b The Great British Bake Off Sandi Toksvig to leave after three years BBC 16 January 2020 Retrieved 16 January 2020 McQuillan Rebecca 18 October 2013 Sandi Toksvig minds her manners The Herald Scotland Retrieved 26 January 2016 Coleman Pamela 9 November 2003 Relative values Sandi Toksvig and her sister Jeni The Sunday Times Retrieved 18 December 2019 HOW WE MET The Independent 3 September 1995 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Sandi Toksvig Standing as an MP I m not going to say no to anything Radio Times Retrieved 1 July 2019 Toksvig Sandi 24 January 2013 The Chain of Curiosity London UK Hachette UK ISBN 9781405527231 Tokvsig Sandi 30 December 2007 Sandi Toksvig All the world s backstage The Sunday Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 25 April 2014 Press Association 23 January 2012 Sandi Toksvig becomes chancellor of Portsmouth University The Guardian Retrieved 31 December 2013 QI Series I Inequality British Comedy Guide comedy co uk Retrieved 13 April 2015 a b c Ginny Dougary 5 December 2009 Sandi Toksvig on her Christmas cracker The Times London UK Archived from the original on 15 June 2011 Retrieved 16 March 2012 pt91 Sandi Toksvig OBE University of Leicester www2 le ac uk Retrieved 28 April 2021 Artist Management Vivienne Clore Retrieved 16 March 2012 Comedy Store Players Official Site History Archived 11 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine retrieved on 16 May 2008 Have I Got News For You episode guide TV com Archived from the original on 22 February 2009 Retrieved 16 May 2008 Radio 4 s Excess Baggage to be axed Wanderlust 20 March 2012 Archived from the original on 2 February 2016 Retrieved 26 January 2016 Review of Big Night Out in What s On Stage Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 23 February 2009 Television graphics around the world meldrum co uk 29 March 2000 Retrieved 26 April 2013 Music Event Detail Retrieved 26 January 2016 permanent dead link Sandi Toksvig on Bully Boy WhatsOnStage Retrieved 17 March 2017 St James Theatre in London s West End opens BBC News 18 September 2012 Retrieved 17 March 2017 O Donovan Gerard 25 December 2013 Call the Midwife Christmas special review The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 31 December 2013 Walker Arnott Ellie 14 December 2013 Call the Midwife Christmas special first look preview Radio Times Retrieved 31 December 2013 Sandi Toksvig steps down from Radio 4 s News Quiz BBC News Online BBC 28 April 2015 Retrieved 12 May 2015 a b Topping Alexandra 30 April 2015 Sandi Toksvig reveals she quit Radio 4 to set up women s rights political party The Guardian Retrieved 30 April 2015 a b Furness Hannah 30 April 2015 Sandi Toksvig quit The News Quiz for Women s Equality Party The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 3 May 2015 a b Sandi Toksvig Desert Island Discs 29 November 2015 33 10 minutes in BBC Radio 4 Retrieved 20 September 2020 Sandy Toksvig s Silver Lining WhatsOnStage Retrieved 17 March 2017 A Podcast of One s Own with Julia Gillard on Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Retrieved 12 January 2020 Vox Tox 21 March 2020 Retrieved 5 July 2020 via YouTube Sandi Toksvig interview The history woman The Scotsman 27 November 2008 Retrieved 26 January 2016 Beresford Lucy 27 September 2012 Valentine Grey by Sandi Toksvig review The Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 26 January 2016 The Lightening Readers 20 February 2016 Hitler s Canary by Sandi Toksvig review The Guardian Retrieved 14 January 2020 Hitler s Canary waterstones com Great British Baking Show Host Sandi Toksvig s Grandparents Were Holocaust Heroes Kveller 9 January 2020 Retrieved 14 January 2020 a b Curtis Brown curtisbrown co uk Retrieved 18 November 2020 Daly Emma 2 April 2014 Fifteen to One returnos behind the scenes with Sandi Toksvig Radio Times Retrieved 5 August 2015 Channel 4 Commits to Sandi Toksvig s Fifteen to One News on News 8 June 2015 Retrieved 5 August 2015 a b c Smith Julia Llewellyn 9 October 2016 Sandi Toksvig Women support each other in comedy men worry about the size of their manhoods The Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 17 January 2019 Power Ed 21 October 2016 QI Sandi Toksvig triumphs in her first appearance as host The Telegraph Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 Retrieved 21 October 2016 Exclusive Watch the first trailer for Sandi Toksvig s travel series Extraordinary Escapes radiotimes com Retrieved 7 February 2021 Sandi Toksvig to embark on a second series of Extraordinary Escapes channel4 com press Retrieved 20 December 2021 Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig channel4 com Retrieved 19 February 2022 Lesbians protest over charity ban The Independent 5 October 1994 Retrieved 16 March 2012 Charity apologises to comic The Independent 25 October 1994 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 No 194 Millivres ISSN 0950 6101 Liberty honours inspirational human rights leaders liberty human rights org uk 20 November 2012 Archived from the original on 28 July 2013 Retrieved 26 April 2013 The President Women of the Year Archived from the original on 25 January 2015 Retrieved 7 May 2015 Sandi Toksvig humanism org uk Humanists UK Retrieved 13 December 2017 Sandi Toksvig claims she was groped while broadcasting BBC News Online 7 October 2012 Retrieved 9 October 2012 Sandi Toksvig I was groped on air in the 1980s The Guardian 7 October 2012 Retrieved 9 October 2012 Thorpe Vanessa Graham Harrison Emma 8 September 2018 Sandi Toksvig sparks new gender pay row over QI fee The Guardian Retrieved 8 September 2018 Toksvig enters chancellor race BBC News 24 February 2003 Retrieved 16 March 2012 Curtis Polly 17 March 2003 Patten wins Oxford prize The Guardian London UK Retrieved 24 May 2008 BBC News Sandi Toksvig made Portsmouth University Chancellor BBC News 31 October 2012 Retrieved 26 April 2013 Liberal England Time for Sandi Toksvig to give up The News Quiz liberalengland blogspot co uk Liberal England blog 2 February 2013 Retrieved 13 April 2015 Screen stars join election race BBC News 25 May 2004 Retrieved 16 October 2008 The celebrity bug has bitten the other major parties with the Lib Dems claiming the support of broadcaster Sandi Toksvig Blake Heidi BBC in decency row over obscene joke by Sandi Toksvig The Daily Telegraph London Retrieved 13 April 2015 Sandi Toksvig makes Hitler jibe about Nigel Farage Coffee House The Spectator 26 May 2015 Saner Emine 26 August 2012 Sandi Toksvig I don t understand boredom The Guardian Retrieved 26 August 2012 Maqbool Aleem 8 February 2023 Sandi Toksvig I can t let the Church of England hurt LGBT people BBC News BBC Retrieved 8 February 2023 Cocozza Paula 28 August 2015 Women s Equality party founders It needed doing So we said Let s do it The Guardian Retrieved 21 September 2015 Londoner s Diary Women s party is ready to be a player Evening Standard London 20 April 2015 Retrieved 23 April 2015 Elgot Jessica 25 May 2015 Sandi Toksvig trolls are already out over plans to form Women s Equality party The Guardian Retrieved 27 May 2015 Duffy Nick 29 September 2015 Sandi Toksvig launches comedy tour to raise funds for new political party PinkNews Retrieved 29 September 2015 Nixey Catherine 29 September 2015 Sandi Toksvig on swapping The News Quiz for the Women s Equality Party The Times Retrieved 29 September 2015 Women s Equality Party announces first policies and campaigns Women s Equality Party 20 October 2015 Retrieved 21 October 2015 Minter Harriet 21 October 2015 The Women s Equality Party launch is not a moment too soon The Guardian Retrieved 21 October 2015 a b Wark Penny 11 October 2002 I have no secrets The Times London Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Retrieved 16 March 2012 Sandi Toksvig LGBT Archive a b Scott Caroline 16 December 2007 A Life in the Day Sandi Toksvig The Times London UK Archived from the original on 15 June 2011 Retrieved 16 March 2012 Kerr Alison 29 November 2008 Sandi Toksvig interview The history woman The Scotsman Moorhead Joanna 20 February 2016 Jesse Toksvig Stewart My two mums were trailblazers The Guardian Retrieved 11 November 2018 Index entry FreeBMD ONS Retrieved 1 December 2013 Michael Coveney 16 January 2014 Roger Lloyd Pack obituary Television amp radio The Guardian Retrieved 7 August 2016 Rucki Alexandra 31 December 2013 Eighteen people make New Year s Honours list in Wandsworth Wandsworth Guardian London UK Retrieved 31 December 2013 Staff writer 29 March 2014 Sandi Toksvig renews wedding vows in public event ITV news ITV Retrieved 1 April 2014 Sandi Toksvig Praises New Gay Marriage Legislation On This Morning It s About Love And Equality Huffington Post 1 April 2014 Retrieved 1 April 2014 Sandi Toksvig marries partner Debbie in third ceremony Tomorrow I will love her even more The Independent 11 December 2014 Retrieved 12 February 2015 Kidd Patrick 15 August 2013 Citizen Dane The Times Retrieved 5 August 2015 Sandi Toksvig admitted to hospital with bronchial pneumonia the Guardian 3 December 2022 Retrieved 6 December 2022 Sandi Toksvig QI presenter gives health update after cancelling tour Sandi Toksvig returns from Australia for Christmas after health scare 15 December 2022 Behind the scenes at the Channel Four Political Awards Channel 4 Newsroom Blog Archived from the original on 27 May 2012 Retrieved 16 May 2008 2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Broadcasting Press Guild 31 December 2007 Retrieved 16 May 2008 CoScan Confederation of Scandinavian Societies coscan org uk Archived from the original on 18 October 2018 Retrieved 18 April 2017 No 60728 The London Gazette Supplement 31 December 2013 p 14 Sandi Toksvig made Portsmouth University Chancellor BBC 31 October 2012 Retrieved 21 June 2020 Sandi Toksvig Lucy Cavendish Lucy Cavendish College University of Cambridge Retrieved 20 June 2020 Honoray Fellows PDF Newnham College University of Cambridge Retrieved 20 June 2020 UK s First College for Women Honours Five Pioneering Alumnae Girton College girton cam ac uk 29 January 2019 Retrieved 11 May 2019 Honorary Graduates 2012 York St John University Retrieved 20 June 2020 Honorary graduates University of Surrey University of Surrey Retrieved 20 June 2020 Honorary Awards 2016 University of Westminster Retrieved 20 June 2020 pt91 Sandi Toksvig OBE University of Leicester www2 le ac uk Retrieved 17 July 2018 Sandi Toksvig OBE Honorary Degree University of Leicester 19 July 2018 Archived from the original on 17 November 2021 via YouTube External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandi Toksvig Wikiquote has quotations related to Sandi Toksvig Official website Sandi Toksvig at IMDb Sandi Toksvig at the British Film Institute Sandi Toksvig Aveleyman Party political officesNew political party Co founder of the Women s Equality Party2015 With Catherine Mayer Succeeded bySophie Walkeras leaderPortals Biography LGBT Politics Comedy Theatre Television Radio BBC United Kingdom Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sandi Toksvig amp 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