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Sandi Toksvig

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Sandi Toksvig
Sandi Toksvig in 2009
Born
Sandra Brigitte Toksvig

(1958-05-03) 3 May 1958 (age 66)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation(s)Author, comedienne, presenter

Sandra Brigitte "Sandi" Toksvig (born 3 May 1958) is a Danish/British comedienne, author and presenter on British radio and television. She currently presents The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4.

Career

Born in Copenhagen, Toksvig began her comedy career at Girton College, Cambridge University, where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Footlights. She was there at the same time as fellow members 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 Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society, 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]

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 [the 18th-century philosopher and feminist] and there’s not a joke in it.

The Times[2]

Her television career included presenting the children's series No. 73 (1982–1986) as a character called Ethel Davis, also presenting the Sandwich Quiz,[3] The Saturday Starship, Motormouth and Gilbert's Fridge, and on factual programmes such as the archaeological Channel 4 series Time Team, Island Race, and The Talking Show, produced by Open Media for Channel 4. She has appeared as a panellist in shows such as Call My Bluff (a regular as a team captain), I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News for You. She appeared in the very first episode of Have I Got News For You in 1990.[4] She was the host of What the Dickens, a Sky Arts quiz show. For the last two years she has been the executive producer of Playhouse Live for Sky Arts, producing specially commissioned live drama for television. In 2011 she is executive producing six new films for Sky Arts and is the host of a second season of BBC2's Antiques Master.

In 1996, she narrated the Dragons! interactive CD-ROM, along with Harry Enfield.[5] The software was primarily aimed at children and featured songs and poems about dragons.

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 its travel programme Excess Baggage. 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.

Toksvig performing in 2008

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.[6] 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, which also starred Toksvig. She has appeared in a number of stage plays, including Androcles and the Lion, Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. Most recently 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.

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, the Sunday Telegraph and The Lady. In October 2008 she published Girls Are Best, a history book for girls. In 2009 her collected columns for the Sunday Telegraph were published in book form as The Chain of Curiosity.

She appeared in 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.[citation needed]

In 2007 she was named Political Humorist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards[7] and Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild.[8] Over Christmas and New Year 2007/8 she played the narrator in the pantomime Cinderella at the Old Vic Theatre. In 2008 she was named Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards. In 2009 she received the Voice of the Viewer and Listener Award for Individual Contribution to Radio. In 2010 she was awarded an honorary PhD by the University of Portsmouth.

In October 2011, she Narrated a concert of the new musical Soho Cinders at the Queen's Theatre, London.

In January 2012 it was announced that she would succeed Sheila Hancock as Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.[9]

Politics and activism

Sandi Toksvig has been a supporter of the Liberal Democrats.[10]

In 2003 she stood as a candidate in the election for the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, supporting a campaign against student fees.[11] She was defeated in the first round of voting, achieving 1,179 first-place votes out of about 8,000 cast.[12] The election was won by Chris Patten.

Personal life

Her father Claus Toksvig was a foreign correspondent for the Danish television channel Danmarks Radio so Sandi spent most of her youth outside Denmark. In 1969, while her father was covering the Apollo 11 Mission, Sandi held hands with Neil Armstrong's secretary as he stepped on to the moon.[13] She studied law, archaeology, and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes for outstanding 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 yachting adventure around Britain in 1995. Her sister Jenifer Toksvig is a musical theatre bookwriter and lyricist.

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.

The Times[14]

She is a lesbian and mother of three children: two daughters, Jessica and Megan[15] (born 1988 and 1990) and a son Theo [16] (born 1994). The children were carried and borne by her then-partner, Peta Stewart,[14] and were conceived through artificial insemination by donor Christopher Lloyd-Pack.[17]

In 1994 charity Save the Children dropped her services as compere of its 75th-anniversary celebrations after she came out,[17] but following a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers,[18] the charity apologised.[19] She lives with her civil partner, psychotherapist Debbie Toksvig.[15]

  • In Little Britain, starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams, the character Bernard Chumley lives in a building called Sandi Toksvig House.[20]
  • In the BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey, Stacey's mother assumes the alias Sandi Toksvig in a fake interview.
  • During the performance of Bottom Live, Rik Mayall's character 'Richie' states that Sandi Toksvig brings out his eczema. 'Richie' enters the room and remarks: "Er, pooh, what's that disgusting smell? Have you been saying "Sandi Toksvig"again? ... you know it brings on my eczema."

Bibliography

Books for children

  • Hitlers Kanarie, Sandi Toksvig, Valerius uitgeverij, Vlaardingen, Holland, April 2006, ISBN 90-78250-02-X [Dutch translation]
  • Sandi Toksvig (2005). Hitler's Canary. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-60889-6.
  • Sandi Toksvig (2000). The Troublesome Tooth Fairy. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54663-1.
  • Sandi Toksvig (2000). Super-Saver Mouse to the Rescue. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54541-4.
  • Sandi Toksvig (1999). Super-Saver Mouse. Transworld. ISBN 0-552-54540-6.
  • Sandi Toksvig (1998). If I Didn't Have Elbows. Deagosti. ISBN 1-84089-048-7.
  • Sandi Toksvig (1997). Unusual Day. Transworld/Corgi. ISBN 0-552-54539-2.
  • Sandi Toksvig (1994). Tales from the Norse's Mouth. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-40358-6.

Books for adults

  • Sandi Toksvig (2006). Melted into Air. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-86117-0.
  • Sandi Toksvig (2003). Gladys Reunited: A Personal American Journey. Little Brown. ISBN 0-7515-3328-9.
  • Sandi Toksvig; Sandy Nightingale (2002). The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-86007-7.
  • Sandi Toksvig (2001). Flying Under Bridges. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-85635-5.
  • Sandi Toksvig (1999). Whistling for the Elephants. Transworld. ISBN 0-593-04480-0.
  • Sandi Toksvig; et al. (1994). Great Journeys of the World. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37050-5. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author2= (help)
  • John McCarthy; Sandi Toksvig (1995). Island Race: an Improbable Voyage Round the Coast of Britain. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37053-X.

See also

References

  1. ^ Comedy Store Players Official Site - History -retrieved on 16 May 2008
  2. ^ >Dougarry, Ginny (5 December 2009). "Sandi Toksvig on her Christmas cracker". The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  3. ^ "Artist Management". Vivienne Clore. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  4. ^ Have I Got News For You episode guide at TV.com - retrieved on 16 May 2008
  5. ^ Review from Guardian On-line
  6. ^ Review of Big Night Out in What's On Stage Retrieved 23 February 2009]
  7. ^ Channel 4 Newsroom Blog - Behnind the scenes at the Channel Four Political Awards retrieved on 16 May 2008
  8. ^ 2007 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards - retrieved on 16 May 2008
  9. ^ University of Portsmouth Chancellor Announcement
  10. ^ "Screen stars join election race". BBC News. 2004-05-25. Retrieved 2008-10-16. "The celebrity bug has bitten the other major parties with the Lib Dems claiming the support of [...] broadcaster Sandi Toksvig."
  11. ^ "UK | Education | Toksvig enters chancellor race". BBC News. 2003-02-24. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  12. ^ Polly Curtis (2003-03-17). "Patten wins Oxford prize: EducationGuardian.co.uk". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ The Graham Norton Show 11 February 2011
  14. ^ a b Wark, Penny (2002-10-11). "I have no secrets". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  15. ^ a b Scott, Caroline (2007-12-16). "A Life in the Day: Sandi Toksvig". London: The Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  16. ^ Kerr, Alison (29 November 2008). "Sandi Toksvig interview: The history woman". The Scotsman. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ a b Ginny Dougary (December 5, 2009). "Sandi Toksvig on her Christmas cracker". London: The Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2012-03-16. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Lesbians protest over charity ban - Life & Style". The Independent. 1994-10-05. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "BBC comedy guide to Little Britain". Retrieved 2007-01-06.

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