Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Sandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE is a British-Danish writer, comedian, broadcaster, actor, podcaster, and producer. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women’s Equality Party in 2015. In 2016, she took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI. From 2017 to 2020 she was co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off.

About Sandi Toksvig in brief

Summary Sandi ToksvigSandra Birgitte Toksvig OBE is a British-Danish writer, comedian, broadcaster, actor, podcaster, and producer. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women’s Equality Party in 2015. In 2016, she took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC television quiz show QI. 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. She has written plays, novels, and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian. Her father covered the landing of the first man on the moon from mission control. She attended Tormead School, an independent girls’ school near Guildford, when her father was based in London. She read law, archaeology and anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree and receiving two prizes for outstanding achievement. She was also a member of the university’s Light Entertainment Society. In television, she appeared as a panellist in comedy shows such as Call My Bluff, 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. 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.

She also starred in a number of stage plays, including Adrocles and the Lion, Much Much About Nothing, and The Comedy of Errors. In 1996, she narrated the interactive Dragons! interactive CD by Oxford University Press. In 2002, she re-written, Dilly Keane, for the Watford Palace Theatre, in which they appeared with Bonnie Langford and Bonnie Brewer. In 2012, she wrote the 1992 TV series The Big One in which she also starred with Anita Dobbs and Una Stubbs. The pair also appeared in a short run of Una Una Little Sands with Stubbs in 2002. In 2013, she co-starred in a musical, Big Out at the Nottingham Playhouse, co-Starring Anita Dobson and Bonnie Stubbs, which was a success. In 2014, she was the president of the Women of the Year Lunch until 2017. Her final show was first broadcast on 26 June 2015. Her younger sister, Jenifer, a librettist, who was born when Sandi was 12, was appointed Jenifer’s legal guardian when she was 24. Her first job, at the age of 18, was a position as a follow spot operator for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. She started her television career on children’s series, presenting No. 73, the Sandwich Quiz, The Saturday Starship, Motormouth, Gilbert’s Fridge, for Television South, and Island Race and The Talking Show, produced by Open Media for Channel 4.