Sandy Toksvig
Sandi began her comedy career at Cambridge University where she wrote and performed in the first all-woman show at the Cambridge Footlights.
She was there at the same time as some of the most famous members and wrote additional material for the Perrier award-winning Cambridge Footlights Revue.
She was also a member of Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society while a student at Girton College in Cambridge and moved via childrens 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 which is an improvisational comedy team.
Her television career has included presenting the childrens series and on factual programmes such as the archaeological Channel 4 series Time Team. She is a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners as the chairman 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 was also a frequent guest on shows such as I’m Sorry I Havent 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 and Alkarim Jivani and Annie Caulfield.
In 2002 Sandi and Dilly Keane co wrote a musical Big Night Out at the Little Palace Theatre which was written for the Watford Palace Theatre in which they both appeared together with Bonnie Langford. She also appeared in a number of stage plays including Androcles and the Lion and Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors.
She has written several fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults starting in 1994 with Tales from the Norses Mouth – a fiction tale for children. In 1995 she sailed around the coast of Britain with John McCarthy. In October 2008 she published Girls Are Best – a history book for girls. She also appears in Doctor Who audio drama Red by Big Finish Productions which was released in August 2006.
In 2007 she was named Political Humorist of the Year at the Channel 4 Political Awards and Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild. In 2008 she was named Broadcaster of the Year at the Stonewall Awards.