Sandi Toksvig: ‘I’m not someone who’s going to sit and watch a meringue dry’
The quizshow host, activist, wedding officiator – and now Santa Claus at the Royal Albert Hall – is still reaping the rewards of saying yes to life. Just don’t ask her about Bake Off ...
‘A lot of famous people are arseholes,” says Sandi Toksvig. “I don’t like people because they are famous or rich. My father was incredibly famous, the most famous man in Denmark. So I’ve seen it up close and have no interest in fame whatsoever.” I have been talking with Toksvig – broadcaster; quizshow host; author of plays, musicals and 30 or so books; pioneering feminist and LGBTQ+ activist – about her role as officiator at the wedding of Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus to his partner, Christina Sas, in September. Ulvaeus is indeed famous and rich but is firmly “not in the arsehole category. He is a good friend, very gentle and a humanist like me.” Claus Toksvig, who was a broadcaster and foreign correspondent – essentially Denmark’s answer to Richard Dimbleby – wasn’t in the arsehole category, either. He and his daughter were extremely close and he would take her on work jaunts, one of which, astonishingly, involved watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon from Houston’s Apollo Mission Control Center.
That Claus was so famous “should have steered me in the opposite direction”, says Toksvig, adding: “I didn’t set out to do what I did.” But while studying law, archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge – her plan was to become a human-rights lawyer – Toksvig joined Footlights, the university’s comedy society, “for a laugh. And a director saw me and said: ‘Come and work with me,’ and so I thought, ‘OK, I’ll do that and treat it like another gap year.’ And that was 45 years ago. I’m having the longest gap year in history.”
Continue reading...Topics
-
A guide to 2025 investment outlooks by someone who hasn’t read them
Well the years start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’Financial Times - 1d -
The Perfect Gift For Someone Who Doesn't (Or Can't) Use The Copy/Paste Keyboard Shortcuts
Heading to a White Elephant holiday party later this month? Shopping for a computer geek who already owns everything under the Sun? Then consider snagging this hilarious (and cheap) Copy and Paste ...GameSpot - 2d -
‘I’m trying not to go bankrupt’: My husband of 24 years asked for a divorce. He wants my cell-phone records. Should I report him for tax fraud?
“I would like to keep the house because my grown children and grandchildren reside there.”MarketWatch - 3d -
Teens Are Getting Botox. I’m Going Full Crone in 2025.
In pushing back against beauty standards, I’m trying to set an example for my girls.The New York Times - 4d -
Katie Boulter: I was messaged at a tournament saying ‘I’m outside, I’m going to hurt you’
British No 1 Katie Boulter has revealed her experiences of being followed and threatened in recent years.Yahoo Sports - 4d -
‘I’m outside. I’m going to hurt you’: Katie Boulter on the hidden horror of success as a female athlete
Britain’s leading female tennis star has had a standout 2024 but her higher profile has been accompanied by harassment. Katie Boulter has had 18 months to get used to being the British No 1. It has ...The Guardian - 4d -
Dining across the divide: ‘I’m not anti cyclist. I’m anti cyclists who ignore red lights and drive three or four abreast in front of me’
One is a left-leaning tactical voter, and the other a Tory police and crime commissioner – they disagreed on the new Labour government, but were they any closer on cycling? . Lisa, 44, Surrey . ...The Guardian - 5d -
How Bangladesh’s Economy Was Siphoned Dry
Bangladesh’s currency was battered by what the new head of the central bank says was the looting of the banks under the deposed prime minister.The New York Times - Dec. 4 -
Fantasy Basketball Week 7 Start/Sit: Is Goga Bitadze a go or a gone from your lineups?
We break down the future Fantasy outlook for Goga and moreCBS Sports - Dec. 2
More from The Guardian
-
South Korea president defends martial law decree and vows to ‘fight to the end’
The Guardian - 1h -
Majority of Brexit voters ‘would accept free movement’ to access single market
The Guardian - 1h -
No pardons for prison torturers, says Syrian rebel leader
The Guardian - 9h -
FBI director Christopher Wray will resign before Trump takes office
The Guardian - 6h -
Hannah Kobayashi found safe after disappearance prompted massive search
The Guardian - 6h