Danish-British broadcaster, author, comedian and activist Sandy Toksvig was BOTD in 1958. Born in Copenhagen, she was raised in New York and London, and attended Cambridge University, where she appeared in the Cambridge Footlights alongside Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson. She started her showbiz career in children’s television, and became a mainstay of radio and television comedy series, appearing in Whose Line Is It Anyway, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Mock the Week and The News Quiz. The author of over 20 fiction and non-fiction titles, she has also written plays and musicals, and her Vox Tox podcast during the 2020 lockdown showcased her encyclopaedic knowledge of women’s history. In 2015, she left her role in The News Quiz to co-found the Women’s Equality Party but returned to TV in 2016 to co-host the popular baking show The Great British Bake Off. She has three children with her former partner Peta Stewart, and came out publically in 1994, explaining that she didn’t want her children to be ashamed of having two mothers. Following her coming out, she was dropped from hosting a Save the Children event, received death threats and briefly had to go into hiding. She is married to her partner Debbie Toksvig, and lives on a houseboat on the River Thames.