Sandi Toksvig

“Food is an international language, an expression of love.”

“I've downloaded the BBC's 'Cranford' with Judi Dench because I like a bit of bonnet acting, and I can turn it on and off without worrying about whether I can follow what's happening.”

“People say, 'When did you decide you were gay?' and you think, 'When did you decide you were heterosexual?' It's not a decision: it's something you gradually begin to realise about yourself.”

“One of my life's watchwords is 'hyggelig.' It's an untranslatable Danish term for getting together with friends and family and sitting around in a cosy atmosphere with nice food and wine and candles.”

“English is full of Scandinavian words. Margate, Ramsgate, Billingsgate, any town with a 'gate' on it takes their suffix from the Danish word 'gade' which simply means 'street.'”

“I was born gay, OK? I've always known. I don't think my family were the least bit surprised.”

“Do you know there were two pilots made for 'Have I Got News For You' before the series started two decades ago: one hosted by Angus Deayton and one hosted by me. But I was told that they couldn't have a woman in charge of the news.”

“'QI' is exactly what the best TV ought to be - you learn something, but you are also crying with laughter.”

“For three months, when I was 23 years old, I worked as a clerk at Wandsworth Sewer.”

“Being attracted to my own sex was as much part of who I was as being short or blonde or drawn to the library, but I was made to grow up feeling 'other.' Most books, films - even advertisements - didn't reflect how I felt, and I often watched the world from the outside.”

“Too often, there are complaints in the British papers about the BBC. It's too left wing, too right wing, too pro-Brexit, too anti, and so on. It's only when you go abroad and try to find out what is going on in the world that everyone falls with gratitude before the BBC News.”

“I am 5 ft. tall myself, and it is rare that I meet someone new who doesn't comment on my height.”

“I've had a surprising number of near-death experiences: I was nearly blown up by a landmine in Sudan; I was stranded on the Zambezi river at night; I was bucked off a rodeo horse in Arizona and had to be airlifted to hospital; and, worst of all, I once ate a Pot Noodle.”

“My earliest memory is my parents forgetting my fourth birthday. My dad looked up from reading the paper and went, 'Oh my God!' So we went out, and I chose a red scooter.”

“The fact is, there is not now, nor has there ever been in the whole of history, a single country in the world where women have equality with men.”

“I am always slightly mystified by the whole 'Snow White' story. What are the chances of coming across that many diminutive men living in one house in the woods?”

“You want a kitchen put in, I'm your girl. I'm very handy, and I love a practical challenge. I fit all the stereotypes of the lesbian with power tools.”

“I cannot lie on the beach or by a swimming pool. I think I'm too Nordic to like a lot of relentless sun.”

“The number one thing in my whole life is my children, and I want to be there for them.”

“I'd love to retire in terms of not having to go to work anymore and earn a living.”