become more open to the strange, to the unusual, to the radical, to the “other”, we become more nourished as a species. Currently our ability to do that is being manipulated, diversity is being looked upon as a source of evil rather than as a source of joy and development. We must recapture the profound benefits of seeing the joy in our collective diversity, not the fear.’
The most important advice I ever heard.
‘DISCOVER THE JOY OF EMBRACING DIVERSITY. WHEN PEOPLE BECOME MORE OPEN TO THE STRANGE, TO THE UNUSUAL, TO THE RADICAL, TO THE “OTHER”, WE BECOME MORE NOURISHED AS A SPECIES. CURRENTLY OUR ABILITY TO DO THAT IS BEING MANIPULATED, DIVERSITY IS BEING LOOKED UPON AS A SOURCE OF EVIL RATHER THAN AS A SOURCE OF JOY AND DEVELOPMENT. WE MUST RECAPTURE THE PROFOUND BENEFITS OF SEEING THE JOY IN OUR COLLECTIVE DIVERSITY, NOT THE FEAR.’
– Harry Belafonte
SANDI TOKSVIG, SERIOUSLY FUNNY
THERE’S A RAINBOW FLAG KNOTTED around the large brass door handle of the Soho-based club I’m about to enter – a show of solidarity for the victims of the Orlando massacre at a gay nightclub just twelve hours before. It’s a terrible event that has horrified everyone and has a deep, personal relevance to Sandi Toksvig, the much-loved writer, actress, producer and comedian. She came out as the first openly gay woman in UK public life in the 1990s and was subject to extreme homophobia. ‘I had death threats and stalkers and people sectioned. But you don’t have to be in the public eye to be afraid. Blind hatred is scary for anybody.’
In her case, the biggest outpouring of vitriol was reserved for the fact that (thanks to a sperm-donating friend) Sandi and her partner were mothers to three children. The Daily Mail ran the headline ‘If God Meant Lesbians to Have Children He Would Have Made It Possible’. Members of the religious right wrote and said they were going to kill her on God’s behalf. ‘Because apparently God was busy and needed them to help pick up the slack.’ Fortunately, she says, things are much better these days: ‘People are very nice to me, I get hugged in the street a lot. I don’t know why. I think it’s because I’m small.’
This is part of what makes Sandi unique: she can be simultaneously funny and extremely serious. She loves comedy – ‘it’s a nice thing, people can forget about their mortgage and marital troubles and come and laugh’ – but she is driven by a more serious motivation than just providing entertainment: ‘I have no drive for fame, no drive for money, I couldn’t give a damn about either of those things, I’m not in the least bit religious, but I do have a drive to make a difference. I’m only here this one time and I intend to make it count.’
Her most recent manifestation of this credo was co-founding the newest political party in the UK, the Women’s Equality Party, an organisation with the specific aim of bringing gender equality to education, employment, social welfare, culture and every other aspect of society. Sandi says it started as an idea on stage at a women’s rights festival, but once they’d thought up the concept she couldn’t leave it alone. ‘You have to get off your arse and do something, don’t you? I will not go to my grave thinking I didn’t try.’
There’s no fear of that. The party already has more than 20,000 members, has fielded two candidates in the recent London mayor campaign and will be putting forward representatives at the next general election.
It leads me to a more pragmatic question: given all the presenting, writing and acting jobs she already has, how does she balance it all? Her answer is equally pragmatic: ‘I work very hard and I get up very early. People say how do you get everything done? The answer is you just have to spend lots of hours.’
And this appetite for work relates to her most valuable piece of advice:
‘Just work hard and be passionate. If I’ve taught my kids one thing, it’s to be passionate. I’m passionate about food, my friends, my wife, passionate about our house, our dog. I’m passionate. I get up and I’m passionate – my father believed in it and that’s the one thing he taught me, that life is amazing and it’s full of people you haven’t met yet, music you haven’t heard, books you haven’t read. And if you start each day looking for something to be passionate about, mostly you won’t be disappointed because every day you’ll find something that’ll make you say, look at that, that’s so cool.’
On that manifesto for life, we want Sandi Toksvig for prime minister.
‘Get off your arse and do something.’
– SANDI TOKSVIG
THE LESSER SPOTTED SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
ALL I CAN HEAR ARE the sounds of nature. The air is filled with mysterious chirpings and squawks, exotic whistles, tocks and clicks. In quick succession, a Ghanaian Giant Squeaker Frog, a Madagascan Side-Necked Turtle and a Pakistani Snow Leopard dart past in front of me. Then a Papua New Guinea warrior in tribal headdress appears. Our eyes meet. He gives me a friendly smile and comes towards me, extending his hand in a traditional greeting. And I think, not bad for a Tuesday evening in West London.
Admittedly the sounds are recorded and the animals are on film, but the warrior is very much real and enjoying both his first trip to London and his first-ever gin and tonic. We’re at the Whitley Awards for Nature, an Oscar-lite awards ceremony for rising stars in the world of conservation. The venue is the Royal Geographical Society, an appropriate choice given the far-flung origins of tonight’s nominees, each of which has dedicated their life to defending their threatened native species. The Ghanaian chap protecting the Giant Squeaker Frogs has even learnt to mimic their mating call and does so loudly when collecting his prize. It makes for a memorable acceptance speech.
While the evening is shaped around celebrating these conservationists and their projects, the biggest draw of the night is guest of honour and the world’s most revered naturalist Sir David Attenborough. He’s dressed on-brand in a crumpled cream linen suit, looking for all the world like someone who has just come back from exotic travels, which of course he has. He’s at the event to support the conservationists and wants no limelight for himself. Like his documentary subjects, he seems more comfortable hiding in the long grass and remains in the audience, avoiding the stage.
To talk to him one-on-one, he is the charismatic yet humble man you would imagine him to be. He says he gives time to these awards every year, including narrating each of the conservation project’s films, because ‘local people with local knowledge and a vested interest’ do the best conservation work and ‘it’s more important than ever to support those who protect the planet’. It’s lost on no one that the room is full of people inspired to do just that because of the films Sir David has made. The effect is global: President Obama credits Sir David with awakening his fascination in the natural world as a boy and asked Sir David to the White House to pick his brains on conservation and fulfil a childhood ambition of getting to hang out with Nature’s commander-in-chief.
According to Sir David, the growing encroachment by man on our natural habitat and the ever-increasing demands we place on the environment has got progressively worse over his sixty years of film-making. And he’s clear-sighted about the fundamental driver of the issue: ‘there’s no major problem facing our planet that would not be easier to solve with fewer people’.
He also underlines the importance of appreciating what is around us: not just our natural history, although that is of course of fundamental importance, but also our
