Comedian, author and presenter succeeds Sheila Hancock and is welcomed by Professor John Craven (not that one)
The television personality and author Sandi Toksvig has been appointed the new chancellor of the University of Portsmouth.
Toksvig, made famous by her appearances on Whose Line is it Anyway? and other panel shows, will succeed the actor and author Sheila Hancock and take up the post in October.
Toksvig said: "I was surprised and delighted to be invited by the university to become chancellor and am very honoured to accept.
"I am passionate about higher education and am hugely impressed by Portsmouth's mission to encourage students from every walk of life to excel."
The vice-chancellor, Professor John Craven, said: "The university is very pleased to announce Sandi's appointment as chancellor and very much looks forward to welcoming her when she takes up her role at the start of the next academic year.
"Sandi's career as broadcaster, author, comedian and producer has impressed and entertained British audiences for over 30 years and she brings to the university a lively and scholarly commitment to all that we do.
"I am personally delighted that Sandi has agreed to become an important part of our university."
In addition to being an honorary graduate, Toksvig's links to the university include the donation by her family of their father's books to the School of Languages and Area Studies, which teaches American Studies.
The family also donated a Claus Toksvig prize for an American Studies dissertation. Claus Toksvig was a foreign correspondent for Danish television and the family lived all over the world, including the US, Europe and Africa.
Sandi Toksvig is a graduate of Girton college, Cambridge, where she gained a first-class honours degree in archaeology and anthropology and where she also won the Theresa Montefiore memorial award for outstanding academic achievement and the Raemaekers prize for archaeology.
She also is the author of 22 books for children and adults and a novel set in the Boer War will be published later this summer by Virago.