Claus Bertel Toksvig (21 October 1929 – 5 November 1988) was a Danish journalist and broadcaster who, as the

Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

's first permanent

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...

, is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in Danish broadcasting history. In later life he turned his attention to politics. In 1984, he was elected as a

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

and served briefly as one of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

's fourteen Vice-Presidents.

Journalism and broadcasting

Commencing with five years spent working on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

's Danish-language broadcasts, in London, Toksvig held numerous appointments in journalism and broadcasting. He was part of the original team of reporters on TV Avisen, the first daily evening television news programme broadcast by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) in 1965; and in 1967 he was posted to New York City as DR's first ever permanent foreign correspondent. After fifteen years of continuous service as a foreign correspondent, in New York and London; he resigned his position with DR in a dispute over working conditions and their intention to rotate him out of his posting to London, where his family were settled and he had established a permanent home. As a broadcaster, he is probably most popularly remembered as the man providing the live Danish commentary on the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

mission and

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

's first moon walk. *1951–1956: Production assistant with the BBC World Service's Danish-language broadcasts, in London. *1956–1958: Reporter for the Federal Broadcasting Corporation, in the then

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the B ...

. *1958–1967: Reporter and anchor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) news and current affairs programming, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

. *1967–1974: Posted to New York City as DR's first ever permanent foreign correspondent. – a period during which he is remembered for covering such events as the

mission, the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

, the assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, as well as notable periods of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. *1974–1977: Eurovision Song Contest commentator for DR. *1974–1982: London correspondent for DR. *1982: Resigned his position with DR.

Politics

In 1984, Claus Toksvig stood as a Conservative People's Party candidate for the

and was elected as a

(MEP) by one of the largest popular votes ever achieved by a Danish politician. He served three successive terms as the Vice-Chairman of the

European Democrats The European Democrats were a loose association of conservative political parties in Europe. It was a political group in the European Parliament from 1979 until 1992, when it became a subgroup of the European People's Party–European Democr ...

(ED) grouping within the parliament, was for a short time one of the fourteen

Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau and chair the plenary when the president is not i ...

, chaired the EU delegation for relations with Norway and served as a member on the European Parliament's

standing committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on: Institutional Affairs; Political Affairs; and

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of ...

Research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and Technology. In 1987 he stood for the chairmanship of the ED group, but was defeated by

Christopher Prout Christopher James Prout, Baron Kingsland (1 January 1942 – 12 July 2009) was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. He is perhaps most well known for serving as the leader of the Conservative group of Members of the European ...

. Claus Toksvig died before the completion of his first term as an MEP.

Personal life

Claus Toksvig was born in Copenhagen in 1929 and was the second child of Harald Toksvig, a well-known editor and illustrator, and Karen Frederikke Clauson-Kaas. In 1954, whilst working for the BBC World Service in London, Toksvig married Julie Anne Brett and together they had three children: Nick Toksvig (a bureau chief and senior news editor for

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is o ...

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...

(a comedian, author and broadcaster) and Jenifer Toksvig (an author, lyricist and playwright). Toksvig died on 5 November 1988 and was buried at the Nørup cemetery, in the Vejle municipality of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

Bibliography

* ''Slutspil i Afrika (English: Endgame in Africa)'', Claus Toksvig, C. Erichsen 1961, * ''TV-reporter (English: TV reporter)'', Claus Toksvig, C. Erichsen 1963, * ''Den redigerede virkelighed – en reporters beretning om det amerikanske praesidentvalg 1972 (English: The edited reality – one reporter's account of the U.S. presidential election 1972)'', Claus Toksvig, Forum 1972,

Filmography

Claus Toksvig appeared as himself (and the narrator) in both the English-language and Danish-language versions of the 1961 Danish-American co-production of ''

Reptilicus ''Reptilicus'' is a 1961 Danish-American Monster film, giant monster film about a prehistoric reptile. The film was produced by Cinemagic and Saga Studio and separate versions were released in Denmark and in the United States, with American Inter ...

''; which, as the country's first and only giant monster film, has a large

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

in Denmark.

References

External links

*
Claus Toksvig
at the

Danish Film Institute The Danish Film Institute ( da, Det Danske Filminstitut) is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest. Also known as ''Filmhuset'' ("the film ...

(Det Danske Filminstitut)
Claus Toksvig
at the

Claus Toksvig
at Gravsted (a Danish index of the final resting places of famous Danes), which includes a picture of his grave at Nørup Cemetery in Jutland. Retrieved 26 May 2010. * Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR
archive audio clip
of Claus Toksvig providing the live Danish commentary on Neil Armstrong exiting the Apollo Lunar Module and setting foot on the moon on 21 July 1969 (the recording lasts 8 minutes and 46 seconds – the celebrated ''"one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"'', which Toksvig does not translate, is heard at 6 minutes 37 seconds). Retrieved 26 May 2010. * Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR
archive audio clip
of Claus Toksvig providing the live Danish commentary to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, on 29 July 1981. Retrieved 26 May 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Toksvig, Claus 1929 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Danish journalists Danish foreign correspondents Conservative People's Party (Denmark) MEPs Danish radio presenters Danish television presenters MEPs for Denmark 1984–1989 People from Copenhagen