Sandi Toksvig is of the generation of comedians with something to say. She’s worked with and written for a virtual ‘who’s who’ of British comedy including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Paul Merton. With her gentle but incisive wit she is a regular on our TV screens and on radio, while her books frequently make the bestseller lists. Coating serious issues in comedy as a way of raising awareness, is of course a time honoured comic tradition and Sandi, 54, uses it to great effect – even on the tricky subject of aging.

“I like getting older, I think it’s great – I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore,” Sandi told me at the start of her UK solo tour. “You get less anxious about the little bits and pieces in life. Plus the kids are grown up, so I don’t have to cope with spilled drinks in restaurants and the like. You can happily go out to dinner with them, and occasionally they even pay!”

Sandi confesses she loves nothing better than spending time at her home on the Kent coast with her three grown-up children.

“I’m proud of them all – they are fantastic – but mostly, I really like them,” said Sandi.

“Of course you love your children but I really like them. Yesterday my son and I were playing and we were actually crying with laughter!”

Theo, her 18-year-old son with former partner Peta Stewart, is about to go to London’s East 15 drama school, while the eldest Jessica, 24, is set on being a photographer. Middle child, Megan, 22, is a second year medical student.

“She’s going to be a doctor, thank God,” said Sandi.

“She should qualify in time to replace my hips, so we’re terribly pleased with her!”

Sandi, whose mother was born in Maidstone, believes there’s “a bit of Kentishness” in her, although her busy work schedule demands she spend a lot of time in London, where she has a houseboat on the Thames. The daughter of a Danish journalist, Sandi was at Cambridge with Fry, Laurie and Emma Thompson, writing and starring in the famous Footlights Revue, including the first all female show. She was also one of the original members of the famous Comedy Store Players alongside Paul Merton.

Although a much loved panellist on satirical shows such as Have I Got News for You, QI and presenter of Radio 4’s long running News Quiz, Sandi would still rather be described as a writer and broadcaster than a comedian.

To prove the point, this autumn sees the publication of her latest novel Valentine Grey, set in the Boer War, as well as the London premiere of her campaigning drama, Bully Boy, about post war traumatic stress disorder among British Army veterans. “I am massively passionate about the play,” said Sandi.

“It is about the effect of modern warfare on the mental health of veterans. Twenty five per cent of London’s homeless are returned veterans and although I was opposed to Britain going to war, I firmly believe that once you send the troops out there you must look after them when they get back. And in terms of mental health that is not really happening.”

Sandi strongly believes theatre is still a great platform for campaigning against injustice and hopes Bully Boy will raise awareness of the issues involved. A two-hander with Brideshead Revisited star Anthony Andrews and young actor Joshua Miles, the play is about a soldier being investigated for killing an eight-year-old boy in a combat zone. Combat Stress, the charity which supports troops with mental health issues, are planning to hold post show talks with the audiences in some theatres.

In the meantime Sandi is now touring regional theatres with her UK solo tour, My Valentine – her first in many years. “Hopefully people will come away from the show grinning and feeling re-infused about life,” said Sandi. “If at all there’s been some negativity then we maybe will try and shake that out a bit... enthuse people with my own passions for life.”

Audiences will also get a chance to learn about Sandi’s new book, Valentine Grey, an historical novel about a woman who joins the army as a man – a not uncommon occurrence at the time. History is Sandi’s big passion and she got the idea for the book from war records that showed the British Army sent troops to the Boer War, in the late 19th century, on bicycles to save money on horse feed. As the bicycle played a big part in women’s emancipation, giving them more freedom to travel, she brought the two ideas together, with her heroine going to war to get her own bike.

“I loved writing it – it’s a bit of a departure for me but I love history and it allowed me to sit in the library and read history books,” said Sandi.

Sandi is always juggling several projects at once and says she “never gets bored.” With commissions to write a new play, two further books and a BBC comedy pilot there’s no chance of that.

Sandi Toksvig will be at the Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday, September 5, at 7.30pm. Call 01892 530613 or 532072. More tour dates are on www.sanditoksvig.com