Herne Bay resident Sandi Toksvig has landed her "dream job" after being named as the new host of BBC 2’s popular quiz show QI.

The comedienne, writer and broadcaster who has a seaside home in the town, will take over the chair from Stephen Fry.

He announced he was stepping down after 13 years in the chair during which the show grew to be one of the best-loved on TV.

On hearing of her new job, an excited Sandi tweeted: "And today’s quite interesting news is that I’ve been announced as the new presenter of Qi. My dream telly job and I have huge shoes to fill."

But she has already has a taste of the QI having stood in for Fry to chair a special performance of the show at the University of Kent to mark its 50th anniversary where her performance was widely praised.

She said: "QI is my favourite television programme both to watch and to be on, so this is absolutely my dream job.

"Stephen has been utterly brilliant with the first half of the alphabet. Now I am looking forward to picking up the baton, mixing my metaphors and sailing towards the Land of Nod, i.e. Z."

Steven Fry described it as "the best job in television", but added: "I thought it time to move on, but I will never cease to be grateful to John Lloyd for devising QI and for everyone else for making it such fun."

Sandi will line-up with team captain and former University of Kent student Alan Davies who performed his first stand-up routine at Whitstable Labour Club.

Sandi was given a Doctor of Arts degree at a graduation ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral earlier this year for her contribution to the arts.

The 56-year-old is already a familiar and popular figure in television and radio, having presented The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 and a revival of gameshow Fifteen to One on Channel 4.

She stepped down from the News Quiz to launch a new political party aimed at women.

Her career in comedy began when she studied at Cambridge, where she wrote and performed the first all-woman show at the university’s Footlights theatre club.