Sarah Sands

Sarah Sands (née Harvey; born 3 May 1961) is a British journalist and author. A former editor of the London Evening Standard, she was editor of Today on BBC Radio 4 from 2017 to 2020. Early life and education Sands was born in Cambridge, in 1961, to parents in the overseas civil service. Sands is the younger sister of Kit Hesketh-Harvey, of musical duo Kit and The Widow. She was educated at Kent College in Pembury, on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, then a Methodist, now interdenominational, boarding and day independent school for girls. She later attended Goldsmiths, University of London. Career Sands trained on The Sevenoaks Chronicle as a news reporter, before moving to the Evening Standard, initially as editor of the Londoner's Diary, before taking further posts as features editor and associate editor. She joined The Daily Telegraph in 1996 as deputy editor, under Charles Moore, later assuming responsibility for the Saturday edition. Sands was appointed editor of The Sunday Telegraph in June 2005, succeeding Dominic Lawson. She was the first woman to hold the post. Her plan for the paper's November 2005 relaunch was that it should be "like an iPod – full of your favourite things". However, the makeover was not well regarded by senior management, and in an abrupt move, after just eight months and 20 days in post, Sands was sacked as editor of the newspaper on 7 March 2006 by Andrew Neil and replaced by Patience Wheatcroft. Subsequently, many of her changes under her editorship were reversed (including changes to the title font).