Viv Groskop

Viv Groskop (born 8 July 1973) is a British journalist, writer and comedian. She has written for publications including The Guardian, Evening Standard, The Observer, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Red magazine. She writes on arts, books, popular culture and current affairs, often with a feminist slant. According to her website she is a stand-up comedian, MC and improviser who was a finalist in Funny Women 2012 and semi-finalist in So You Think You're Funny 2012.

Groskop was born in Hampshire and, with her younger sister Trudy, was raised in Bruton, Somerset. She won a scholarship to Bruton School for Girls, and later read Russian and French at Selwyn College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree. According to biographical information distributed when Groskop was on the panel of Any Questions on BBC Radio 4, she discovered at this time that she has Russian ancestry. She has an MA with distinction in Russian Studies from University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

She began her career in journalism at Esquire as an editorial assistant for Rosie Boycott at the age of 22. Groskop joined the Daily Express while Boycott was editor, becoming a columnist on the Sunday Express at the age of 25. She has been described as one of the most successful freelance journalists in the UK, and has twice been short-listed for the Periodical Publishers Association Columnist of the Year.

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