Supriya Kumar "Paul" Sinha (born 28 May 1970) is a British quizzer,

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audienc ...

, doctor and broadcaster. He has written and performed extensively on Radio 4, and is one of the six Chasers on the ITV game show '' The Chase''.

Early life

Supriya Kumar Sinha was born on 28 May 1970. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

and

St George's Hospital Medical School St George's, University of London (legally St George's Hospital Medical School, informally St George's or SGUL), is a University located in Tooting in South London and is a constituent college of the University of London. St George's has its ...

. Sinha is a former general practitioner, qualifying in the 1990s. While at medical school he developed a taste for the stage in St George's annual

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

and refined his comedy as co-editor of the medical school newsletter, popularly known as the ''Slag Mag''.

Career

Stand-up comedy

Sinha began performing

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

while working as a junior doctor in hospitals in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

. His early material drew on his sexuality and ethnicity, with heavy use of

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s. In 1999, he came third in the final of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year. After several years of combining touring with his nascent medical career, Sinha's breakthrough came with his second solo

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

show, ''Saint or Sinha?'', which earned him an if.comeddie nomination in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows

*2004, ''Aspects of Love, Actually'' *

, ''Saint or Sinha?'' (if.comeddie award nomination) *2007, ''King of the World'' *2009, ''39 Years of Solitude'' *2010, ''Extreme Anti-White Vitriol'' *2011, ''Looking at the Stars'' *2015, ''Postcards from the Z List'' *2017, ''Shout Out To My Ex'' *2018, ''The Two Ages of Man'' *2022, ''One Sinha Lifetime''

Radio

Sinha has performed many times on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

, on shows including ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History ''The News Quiz'' was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently, it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart f ...

'', '' The Now Show'', '' Loose Ends'', ''

28 Acts in 28 Minutes ''28 Acts in 28 Minutes'' is a Stand-up comedy, stand-up TV comedy show aired on the UK's BBC Three in 2005. It comprises 28 acts, each given a minute to perform. Two episodes were aired. A 3-part series also aired on BBC Radio 4 in June 2006, ch ...

'', '' Shappi Talk'' and '' Just a Minute''. His interest in football (he is a

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

fan) and cricket has led to appearances on Radio 5 Live, most notably on ''

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 1100 and 1200 and is based on a similar format to the ESPN show '' Around ...

'', where he has won the Champion of Champions finale twice. He has also appeared on Talksport. He has appeared as a guest on ''

Midweek ''MidWeek'' is a weekly United States tabloid shopper and advertisement periodical published in Honolulu, Hawaii and distributed throughout the Islands of Oahu and Kauai. It is owned by Black Press and is a sister publication of the '' Honol ...

'', ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented ...

'', ''

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The ma ...

'' and as a political pundit on '' PM''. In March 2011, Sinha presented his own Radio 4 programme, ''Paul Sinha's Quiz Culture'', in which he explored the world of competitive quizzing. His second documentary, ''The Sinha Test'', aired on 14 July 2011 and examined patriotism and sporting allegiance. In July 2012, he wrote and presented a programme called ''The Sinha Games'' on

about the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

and his experience as a Londoner. In December 2014, Sinha wrote and performed his first series on Radio 4, ''Paul Sinha's History Revision''. A second series followed in May 2016, winning the

Rose d'Or The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakes ...

for Radio Comedy. The follow-up, ''Paul Sinha's General Knowledge'', has completed its third series. Sinha is a regular panellist on Round Britain Quiz, representing the South of England with Marcus Berkmann.

Quizzing

After an appearance on ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'' (where he was voted off 4th), Sinha made appearances on '' University Challenge: The Professionals'' (lost), '' Are You an Egghead?'' (lost in first round), '' Mastermind'' (4th) and ''

Brain of Britain ''Brain of Britain'' is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History It began as a slot in ''What Do You Know?'' in 1953. The main part of the show was the "Brain of Britain" quiz itself, originally called "Ask Me An ...

'' (3rd). Sinha is currently ranked 7th in the National Quiz Rankings (as of 30 May 2017), and placed 11th in the 2018 World Quizzing Championships. Sinha also plays in the Quiz League of London for the Gray Monks and in the Online Quiz League for Quiz Machine Kills Fascists.

''The Chase''

In 2011, Sinha joined the ITV quiz series '' The Chase'' as the fourth "Chaser", with the nicknames "The Sinnerman", "The Smiling Assassin" and "Sarcasm in a Suit". His first episode was broadcast in the fourth series on 8 September 2011. He also appears in celebrity and family editions of the show. He has said he is more famous overseas (particularly in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

) than in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, where ''The Chase'' is screened at 5pm before people are home from work.

Television

In 2019, he appeared on Series 8 of '' Taskmaster'', finishing in last place with 136 points. In January 2021, Sinha began hosting his own quiz show for ITV, called ''Paul Sinha's TV Showdown'', featuring celebrities who go head to head together in a bid to answer as many questions as they can on TV knowledge. The show commenced on 9 January 2021, and concluded on 13 February 2021. A second series was commissioned and premiered 19 February 2022, releasing weekly until 2 April 2022.

Personal life

Sinha was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

in May 2019. Sinha is gay and on 14 December 2019, he married Oliver Levy.

References

External links

* *
Sinha's blog

Sinha on chortle.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Paul 1970 births 20th-century English medical doctors Alumni of St George's, University of London British general practitioners Contestants on British game shows English male comedians English people of Bengali descent English people of Indian descent English stand-up comedians Gay comedians LGBT entertainers from England People educated at Dulwich College People from Luton People with Parkinson's disease 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians Living people