Just as I'd given up waiting for a review copy of Paul Sinha's autobiography I received a message from the author. He wanted to check if I was in because he had decided to bring round a copy himself. In some ways this seems to sum up one of the themes of the book. Whatever Sinha tries he usually succeeds, but not without there being plenty of unexpected bumps in the road first.
And he has certainly achieved a lot. Although he is a well-esteblished, well-respected name in the comedy world, Sinha finally found major fame through his quizzing, which led to his regular slot on ITV's the Chase as the white-suited Sinnerman. It's an unusual career trajectory but one that seems to have worked out well in the end, enabling him to play very much to his natural strengths.
One Sinha Lifetime takes us from his childhood – growing up with a Bengali father who naturally assumed his son would follow in his footsteps and become a doctor – to the present day, where, as anyone who follows Sinha will know he is living with Parkinson's but still Chasing and gigging and quizzing.
In some ways it all seems like a bit of an accident. Despite an ability to suck up facts like a sponge he did not thrive at his fee-paying school, Dulwich College (old boys Bob Monkhouse, Nigel Farage) and he only just scraped into St George's Medical School in Tooting. There he only just got through his exams after retakes, due, in large part it seems, because he was partying and having too much fun.
But somehow things worked out. Another St George's alumnus a little older than him was Matthew Hall, who changed his name to Harry Hill. Sinha saw a possibility of a comedy career and the book colourfully charts the ups and downs of his early gigs, from the lows of racist heckles in King's Lynn to the highs of broadsheet rave reviews, sell-out shows and an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination.
As well as his comedy career there was always quizzing. What started out as milking the pub quiz machines of south London to supplement his grant soon became more serious, as well as fun. Sinha's vivid descriptions of his early forays working his way up the quiz team rankings makes it sound exciting, like the early days of rock and roll, except that instead of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard you have aspiring know-alls who would later be the fellow stars of The Chase.
He almost achieves the impossible and makes quizzing seem sexy. Well, almost. At times the arc is pure Hollywood as he appears hell-bent on screwing up every TV break he gets. Nearly, for example, doing a walk of shame on Mastermind where he got Magellan's ships confused. But – spoiler alert – there is one moment towards the end when he snatches victory from the very jaws of defeat that, well, if it was the ending of a movie you'd say it was way too far-fetched even for fiction.
But he deserves every triumph. Sinha's breadth of knowledge is so vast it is mindbending, although it came as a surprise to me when he reveals he didn't know the poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae or the meaning of the word milquetoast. But then his brain is clearly brimming over with sports stats and massive chunks of history. I'm truly in awe some some of the obscure stuff he knows.
Alongside his twin achievements in comedy and quizzing we get the personal side of the story too. His father's heart issues, his mother's breast cancer. At one point he could proudly boast that he was the healthiest member of the Sinha clan. But that came to a halt when a frozen shoulder turned out to be an early sign of Parkinson’s. Instead of going quietly, Sinha has been determined to be a poster boy for the condition and publicise it, partly out of generosity, and partly because he hopes it will help him get early access to any medical advances.
One Sinha Lifetime is an eloquent, pithy, painfully honest book in which the subject doesn’t shy away from his flaws. It is not particularly about comedy because there has been so much more to his life. He doesn’t attempt to paint a picture of himself as perfect. He admits to having alcohol problems, gambling problems and relationship struggles. He knew he was gay from an early age but always feared coming out to his parents. In the end, of course, when they found out it was simply not an issue. And in recent years his marriage to fellow quizzer Oliver has given him the happiness and stability that he previously lacked.
Could the awkward teenage maths geek have predicted that he would one day be mobbed on the streets of New Zealand where The Chase is massive? But maybe that’s one of the things the book tells us. You might as well have a chaotic life, because as much as you might want to plan for things you never know how they are going to work out. One Sinha Lifetime is not just laugh-out-loud funny, it is inspiring too. I’m so glad he brought his hardback over. If only so that I can say that Paul Sinha delivers and so does his book.
Buy One Sinha Lifetime here.
