Paul Sinha vows heart trouble and Parkinson’s have made him braver

As one of the quizzers on The Chase, Paul Sinha is used to racing against the clock to defeat contestants on the long-running show.

But time has never been more crucial than when he was in Edinburgh two summers ago and feared he was in a life-or-death situation if he didn’t react quickly.

As well as being a television brain-box, Paul is a stand-up comedian and was in the capital to perform a month of shows at the Fringe when he felt unwell one evening.

“I was in a bar and was being introduced to Dragons’ Den star Levi Roots. I was there out of politeness, but I was thinking: ‘You’ve picked a very inconvenient time because I think I’m having a heart attack.’”

The Chasers, Darragh Ennis, Anne Hegerty, Shaun Wallace, Paul Sinha, Mark Labbett and Jenny Ryan

As a doctor, Paul was aware of what the pains could signify, so he made his excuses, left the pub and hailed a cab.

“I asked the driver to take me to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary,” he continued. “I had no idea where it was and it was sort of a fluke that I said what I did, because it turns out that the hospital has one of the most renowned cardiology units in the UK.”

He was discharged that evening and carried on with his run of shows, but two weeks later he was struck down again.

“I was going to see Ed Byrne’s show about the death of his brother so, ironically, I was walking to a show about death when the chest pains came on again, worse than before.

“Again, I got in a cab and was taken to the Royal Infirmary, where I stayed for a few days while they investigated. It was then I was told I’d suffered two small heart attacks – the first was diagnosed along with the second.

“I had a discussion with the consultant, who said he wasn’t going to tell me what to do, so I decided to carry on with the shows. I considered the pros and cons, and the amount of money I would have lost by cancelling the run would likely have given me another heart attack.

“Looking back, it was probably the wrong decision. I should have taken two months off and been properly investigated.”

Five months later, Paul went through a coronary artery bypass, information he kept private until he was through his recovery.

It’s the latest in a series of health issues for the 55-year-old, which includes being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019 and suffering a cancer scare last year, as well as a shoulder issue that consigned him to bed for two weeks.

“For someone who went through the first 50 years of life relatively unaffected by health issues, this has been a rollercoaster ride.

“I’ve had it all and through it all you keep working, you continue standing on stage with the audience unaware of everything you’re going through off stage.

“It’s a cliché to say health is more important than your career, but people choose to ignore the degree to which both are intertwined.

“My health would take a blow if I wasn’t working. I would get tetchy and irritable, and my physical and mental health would take a blow, so it works both ways.”

He continues to appear as the white-suited Sinnerman on The Chase and its primetime spin-off Beat The Chasers, tour with his stand-up comedy and host shows on Radio 4, and he also released his memoir last year. It might seem full speed ahead, but he insists he has slowed down.

“Outwardly I haven’t, I’m still saying yes to everything, but I have an afternoon nap more frequently now. I’m a huge believer in sleep as a replenisher of energy. As a result, I have two and a half hours fewer in the day to operate at my best, but that’s not a huge deal and I’m certainly not alone in that.”

He returns to Edinburgh next month with his 13th Fringe show, which marks his 30th year in stand-up. He began performing while working as a junior doctor.

“In my first 24 years of life, it never occurred to me to stand on stage and do comedy. It certainly wasn’t a childhood ambition – I was groomed to be a doctor and that’s very much how I saw things. But I’d always enjoyed the art form and watched a lot of it, so then I decided to give it a go. I thought I would try it once and it would give me an interesting anecdote to tell at dinner parties. That was the limit of my ambition.

“I didn’t do well that first time, but I didn’t die on stage either. The second and third gigs gave me the impetus to keep going, and that never went away. I hung on in there and paid gigs started to happen.”

When Paul returns to Edinburgh this summer, he admits he’ll be a different person due to his health battle.

“It’s changed me massively,” he said. “I’m less of a coward and much more matter of fact and brave about confronting things. I’ve attached the same attitude to heart disease as I have to Parkinson’s, which is to get on with it.

“If anything, I live slightly in denial. I don’t want to think about it, as that makes it worse. I want to get on with life while understanding what my limitations are physically and mentally. I want to move on.

“I’ve never lived as an instinctive or intuitive fighter, or a man of bravery or courage.

“Those aren’t the qualities I associate with myself. I’m much more of a social and non-confrontational coward, so it’s been educational to be in a situation where I have no option but to be a fighter.

“There’s no other choice on the plate for me. I just have to be brave. If I can do it, we all can.”

Paul Sinha: 2 Sinha Lifetime, The Stand 3 and 4, Edinburgh, July 31-Aug 24 (except 11, 18)