Book: Once Sinha Lifetime by Paul Sinha

I wanted to read this entirely on the basis that the title may be the best I have encountered for a memoir. I am delighted to report that the book largely lives up to it.

I came to Paul Sinha knowing him only from Taskmaster,  having never watched The Chase, so this was something of a voyage of discovery. Bought as a Secret Santa gift from a shortlist of three, whoever picked this one deserves full marks. At 341 pages, it’s weighty but light enough to take on a flight to Seoul earlier this year.

Despite tackling some genuinely weighty material,  a Parkinson's diagnosis, coming out to his parents, a first sexual encounter that could have gone very wrong, and the weight of his father's ambition for him to follow him into medicine,  this never feels heavy. 

At one time, the author appeared to be a practising doctor, a night-time quizzer and a stand-up comedian at the same time. He recounts it all with warmth and wit. He is not the first doctor to trade the hospital for the stage. Indeed, he mentions Harry Hill as his predecessor at St George's Hospital Medical School.

I have read a great many memoirs and this has turned up as a welcome addition. It’s the good mix of insight and wit. His describing himself as Gaysian comes to mind.

It just goes to show, you can judge a book by its cover (title).