Paul Sinton-Hewitt

Paul Sinton-Hewitt

Author: BBC Radio 4 April 20, 2024 Duration: 14:55

Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun, was born in Zimbabwe and moved to South Africa at the age of five, where he was brought up in care with his two siblings. Always a keen middle distance runner, he was a second for a friend in one of South Africa's most gruelling road races. Eventually he moved to the UK to work in IT and raise a family.

After a perfect storm of redundancy, marriage breakdown and an injury which prevented him from running with his own club, he decided he'd start a time trial in a local park, for his running club pals. The only proviso that they had to have coffee and cake with him afterwards.

Twenty years later, that timed run that he started has outpaced anything he could have envisaged and turned into parkrun. The 5k run around local parks on a Saturday morning, has gone global and the parkrun community has hundreds of thousands of people running or volunteering as stewards every week. Stephen Smith finds out what makes Paul Sinton-Hewitt run.

CONTRIBUTORS Roun Barry, School friend Hugh Brasher, Director, London Marathon Bruce Fordyce, Marathon runner Duncan Gaskell, Parkrunner and friend Russ Jeffereys, CEO parkrun Eileen Jones, Author and parkrunner Joanne Sinton-Hewitt, Wife

PRODUCTION TEAM Presenter: Stephen Smith Producers: Julie Ball, Natasha Fernandes, Farhana Haider Editor: Tom Bigwood Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound: Neil Churchill


Each week, Profile from BBC Radio 4 takes a single name from the global conversation and builds a detailed portrait, moving far beyond the headlines. This isn't a simple biography or a news recap. Instead, through careful documentary storytelling and personal journal excerpts where available, the podcast constructs a nuanced examination of character and motive. You’ll hear from colleagues, critics, and sometimes the subjects themselves, piecing together what drives and defines the people shaping our world. The focus rests firmly on influence, whether in politics, the arts, science, or social movements, exploring how an individual's background and choices ripple through society and culture. Listening to this podcast feels like gaining a deeper, more textured understanding of the figures you think you know, revealing the contradictions and convictions behind the public image. It’s a thoughtful half-hour that challenges first impressions, asking what truly lies behind a name in the news.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Profile
Podcast Episodes
Mark Rutte [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:19
The Secretary General of NATO has been dubbed the Trump whisperer after talks with Donald Trump at Davos appeared to help trigger a sudden U-turn on Greenland and threatened tariffs. Mark Rutte was born in The Hague in 1…
Mette Frederiksen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:15
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that US President Donald Trump’s threat to take Greenland would spell the end of Nato, the trans-Atlantic defence alliance. So who is the woman standing toe to toe with…
Sir Christian Turner [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:08
The newly-appointed British ambassador to the United States, Sir Christian Turner, is a career diplomat whose experience spans almost three decades. He was about to take up the role of the UK's ambassador at the UN but a…
Zohran Mamdani [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:40
The new Mayor of New York and at just 34, the youngest since 1892, is sworn in. He is the first Muslim and Indian American to lead the nation's largest city. Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda, Africa, to parents of India…
Karl Bushby [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:14
Karl Bushby, the British man walking around the world, is almost home. The former paratrooper set off from Chile in 1998. He walked through the Americas, crossed the frozen ocean from Alaska to Russia, and last year beca…
Mary Berry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:05
Dame Mary Berry has been teaching Brits to cook for more than half a century. Aged 90, she remains a staple on our screens at Christmas. Born in Bath in 1935, Berry was the middle child of two brothers. She struggled in…
David Harewood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:03
David Harewood, who turned sixty this week, returns as Othello for the third time on stage. It’s a role he first took on in 1997, becoming the first black actor to play the part at London’s National Theatre. Growing up i…
Zak Brown [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:54
Stephen Smith profiles the former racing driver and marketing guru who's turned around McLaren's fortunes and led them to Formula 1 glory. Born in California in 1971, friends and colleagues paint a picture of a fiercely…
Zarah Sultana [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:09
The Coventry MP who left the Labour party and joined Jeremy Corbyn's new left-wing ‘Your Party'. Zarah Sultana's husband and friends tell us how her upbringing shaped her politics and reveal her questionable taste in mus…
Marjorie Taylor Greene [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:00
Marjorie Taylor Greene is a darling of MAGA. But this week a disagreement with Trump over the Epstein files has seen him brand her as a traitor. Born in 1974 in the suburbs of Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene had a conven…