Profile BBC Radio 4

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.
PRESENTER: Stephen Smith
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producers: Julie Ball, Natasha Fernandes, Farhana Haider
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
Sound: Neil Churchill
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

Although Simon Harris reportedly describes himself as an 'accidental politician', he has managed to make a career out of it. His interest in politics was sparked at the age of 15 when he set up a support group in his local town to campaign for better secondary education for autistic people after he saw his parents struggle to get help for his younger brother. From then on his path was set. After a brief dalliance with Fianna Fail he joined the youth wing of the Fine Gael party at 17. He gave up his degree studies in year three of a four year course to work as an assistant to the then leader of the opposition in the Irish Parliament. By the age of 24 he was elected to parliament with the nickname 'Baby of the Dail' and was a junior minister by the age of 27. Since then he's held two further ministerial posts.
Now, after the shock resignation of former Taioseach, Leo Varadkar in late March, he was elected unopposed as leader of the Fine Gael party and now is expected to be confirmed as the new Taoiseach when the parliament returns after the Easter break. With a new nickname, 'The Tik Tok Taoiseach' because of his use of social media he's on track to break another record, set by his predecessor as the youngest Taoiseach in history to date.
Kate Lamble finds out what makes him tick outside of Tik Tok and his rapid rise to the top job in Irish politics.
PRESENTER: Kate Lamble
CONTRIBUTORS
Frances Fitzgerald, MEP, Dublin, Ireland
Councillor Ray McAdam, Fine Gael
Alice O'Donnell, Triple A Alliance
Jennifer O'Leary, BBC Ireland Correspondent
Fionnan Sheahan, Ireland Editor, The Irish Independent
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producers: Julie Ball & Madeleine Drury
Researcher: Jay Gardner
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production Co-ordinators: Katie Morrison & Sabine Schereck
Sound: Nigel Appleton

Rosemarie Mallett’s star has risen quickly in the Church of England. After a career in academia and a period of disenchantment with the institution, she became a priest in 2005, attracting the attention of senior members of the clergy for her engagement with communities and issues of social justice alike.
Bishop Rosemarie was herself born into a situation shaped by slavery, in the then colony Barbados, before coming to the UK as a child. Now a senior cleric, she has co-authored a report on how the Church of England should make amends for its historic financial involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, which has attracted praise from some and criticism from others.
Stephen Smith talks to those who know Mallett best, exploring how her life has shaped her approach to music, ministry, and racial justice.
Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producer: Nathan Gower
Production team: Debbie Richford, Drew Hyndman
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Programme Coordinators: Sabine Schereck, Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar

Vaughan Gething this week became Wales’ new First Minister, and the leader of Welsh Labour. He’s the fifth person to hold the post and the first black leader of a national government in Europe.
No stranger to breaking barriers, this employment lawyer rose apace to the top of student and trades unions alike, before election to the Welsh Senedd and ministerial office, charged with overseeing first health and then the economy.
Mark Coles looks back at how a cricket-mad schoolboy became First Minister of the land of his father - a journey from Zambia to Cardiff by way of rural Dorset - and finds out what drives him from those who know him best.

Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Nathan Gower
Production Team: Debbie Richford, Drew Hyndman, Julie Ball
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot

The current Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, first joined the cabinet in 2010 and has remained there for most of the past 14 years in various posts. He’s served four prime ministers.
During that time he has provoked controversy from many areas - from teachers, lawyers, landlords for the policies he has championed. But he has also attracted friends and enemies in his own party due to his decisions over Brexit, leadership bids and party politics.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Charlotte McDonald and Debbie Richford
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Credits
Sky News
ITV

The millionaire hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall has recently hit the headlines, both for his growing media portfolio and controversy over his social media activity.
After an eclectic career spent mostly in the background, from philanthropic work to high-powered finance, Sir Paul seems to be increasingly exerting his influence on the media and politics. He already backs GB News and UnHerd and is reported to be preparing a bid for the Telegraph and Spectator.
Stephen Smith asks what shaped and drives Paul Marshall, by talking to those who know him best.
Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producer: Nathan Gower
Assistant Producer: Debbie Richford
Editor: Matt Willis
Programme Coordinator: Sabine Schereck
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Archive:
Speech by Paul Marshall to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference 2023
Citizen Kane, RKO Radio Pictures