PAUL Yarrow's face and physique are more suited to radio - but that has not stopped him in his relentless pursuit of a glittering TV career.
The stocky balding man has so far appeared on British TV more than 100 times this year, in news reports for BBC1, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News and Al Jazeera. The trouble is none of the channels wanted him there, the
Daily Mail reports.
Dressed in his wrinkled sweater, Mr Yarrow stands - or wanders - wordlessly behind the reporters with a quizzical look on his face.
His TV career began with a series of appearances on various channels one day last October when the far-right British National Party's leader Nick Griffin was invited to appear on the BBC program
Question Time.
Mr Yarrow, 42, appeared in several live Sky News reports from a protest outside the BBC TV centre in west London throughout that afternoon and evening.
A few weeks later, he appeared with a shopping bag in the BBC's London news reports.
The website
fidgetwith.com, run by a British internet industry worker, began tracking Mr Yarrow's movements in May and questioning his identity.
When asked about his dogged efforts to appear on TV, Mr Yarrow was philosophical.
"I'm trying to make a statement: 'Be who you are.' I'm just a common person in the street," he told the
Daily Mail, adding that that there were too many beautiful people on TV, and he wanted that to change.
"People say we live in a fairer, more understanding society these days, but elderly and overweight people still get pushed aside.
"The camera crews try to move me out of the way, but I'm a human being.
"I know it’s very odd, but I’m saying: 'This is me.' I might be overweight, but this is who I am. I don’t do it to be funny. I’m quite a serious person, really, but I’m quite unsightly and that makes some people laugh."
