News raider says he's doing it for fat people

Paul Yarrow, the man nicknamed the news raider after appearing in the background of several live television reports, has dedicated his appearances to the overweight. The 38-year-old care worker from south London, whose identity became the subject of feverish online speculation, said he wanted to make a statement “about the image conscious media”. “I am overweight and people like me are treated as unsightly because of the way they look,” he said.

“Here I am. I am sorry I don’t have a suit and that I am not lovely and slim. Being overweight I get ignored. The point I am making is that the more you push me aside, the more I’m going to be determined to make my presence known.” Mr Yarrow started coming to mainstream attention late last year, when comedian Russell Howard featured him on his BBC show Russell Howard's Good News, giving him the sobriquet of the "fat guy who just wants to get on TV".



“I was really quite angry because that was not what I wanted, and that is the perception – fat people are treated as humorous or not bright and I am this comedy character but that is not the statement I wanted to make," said Mr Yarrow. A website, fidgetwith.com, has been tracking his appearances and – until now – wondering who he is, and displaying screenshots of his various appearances. Mr Yarrow has attended protests outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington over the storming of aid flotillas travelling to Gaza.

He has also been spotted on the BBC website, in a story about an unofficial ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, and in the background of an episode of the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow. Most of the sightings have been in London, including outside the Houses of Parliament, Peckham, Hyde Park and the Gaza protest march in May that went from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy. Mr Yarrow, who has been a carer since the age of 12, said he would be unlikely to continue making his appearances because of all the attention. He has been looking after his 80-year-old mother Stella who has suffered from breast cancer, and cared for his father Patrick who died in 2008.