Dr Martin Worthington stunned viewers on Saturday night with his “eccentricity” speaking to host Tommy Tiernan about his academic work in Middle Eastern studies.
During the interview, Dr Worthington, a Middle Eastern Studies Academic, wowed viewers with his in-depth knowledge of the ancient world, discussing things like the language, history and culture of the ancient middle east.
However, Tiernan himself was taken aback by Dr Worthington’s “enthusiasm” for the subject, asking him how the people who book guests on the show came across him.
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“So the people who find guests for the show, how did they come across you?” Tiernan asked his guest.
“That’s a very good question, from my bed of obscurity into the limelight,” Dr Worthington responded.
“Well, it's true that Assyriologists don’t normally spend a lot of their time on public television, and I understand why that is.
“In my particular case, I got very lucky because several years ago I received an email from someone who said I need some Babylonian for a film that we are making, can you help, I was like sure no problem.
“In due course, they sent me Babalyonian lines they wanted translating and I translated them and sent them back to them.
“The project was called Sack Lunch which isn’t the best film name ever made, I was slightly curious about it but I am not a film buff, of course in time it transpired Sack Lunch was nothing but the code name for Eternals, the film that went on to make $400 million and had Angelina Jolie and everything.
“I was a very minor Babalyonian cog in this large Hollywood wheel but people kind of latched on to this idea that an ancient language could be brought to life in Hollywood today.
“There was a period of time when the world became very interested in this whole story and I think that one of your people must have decided there must not have been anyone better and scraped the Babalyonian barrel to dig me up, so here I am clay tablet in hand.
“We are the better off for listening to you,” the host said as the second interview of the night ended.
Viewers were raving about the professor, with many taking to social media to praise him for his “eccentricity and enthusiasm”.
One Twitter user posted: “What a joy Dr Worthington is on The Tommy Tiernan Show we need more passion, more joy, more eccentricity in this world.”
Another said: “The world’s a better place because of people like Martin Worthington. Love his passion & his eccentricity.”
One more said: “absolutely brilliant. I definitely need to find Martin and go see him. I could of listened to him all night.”
One user added: “I'm really enjoying this chap on the Tommy Tiernan Show now. His eccentricity and enthusiasm is endearing. I'm smiling so much here. He's brilliant.”
Praising him for his eccentricity, one more said: “This guy is hilarious. I love eccentrics.”
Another posted about how they never imagined learning about “Iraqi languages” on a Saturday night, writing: “Never thought at 23 years of age I’d be at home on a Saturday drinking a can listening to a bloke talk about ancient Iraqi languages."
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