An academic who became a viral sensation when his interview on the BBC was gatecrashed by his two young children has marked the 7th anniversary of his unexpected rise to fame.
Political analyst Robert E Kelly had been speaking to the corporation in a segment about North Korea in 2017 when his then-four-year-old daughter Marion barged into the room with her baby brother James hot on her heels in his walker.
The hilarious clip, which has been seen millions of times on the internet since then, saw Professor Kelly – who is a political science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea – power through and ignore the chaos behind him as his wife Jung-a rushed into the room to remove their excitable children.
Seven years on the father-of-two, who became known as ‘BBC dad’ following the calamitous clip, has re-shared the video and released new pictures of his fast-growing children to mark the occasion.
The doting father released pictures of the family celebrating Marion’s 11th birthday today, along with images of them celebrating Christmas and hiking near their home.
Robert E Kelly shared photos of his adorable children seven years after they shot to fame by interrupting his BBC interview. Pictured: Marion cuts a cake for her 11th birthday as James watches
Professor Kelly takes a selfie with his wife Jung-a and their children Marion and James
The political analyst shared this photo of him hiking with his son James on Sunday morning
He also posted a picture of him and his daughter Marion as they trekked through the hills in South Korea
Sharing a clip of the famous interview on X, formerly known as Twitter, Prof Kelly wrote: ‘BBC Dad content Today is the 7th anniversary of the BBC Dad blooper. So here it is again, with some recent family pictures in the thread below.’
He then posted four photos of his family celebrating Marion’s birthday, with the 11-year-old a picture of concentration as she sliced a cake, as well as one of Robert and James hiking in South Korea.
He wrote: ‘These are from Marion’s birthday party today, and James and I hiking this morning.’
This was followed by four more photos, one of him and Marion hiking today, and three taken during Christmas last year.
In one of these the children can be seen posing for a photo with Santa Claus while in another they are treating themselves to some ice cream.
He added: ‘Another hiking picture, and some Christmas 2023 pictures.’
Since the viral clip Prof Kelly has kept his followers on social media updated with the adventures of his mischief making children.
Last year he revealed Marion was learning to play the flute, while James won a football trophy in addition to his hobby of ‘making trouble’.
The doting father also shared a picture of Marion and James having a visit from Santa Claus over Christmas
In another photo Prof Kelly can be seen smiling as Marion and James eat ice cream in a cafe
In another image Marion can be seen wearing a pink and white hanbok while posing with her mother Jung-a
In the sweet photos posted in September, Professor Kelly’s angelic children looked like butter wouldn’t melt as Marion held her flute while dressed in her school uniform and James held up his trophy.
The father-of-two also shared a photo of the siblings kissing their mother – who also appeared in the hilarious video when she hurried into the room to pull them out – on each cheek.
Writing about what his little ones are up to, Prof Kelly said: ‘Marion had a flute performance the other day. She got very excited. And James, well, he’s good at making trouble.’
Posting the snaps of James on the pitch, he added: ‘Ok. Here is James with his soccer team. So not just a troublemaker.’
At the sixth anniversary of the interview he said: ‘Thanks again to all of you who follow me [because] of the video. My family and I flattered by your kindness.’
After the interview became an internet sensation, Marion and James even became the stars of an animated cartoon show.
Marion became Mina, James became Jack and their father is a UN official but the family is instantly recognisable and their mother is a yoga teacher, just as in real life.
But the maker of the series has developed the Marion/Mina character and has her solving crimes and following her father to North Africa on the trail of a gold thief.
In 2018, Robert explained on Twitter how the ‘weird’ experience made the family ‘happier’, helped him to empathise with fellow parents, and made he and his wife’s bond with their children ‘even tighter’.
Kelly had forgotten to lock his office door during the interview, which meant the children could come in.
The parents didn’t punish the children for interrupting the interview as they were too little to understand that they had done something wrong.
