In a separate interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kelly – explaining why his four-year-old daughter, Marion, walked into the room with such swagger – revealed that she had celebrated her birthday earlier that day at school.

“She was in a hippity-hoppity mood that day because of the school party,” he said. “As soon as she opened the door, I saw her image on my screen.”

In an attempt to keep the interview rolling, Kelly tried to guide Marion towards some toys, in the hope that the BBC might narrow the camera angle so it was focused solely on his face.

Spoiler alert: the broadcaster did not cut away, and instead continued to probe the distracted professor about inter-Korean relations. Cue Kelly’s eight-month-old son, James, sailing into the room via his baby-walker.

The family at the centre of that hilarious BBC news interview have spoken out