‘We all have our passions!’ Dara O’Briain reveals secret hobby

OHMYGOSSIP — Dara O’Briain has always been a “big space nerd.”
The 51-year-old comedian – who has a 15-year-old daughter and two sons aged 12 and eight with her – is best known for performing his stand-up routines and hosting shows like ‘Mock the Week’ but revealed that he has a passion for all things intergalactic and keeps seven telescopes at the end of his dining room table.
He told Metro newspaper’s SixtySeconds column: “To be honest, I’ve always been more of a big space nerd: cosmology and black holes and all that stuff. But the Moon is just there and if you get a telescope at all, it is the first thing that you look at. You suddenly see a richness of detail that you’ve never seen before.
“My beginner’s tip to everyone whoever asks about a telescope is to buy a set of binoculars first. You’ll see stars in detail and it’s amazing. Seven feels too many, doesn’t it? But it’s not. It really isn’t! The telescopes are fine- they are kind of cool-looking – but the mounts are just three-legged tripods that sit at the end of the dining table. The tripods are kind of woven around each other. That’s me trying to make them look as small as possible.
“Some would say that they are blocking the view from the kitchen but, look, we all have our passions. It’s not motorbike parts. It’s not bicycle chains and all grease coming off it. It’s not bags of golf clubs with mud on them. I think this is better!”
Dara went on to add that he is in support of NASA’s latest plans to return to the moon in 2024 as he reflected that because he was born just before the last time the mission was successfully completed, he “doesn’t remember” much about it and thinks the expedition will be “worth it” to fuel the imagination of children.
He said: “I think it will be worth it in terms of resources that we will find. I think it will also be worth it in terms of the gift of imagination for kids dreaming of space. I was born in 1972 so you could say I overlapped with the last one but I don’t remember it. I can’t imagine how mind-blowing it must have been in 1969.
“The other thing is that people say about the billions like they had to take £1billion and burn it to set the engine alight. It’s not.
“You are paying scientists’ and engineers’ wages. The money doesn’t go to the Moon. The money very much stays here and goes around and multiplies into the economy.”

Source: VacationHunter.Online

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