PORN STAR PROFESSOR
Nicholas Goddard is a well- respected university lecturer who for the past decade has been leading a shocking double life by starring in dozens of online X- rated fi lms
THE most prominent story on the home page of the Manchester University website yesterday was devoted to International Women’s Day. Users were invited to click through to a section showcasing the work of the university’s “wonder women”, including a librarian called Teresa, a nuclear scientist called Melissa and an economist called Diane.
There was no room in this feminist pantheon of course for an obscure porn actress called Teen Monique. But it was her name that was on the lips of all the campus gossips this week after it emerged that one of her onscreen partners had been Old Nick, the nom de porn of one Nicholas Goddard.
The bad news for the university is that Goddard is its professor of analytical chemistry. When he’s not penning scientifi c papers with titles such as “An analytical study of the electrochemical degradation of methyl orange using a novel polymer disk electrode”, the divorced father of three has been having sex on camera wearing nothing but his gold watch. He is said to have had dozens of porn partners in a 10- year career.
In all, his portfolio of highly explicit videos, mostly costarring blonde east European girls, has racked up more than a million hits on the world’s biggest adult site PornHub.
If Goddard, 61, was a geeky chemist confi ned to the remotest corner of an obscure lab engaged in solitary research into microelectronics, bioanalytics or laser microprocessing – some of his favourite topics, his extracurricular activities might have caused less of a fuss.
But the Oxford- educated academic is the well- liked lead tutor on three courses in the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science and as such comes into regular contact with students of both sexes.
AS ONE source said: “He’s a very pleasant and quite nerdy scientist, at the top of his game in the professional world but no one knew he was hooking up with scores of young women at weekends.
“It’s not exactly a smart move to be teaching 18- year- olds by day and having sex with others at night. Some students will think he’s a hero and has the dream hobby, but the university will be furious.”
It probably is. But its spokesman is playing a straight bat: “We can confi rm that we know about it and that he is a member of staff, but we’re not making any further comment.”
Opinion is divided between those who reckon that what Goddard gets up to out of hours is nobody’s concern but his own, and others appalled by his behaviour. Sarah Scooky is one of the former. “Was he married?” she asked on social media. “Did it affect his duties as a professor? Did it affect his relationship with the students? If the answer is ‘ no’, then what he does in his own time is his business.”
A post from Michael Kenny added: “As long as it didn’t impact on how he did his job, then what’s the problem? What people do outside work is their business and no one else’s. If he loses his job over this, it’s disgraceful.”
But others disagree. Diana Peacock said: “Sadly this person needs to be removed. He has to educate young people. A life as a porn star doesn’t give the right impression. I would be concerned about the message he would send out.”
And an irate Rose Marie Kelly posted: “What a disgrace. What should we expect from those he teaches? What set of values? No thank you.”
Nwike Anali called for him to be sacked immediately: “Bad example to kids who want to be like him. He should be fi red sooner rather later.”
MEANWHILE the professor, who drives a £ 35,000 Audi A6 and lives in a new- build terraced home a few minutes walk from the university’s Oxford Road campus, came out fi ghting.
Asked about his moonlighting as a porn star by a journalist, he said that he had got involved in the sex industry “to relieve stress” after his divorce and that his family was unaware of his activities.
It certainly wasn’t for the money. The lecherous lecturer claims that while he was paid travel expenses and fees for his appearances the latter amounted to “not much”.
He also hit out at what he saw as the hypocrisy of some of his detractors: “Why would students and staff be happy to watch it but unhappy when they see who stars in it? Especially as I know that on evenings and weekends 75 per cent of web traffi c on the university’s server is accessing porn.
“Sometimes you do things that you regret later while under stress. But I’ve given it up since January, it’s too much for me now. What I do in my private life is my business not the university’s. I haven’t told anyone there.
“I don’t know what students or their parents would think but I for one certainly wouldn’t care if my children were being taught by a porn star.”
For the sake of his career Goddard must hope that the people at the university charged with weighing up his future there are equally broad- minded.