When I first hit Sydney, I watched television. Before you dismiss me as a no-hoper, no-life kind of person, I had good reason.

ABC TV’s “Media Watch” was on – it’s a great programme that turns the camera on the media and gives people a chance to rebut if they feel they have been unfairly treated by the media or if they think they have been misquoted.

Not something we would normally get on television in Asia, for sure.

Following that was Andrew Denton’s “Enough Rope”, which that night had one of Australia’s best-known broadcast journalists, Michael Willesee (above right, photo: ABC TV) in the hot seat.

Regarded as the man who changed the nature of current affairs television in the country with his hard-hitting style – he was the master of the hidden question – Willesee has since dropped his carreer for “an extraordinary journey from great sceptic to that of a man who believes in miracles”.

A hard-drinking, cynical journalist who loved gambling, Willesee was a colourful character who created as much news himself as he reported.

I was intrigued, like millions of other Australians I am sure, to find out the story behind the man who had his first religious experience after surviving an air crash in Sudan and has made it his life’s work to prove the existence of the blood of Jesus Christ through science and DNA tests.

Like many people caught up in professional lives, Willesee believed in nothing up to that point. He said, “It's pretty classic, really, of getting caught up with the world. I got caught up in always competing. Every day was competitive for me. There was always a new programme to beat or a new guy to beat or some new challenge, and who needed God?”

As a child though, he did flirt with the idea of becoming a priest but puberty got in the way. “I started thinking about girls and I realised the two were incompatible.”

He made a couple of other points that left an impression on me.

When asked what made him a good journalist, he said, “I think I did more research and preparation than any of the other guys.”

And added, “I researched very heavily and I would anticipate the answers and what I would do, if I was in trouble. I don't think I was ever in a position that I couldn't get out of when they came back at you, and a lot of those guys did come back at you. But I don't think I was ever in a position where I couldn't justify the question or come back with a response because the homework was there.”

Money was also never his first motivation. When asked about his track record of investing in various businesses which weren’t exactly low-risk, he said, “Yes, I never did anything just for money. It was always the challenge or because I wanted to do it or because someone needed a hand.”

Then he hit a brick wall in his career. “I suddenly had nothing to do. I had time to stop and think. Then I got around to thinking about, "Why are we here? Am I really just going to die and things stop? That would make everything so pointless."

The rest of the interview covers his new journey which he says has given his life purpose. He is currently working on a book that he says will prove the existence of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Asked further about the book and whether science will ever be able to prove it, he said, “There's no guarantee at all that science will ever be able to put together that seriously damaged DNA, but in pursuing this part of the detective story we have found several other mysteries which science can't explain. But you're going to have to wait for the book.”

Anyway, it made me think – hey, there's hope for all of us out there. If someone as cynical and out there as Willesee can find the light, whatever that is, so can we all.

The full transcript of the interview and video are available at this site.

Quote, unquote

“Finding exciting stories, going into war zones, and in war zones I'd always go to the edge. If there was trouble somewhere, I'd go - because you could pick the journalists. Half the journalists would go towards the action and the other half would go to the press conferences.” – Michael Willesee.