i) births and deaths

Couldn’t find any.

ii) broadcast anniversaries

4 July 1964: non-broadcast of ‘Hidden Danger’, the fourth episode of the story we now know as The Sensorites, because of the gripping events at the third test match of the 1964 Ashes series (idf you’re interested, Australia took five wickets in the course of the day, and another five when the second innings resumed on Sunday; England were unable to make up the difference and so lost the Ashes as per usual), also the Wimbledon women’s final between Maria Bueno and Margaret Smith (later Margaret Court) which Bueno won 6–4 7–9 6–3 (Smith having defeated 19-year-old Billie-Jean Moffitt, later Billie-Jean King, int he semi-final – revenge for their match two years earlier having gone the other way when Smith was the world’s #1 seed). Aren’t you glad I told you that?

4 July 2008: release of The Baktek Illusion, tenth and last of the Doctor Who Writers’ Comics.

I admit I’m really scraping the barrel here. 4 July is a significant anniversary in some well-known real-life historical contexts, but not really for Doctor Who.

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i) births and deaths

3 July 2001: death of Delia Derbyshire who arranged Ron Grainer’s theme tune to make it as we knew it from 1963 to 1979. See ‘s tribute.

ii) broadcast anniversaries

3 July 1965: broadcast of ‘The Watcher’, the first episode of the series we now know as The Time Meddler, with newly acquired companion Steven fainting on the Tardis floor and then refusing to believe that they are in 1066. Features the First Doctor picking up a Viking headpiece and asking, “What do you think this is? A space helmet for a cow?” One of the great episode endings as the Doctor discovers that the chanting monks are actually on a gramophone record and is then imprisoned by a set of bars descending from the ceiling. The Monk is the first fellow member of the Doctor’s race we have met since Susan.

3 July 2009: broadcast of Torchwood: The Dead Line, the audio play where Jack spends most of the story unconscious (which is just as well since Barrowman is not a natural at audios) and Ianto gets to tell us how much he loves him; while Gwen and Rhys get cuddly too.

iii) dates mentioned in canon

3 July 2379: The date on which the Sixth Doctor story Mindwarp is set, ending with Peri’s brain being destroyed – or so we are led to believe. (1986)

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  For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss–a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.
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  (via Zac) leaving unlocked bikes tagged with GPS devices; if they are stolen, they and the thieves can be tracked down.
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I did an interview with a Kosovar journalist earlier in the week, and was alarmed when a friend in Pristina emailed to commiserate on how heavily the years are hanging on me:

http://www.koha.net/index.php?cid=1,22,26831

(screen shot)

I think they have confused me with this gentleman.

Edited to add: They’ve changed the photo now!

i) births and deaths

2 July 1973: birth of Peter Kay, guest star on Love and Monsters (2006).

2 July 1991: death of Don Houghton, who wrote Inferno (1970) and The Mind of Evil (1971).

ii) broadcast anniversaries

2 July 1966: broadcast of the second episode of The War Machines, in which poor Dodo Chaplet is unceremoniously written out of the programme. Starts with WOTAN demanding the presence of “Doctor Who”. Ends with Ben being trapped by a newly activated War Machine.

2 July 2009: broadcast of Torchwood: The Golden Age, a somewhat bonkers radio play which brings Jack, Gwen and Ianto to India to meet an old flame of Jack’s.

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The first in what may be a series of daily posts on anniversaries in Doctor Who history, covering i) real-world anniversaries of the births and deaths of people important to the history of the programme; ii) anniversaries of the first broadcast of Who stories on TV and radio (which get a bit thin over the summer, so we are starting gently); and iii) dates which are specified in broadcast stories or spinoff literature (of which there are surprisingly few). 1 July is rather a good date to start with; I wonder how long I’ll be able to keep it up though…

i) Births and Deaths

1 July 1934: birth of Jean Marsh, who played the great Sara Kingdom in The Daleks’ Master Plan (1965-6). She also appeared as Princess Joanna in The Crusade (1965) and as Morgaine in Battlefield (1989). She has done two Companion Chronicle audios for Big Finish, and a third one, The Guardian of the Solar System, comes out this month; I for one am looking forward to it. (She was also married to Jon Pertwee, before either was on Doctor Who.)

Also born on 1 July: Daphne Dare (1929), costumer for much of the black and white era; Sonny Caldinez (1932), four-time Ice Warrior who appeared as Kemal the Turk in earlier episodes of Evil of the DaleksThe Movie (1996).

ii) broadcast anniversaries

1 July 1967: broadcast of the seventh and final episode of Evil of the Daleks, Skaro collapsing in flames as the malignant pepperpots battle each other in civil war, and the Second Doctor, Jamie and new companion Victoria flee the ruins as Season Four comes to an end. Sadly, one of the lost episodes.

1 July 2006: broadcast of Army of Ghosts, which starts with that creepy voiceover by Billie Piper about how she died, and then goes on to feature celebrity cameos and Jackie’s great line “If we end up on Mars, I’m gonna kill you.” Then we get into serious business with Torchwood and the Cybermen, and finally, in the best reveal in the whole of New Who, the Daleks emerge. from the Genesis Ark.

1 July 2009: broadcast of Torchwood: Asylum, the first of the three radio plays leading up to Children of Earthiii) dates specified in broadcast stories

1 July 2058: Date of establishment of Bowie Base One on Mars, as seen in The Waters of Mars (2009).

To those who know Schiphol better than I do – is there anywhere in the airport where there is Wi-Fi, preferably free?

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