So, on my way back from Gallifrey One, the top Doctor Who convention in the world, having had as usual a whale of a time. Though I will start with two less happy things. First, my back has been playing up for the last few weeks, so I was very careful not to overdo it, and napped during the day a bit more than usual (to compensate for sleeping worse). In 2009 and again in 2013, I had back problems which were serious enough to keep me off work for ten days each time, so I know the danger signs and am religiously doing my stretches.
The second less than happy thing was the announcement that the 2028 Gallifrey One will be the last. Mostly the same team have been running it since 1991, and they prefer to conclude the series rather than hand over the reins. Understandable, but there was a palpable air of sadness and shock in the hall as the announcement was made. Apparently there are moves to assemble a replacement structure, and with four years to go, there is time. Meanwhile we are all grateful for the immense amount of work put in by the team over the decades.
A lot of other things went well. For the first time since 2012, I got a room at the conference hotel, and that makes a big difference to lugging things around. Though the escalators between the lobby and the ballroom floors were out, so we got used to the labyrinthine alternative routes.
Outside the hotel, I had breakfast most days at Denny’s about half a mile away, and that was tremendously good value, setting me up well so that I didn’t need as much of the hotel’s somewhat inflated bar food. Other places I ate:
- The Getty Museum Cafe, for lunch on Thursday, which was fine
- Jino’s Pars, for dinner on Saturday with Jon Arnold, about a mile from the Marriott, yummy Persian food
- Blu Jam Cafe, in Downtown LA on Monday morning, a substantial brunch which was too substantial for me to finish
- Wolfgang Puck in Terminal 7 at LAX for a late lunch as we left, where they charged me $33 for a small sad overcooked chunk of salmon which took over half an hour to arrive. When I complained they refunded half the price.
Also apparently there were two earthquakes in Malibu late Friday and early Saturday, but I must admit I failed to notice.
One other thing that went well, not especially related to the convention: I got an eSIM for my phone, and that meant that i had cheap data for he entire trip. Based on the recommendation of my former colleague Robert, I went with Airalo, who also offer coverage in China where I will go next month. I’m sure there are others available, but I was very satisfied with what I had.
So: H and I travelled on Wednesday this time, to have got over the jetlag by the time the convention started on Friday morning, and I had a very pleasant Wednesday evening in the bar with Nicola Bryant, Andrew Smith (writer of Full Circle), Big Finish writer Lisa McMullin and others.


I took fewer cosplay photos than in previous years, but as usual the effort put in was impressive.







The great set-pieces of the convention are the presentations by the stars, and I got to most of them, back permitting. Sylvester McCoy, in an amazingly high energy performance from a man who has recently turned 80, wandered around the audience in his session, and H got this great photo of me asking him about Vision On, to which he gave a good five-minute answer.

H got to do a script reading with Colin Baker:

Wendy Padbury and her daughter Charlie Hayes were an effective double-act, Charlie threatening to ask her mother to tell us everything she knows about astrophysics.

Louise Jameson was also charming, but complained facetiously when her Leela clothing got a round of applause: “Upstaged by a costume!”

The headline star this year was not either of the Doctors present (Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy) but Steven Moffat, who did a solo Q&A, commented on a showing of Boom!, crashed Jenna Coleman’s Q&A, did a small group analysis of The Girl in the Fireplace and signed my copy of the novelisation of The Day of the Doctor.




As well as seeing lots of old friends I made new friends as well. Here Ruadhri from London, who was doing a series of mini-interviews with participants for later publication, has the tables turned on him by Jack from Boston.

Altogether I had a really good time and hope that I can make it to the last three, in 2026, 2027 and 2028.
On the Thursday before it all started, I decided to go to the Getty Center, a half-hour’s drive north – I had planned to do that last year, but it is closed on Mondays so I went to LACMA instead that time. I am therefore now equipped for many weeks of my #Thursdayart posts, which you may have seen on my social media channels. The Getty Villa is still closed after last month’s fires, but its sister institution is fine; head literally in the clouds on a very rainy day.

After the Rijksmuseum, which we had visited only a few days before, the Getty is rather exposed as what it is, the perpetuation of a rich man’ whims rather than the nation-building project over in Amsterdam. But there is plenty of good stuff; the five I picked for social media posts were:


I was fascinated by the human detail in The Bird Catchers, painted by by François Boucher in 1748.


I envied the relaxation of Princess Leonilla of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, painted by Franz Xavier Winterhalter in 1843:

And finally here’s a bust of Felix Mendlesohn, from 1848 (just after his death) by Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel.

But plenty more where all of that came from.
Yesterday, for my last morning, I braved the public transport system (cheaper now that I am over 55!) and ventured downtown to The Last Bookstore. I didn’t actually buy anything, but I always find bookshops good for recharging.

It too has unusual artworks. Going up the stairs you will meet Nuestra Señora La Reína de la Librería Última de Los Ángeles:

And at the top you will see “Diagnosis” by Jena Priebe and David Lovejoy.

Got back to the hotel in time to chat with my old friend D, who then dropped me to the airport. And 14 hours of travel and 3 hours of sleep later, here I am in Heathrow. See you soon.