5 April 1946: birth of Jane Asher, who played Susan Foreman in Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? (1994) and Andrea Yates in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (2007), and has thus played alternative
5 April 1991: death of Gerald Blake, who directed The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Invasion of Time (1978).
5 April 1999: death of John Wiles, innovative producer who succeeded Verity Lambert but did not last long in 1965-66.
ii) broadcast anniversaries
5 April 1969: broadcast of fifth episode of The Space Pirates. The Doctor and friends find they have been imprisoned with the terrified Dom Issigri; Clancey and Dom escape, but the Doctor, looking for Jamie and Zoe, is caught in the take-off blast.
5 April 1975: broadcast of fifth episode of Genesis of the Daleks. The Doctor almost gets Davros to destroy the Daleks; Gharman leads a revolt against Davros; the Doctor prepares to blow up the incubation tanks.
5 April 2002: webcast of “No Child of Earth”, part 2, the sixth episode of Death Comes to Time.
5 April 2008: broadcast of Partners in Crime, first episode of Season Four of New Who; first regular appearance of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. The Doctor and Donna foil a plan to turn large numbers of people into food for the infant Adipose.
I found Lord Valentine’s Castle enormously absorbing as a teenager… It was a fantasy setting that was actually SF and nicely done… I often wish he’d written stuff about the rest of that universe and not just the corner Majipoor is in.
As others have said The Hunger Games is a short and entertaining read.
I found The Last Unicorn hard going but I don’t think it’s really my cup of tea.