1938

Events

April

• 4 - River Song, using the pseudonym "Melody Malone", investigated Weeping Angels in New York City, where she met her father Rory Williams, who was sent back in time by the Angels and then later the Eleventh Doctor and her mother Amy Pond. By creating a paradox, River's parents wiped out a hotel full of Angels who used the building to "farm" humans they could send back in time. All of them were returned to 2012, from where the Doctor, Amy and Rory had come. Amy and Rory later ended up back in 1938 permanently when they were touched by an Angel that had survived. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

May

• 14 - Peri Brown was abducted from Hollywood by the Threshold and returned there by the Seventh Doctor. (COMIC: The Curse of the Scarab, Ground Zero)

October

• 30 - Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre performed an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds on CBS Radio. The broadcast caused nationwide panic across the United States of America. Although calm soon settled as America realised it was only a play, unknown to the public some elements of the production were based on actual events. (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)

December

• 25 - Madge Arwell met a "Spaceman Angel", in actuality the Eleventh Doctor, stuck back to front in a space suit. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
  • The eight-year-old Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was given a box of toy soldiers by his namesake paternal grandfather, who promptly asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Alistair was not pleased with his present. (COMIC: The Warkeeper's Crown)

Unknown dates

• Adolf Hitler obtained the Validium Arrow, one of the key components of the Nemesis statue. Around the same time, the Nemesis statue passed Earth, heralding Hitler's annexation of Austria and the coming outbreak of World War II. (TV: Silver Nemesis)
• In what became known as "the Cambridge University Fiasco," an archaeological team attempted and failed to open the Devil's Hump. (TV: The Dæmons)
• Mr. Bayles began working as a butcher in Crook Marsham. (PROSE: Nightshade)
• Joe Louis beat German heavyweight challenger Max Schmeling in a New York boxing match. Cody McBride was amongst the spectators. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)
• The TARDIS, damaged by Mels' gun, crash-landed in Hitler's study in Berlin, inadvertently stopping the torture of Hitler by the Teselecta. Hitler was punched by Rory Williams and forced into a closet. In the confusion, Hitler shot Mels, causing her to regenerate, revealing herself as Melody Pond. Melody poisoned the Eleventh Doctor, shutting down his regenerative abilities. Having later captured Melody, one of the biggest war criminals in history, the Tesselecta computer told the Doctor that a religious order called the Silence wanted him dead. Amy Pond caused the crew to evacuate from the ship to escape from the antibodies, releasing her daughter. After the Doctor succumbed to the poison, Melody used up her remaining regeneration energy to revive him, once she learnt that she would become his closest friend River Song one day. The Doctor then took River away to the Sisters of the Infinite Schism to recover. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)
• The eight-year-old Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and his parents moved from British India to the United Kingdom. (PROSE: Island of Death)

Behind the scenes

January

• 4 - Jim Norton (Thomas Kennet in WC: Scream of the Shalka) was born.
• 12 - Lewis Fiander (Tryst in TV: Nightmare of Eden) was born.
• 14 - Spencer Chapman, the designer for TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth and TV: The Space Museum, was born.
• 21 - John Savident, who played the Squire in TV: The Visitation, was born.
• 28 - Christopher Coll (Phipps in TV: The Seeds of Death and Stubbs in TV: The Mutants) was born.

February

• 18 - Jon Pertwee made his film debut in a bit part in the Robert Taylor film A Yank at Oxford.
• 25 - Malcolm Tierney (Doland in TV: Terror of the Vervoids) was born.
• 26 - Tony Selby (Sabalom Glitz in TV: The Trial of a Time Lord and TV: Dragonfire) was born.

March

• 13 - David McKail (Kyle in TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang) was born.

April

• 13 - Julian Fox (Peter Hamilton in TV: Death to the Daleks) was born.

May

• 13 - Milton Johns was born.
• 29 - Barry Jackson, who played Drax and several other guest characters on Doctor Who, was born in Birmingham, England.
• 30 - Christopher Robbie (the Karkus in TV: The Mind Robber and the Cyber-Leader in TV: Revenge of the Cybermen) was born.

June

• 18 - Michael Sheard, who portrayed many memorable characters in one-off roles on Doctor Who, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland.
• 28 - John Tillinger, who played Simon Duval in TV: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, was born in Tabriz, Iran.

July

• 14 - Lionel Sansby (a passenger in TV: Nightmare of Eden and a Krarg in TV: Shada) was born.
• 28 - David Weston, who played Nicholas Muss in TV: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve and Biroc in TV: Warriors' Gate, was born.

August

• 5 - Tim Preece (Codal in TV: Planet of the Daleks) was born.
• 18 - Roy Boyd (Driscoll in TV: The Hand of Fear) was born.

September

• 3 - Tom Adams (Vorshak in TV: Warriors of the Deep) was born.
• 8 - Louis Mahoney was born.
• 17 - Richard Kane, who played Valmar in TV: The Power of the Daleks, was born in Birmingham.
• 28 - Tina Packer (Anne Travers in TV: The Web of Fear) was born.
• 30 - Lawrence Harrington was born.

October

• 2 - Bruce Purchase was born.
• 22 - Derek Jacobi (Yana in TV: Utopia) was born.
• 30 - Orson Welles' real-life radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds occurred. It inspired the Big Finish Productions audio story AUDIO: Invaders from Mars.

November

• 1 - Frances White, who played Cassandra in TV: The Myth Makers, was born in Leeds.
• 19 - Nicholas Pennell (David Winton in TV: Colony in Space) was born.
• 27 - Rodney Bewes was born.

December

• 5 - Elaine Ives-Cameron was born.
• 9 - Director Waris Hussein was born. In 1963 he directed the first-ever Doctor Who story, TV: An Unearthly Child.
• 12 - Leslie Schofield (Leroy in TV: The War Games and Calib in TV: The Face of Evil) was born.
• 17 - Del Henney (Colonel Archer in TV Resurrection of the Daleks) was born.
• 23 - George Gallaccio was born.