The Least Important Man (short story): Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Other Short Story
{{title dab away}}
|story name=The Least Important Man
{{real world}}
|main character=[[Bernice Summerfield]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|featuring= [[Irving Braxiatel]]
|series        = ''[[Bernice Summerfield (series)|Bernice Summerfield]]'' short stories
|year=[[Braxiatel Collection]], [[2600]]
|main character = [[Gavin Oliver Scott|Gavin]]
|writer=[[Steven Moffat]]
|featuring     = [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
|publication=[[The Dead Men Diaries]]
|setting        = [[Braxiatel Collection]], [[26th century]]
|previous story=[[The Door into Bedlam]]
|writer         = Steven Moffat
|next story=[[Digging up the Past]]
|anthology      = Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Dead Men Diaries (anthology)
|}}
|release date  = September 2000
|prev          = The Door into Bedlam (short story)
|next           = Digging up the Past (short story)
|series2        = ''[[Treasury (audio anthology)|Treasury]]''
|prev2          = Walking Backwards for Christmas (short story)
|next2          = Bernice Summerfield and the Library of Books (short story)
}}
'''''The Least Important Man''''' was a [[2000 (releases)|2000]] short story written by [[Steven Moffat]] and released in the ''[[Bernice Summerfield (series)|Bernice Summerfield]]'' anthology ''[[The Dead Men Diaries (anthology)|The Dead Men Diaries]]''.


==Summary==
== Synopsis ==
Gavin Oliver Scott had a thoroughly un-extraordinary life in the [[20th century]]... but, since his corpse was the only one to survive intact to the [[26th century]], he has had a most extraordinary ''death''.  Professor Bernice Summerfield gives a lecture on him, the [[20th century]]'s most famous son, and is surprised to find herself becoming a part of events six hundred years past.
''To be added''


==Characters==
== Plot ==
*[[Bernice Summerfield]]
One night when [[Gavin Oliver Scott]] was a [[baby]], he woke up and saw a woman standing over him, mouthing something noiselessly. He saw her in the living room whilst playing with building blocks and again when he was at his friend [[Toby Wilton|Toby]]'s house. Toby said without looking that she was his family's [[gardener]], but he later saw her on his first day of [[school]] and, believing that she was a [[teacher]], asked her if he could go to the [[toilet]]. When she did not answer, he went anyway and got lost, after which [[Grillo|Mrs Grillo]] told him that there was no other teacher. [[Gavin Oliver Scott's mother|Gavin's mother]] told him that she was imaginary.
*[[Irving Braxiatel]]


==References==
Gavin ignored the woman when he saw her after he won the [[egg and spoon race]], when he won a prize for English, after his first kiss with [[Rosemary Pope]] and at [[Gavin Oliver Scott's grandmother|his grandmother]]'s [[funeral]]. When he was twelve, he saw her whilst the class laughed about his essay about wanting to live in the future and understood what she was mouthing to him; she was telling him that he was not being stupid, which made him realise that he would [[love]] her forever. At [[university]], he meets and falls in love with [[Irene Gilbey]] and is a close friend of hers for three years, not confessing his feelings to her and being unaware that she is having affairs with [[Harlan Frisby|Mr Frisby]] and Toby.
''to be added''
 
Having learnt to lip-read from Irene, Gavin is able to communicate with the woman when she appears in his [[flat]] by reading her lips and holding up cards. He learns that she is [[Bernice Summerfield]] and that she is looking through his life with a [[Quantum Imager]] from the [[27th century]] as part of a lecture on life in the [[20th century]]. She tells him that he will commit [[suicide]] today and be the only well-preserved body from that time period. Aware that failing to kill himself would create a [[temporal paradox]], he jumps off of a [[bridge]] and into a [[mud]] bank.
 
The mud, likely of [[alien]] origin, preserves him for six centuries and his body is put on display for fifty years after he is discovered. It is only thanks to the Quantum Imager that it has been discovered that he has been alive all that time. Benny restores him, granting his childhood dream of living in the future.
 
== Characters ==
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Irving Braxiatel]]
* [[Gavin Oliver Scott]]
* [[Toby Wilton]]
* [[Grillo|Mrs Grillo]]
* [[Gavin Scott's mum|Mum]]
* [[Harlan Frisby|Mr Frisby]]
* [[Irene Gilbey]]


==Notes==
== Worldbuilding ==
*Note the similarity in tone and structure with Moffat's later ''Doctor Who'' story [[DW]]:''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]''.
* Gavin was born in [[Nottingham]] by [[Caesarean section]].
* Gavin has a [[Labrador]] called [[Servalan]].
* Gavin's favourite [[television]] programme is ''[[Blake's 7]]''. Benny acquires two episodes of the series on [[VHS]] for him.
* Gavin mentions [[Dostoyevski]] and [[Tolstoy]].
* Toby has a very large [[Scalextrix]] set.


==Continuity==
== Notes ==
''to be added''
* This story is told by Gavin, interspersed with portions of Benny's [[lecture]].
* This was later one of the eight stories collected in ''[[Treasury (audio anthology)|Treasury]]''.


==External Links==
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
''to be added''
{{TitleSort}}


{{prose stub}}
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield sources]]
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield short stories]]
[[Category:The Dead Men Diaries short stories]]
[[Category:Irving Braxiatel short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories set on the Braxiatel Collection]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2600]]
[[Category:Treasury short stories]]

Latest revision as of 20:54, 17 December 2023

RealWorld.png

The Least Important Man was a 2000 short story written by Steven Moffat and released in the Bernice Summerfield anthology The Dead Men Diaries.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

To be added

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

One night when Gavin Oliver Scott was a baby, he woke up and saw a woman standing over him, mouthing something noiselessly. He saw her in the living room whilst playing with building blocks and again when he was at his friend Toby's house. Toby said without looking that she was his family's gardener, but he later saw her on his first day of school and, believing that she was a teacher, asked her if he could go to the toilet. When she did not answer, he went anyway and got lost, after which Mrs Grillo told him that there was no other teacher. Gavin's mother told him that she was imaginary.

Gavin ignored the woman when he saw her after he won the egg and spoon race, when he won a prize for English, after his first kiss with Rosemary Pope and at his grandmother's funeral. When he was twelve, he saw her whilst the class laughed about his essay about wanting to live in the future and understood what she was mouthing to him; she was telling him that he was not being stupid, which made him realise that he would love her forever. At university, he meets and falls in love with Irene Gilbey and is a close friend of hers for three years, not confessing his feelings to her and being unaware that she is having affairs with Mr Frisby and Toby.

Having learnt to lip-read from Irene, Gavin is able to communicate with the woman when she appears in his flat by reading her lips and holding up cards. He learns that she is Bernice Summerfield and that she is looking through his life with a Quantum Imager from the 27th century as part of a lecture on life in the 20th century. She tells him that he will commit suicide today and be the only well-preserved body from that time period. Aware that failing to kill himself would create a temporal paradox, he jumps off of a bridge and into a mud bank.

The mud, likely of alien origin, preserves him for six centuries and his body is put on display for fifty years after he is discovered. It is only thanks to the Quantum Imager that it has been discovered that he has been alive all that time. Benny restores him, granting his childhood dream of living in the future.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This story is told by Gavin, interspersed with portions of Benny's lecture.
  • This was later one of the eight stories collected in Treasury.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

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