1962

Events

October

• 10 - The British Intelligence operative Edward Grainger travelled to Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin to meet an agent who was preparing to cross the Berlin Wall from East Germany. (PROSE: Checkpoint)
• Section Eight used the dark arts to end the Cuban Missile Crisis. (PROSE: Heart of TARDIS)

November

• 21 - Peri Brown's parents, Janine and Paul Brown, were married. (AUDIO: Peri and the Piscon Paradox)
• 23 - James Stevens turned seventeen and learned that he had been adopted. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

Unknown dates

• A Dalek soldier, a survivor of the Last Great Time War between its race and the Time Lords, fell through time and crashed like a meteorite "on the Ascension Islands". The Dalek lay in its burning crater for three days, screaming the entire time, before it was retrieved. Its weapon systems inactive and its outer armour heavily damaged, the Dalek was sold at private auction and passed through several hands over the next fifty years. (TV: Dalek)
• Benjamin Wainwright, the husband of the temporally displaced Kathy Nightingale, died at the age of 65. (TV: Blink)
• The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler visited the village of Lower Dowham and meddled in a plan to make the entire village disappear. (PROSE: No One Died)
• Professor Rachel Jensen began researching artificial intelligence at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. (AUDIO: Threshold)
• Barbara Wright went on holiday to Toledo, Spain. (AUDIO: The Flames of Cadiz)

Alternative timeline

• In an alternative timeline in which Nazi Germany won World War II as a result of the Seventh Doctor and Ace accidentally leaving laser technology in Colditz Castle in October 1944, Elizabeth Klein was conducting research at the University of Cambridge during this year, when she was recruited by Major Jonas Faber to study and unlock the secrets of alien technology stored in a bunker in Berlin. (AUDIO: Klein's Story)

Behind the scenes

April

• 25 - Donald Wilson, head of Serial Drama for BBC TV, received a four-page report from the BBC Survey Group discussing whether the production of an in-house science-fiction TV series was feasible and warranted. According to the BBC Archives, this was the spark of what eventually led to the commissioning of Doctor Who.

June

• 11 - Actor Toshihiko Seki was born.
• 20 - Stunt performer Stuart Clarke was born.
• 30 - Out of This World debuted on ITV. This science fiction series, created by Irene Shubik and overseen by Sydney Newman, was considered a precursor to Doctor Who. It featured episodes written by Terry Nation and other future Doctor Who writers.

July

• 25 - Donald Wilson received a follow-up report from the BBC Survey Group discussing potential story ideas for a BBC-produced science fiction series. The report included synopses of several science fiction novels, including the time-travel-based The Guardians of Time by Poul Anderson.

August

• 20 - Actress Sophie Aldred was born at Greenwich, London.
• 24 - Actor Gordon Warnecke was born.
• 25 - Actress Jessica Martin was born.

November

• 10 - "The Mauritius Penny", an episode of The Avengers (created by Sydney Newman), aired in the UK. It is the earliest writing credit in the Internet Movie Database attributed to future Doctor Who stalwart Terrance Dicks.

December

• 11 - Actor Ben Browder was born.
• 12 - Sydney Newman began his tenure as Head of Drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Canadian had previously served in this capacity with the ABC production house (broadcasting on ITV), during which time he had been credited with creating The Avengers, and the first UK-produced science fiction anthology series, Out of This World.

Unknown Date

• Actor Julian Bleach was born in Bournemouth.