1963

You may wish to consult 1963 (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

1963 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

In 1963, the First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan went to Earth and stayed for five months (TV: "An Unearthly Child", COMIC: Operation Proteus) although other sources said six months, (PROSE: Matrix) nine months (PROSE: The Rag & Bone Man's Story) or thirteen months. (PROSE: Time and Relative)

The Eleventh Doctor told Amy Pond that London was the coolest place in the universe in 1963 due to the Beatles, Sean Connery as James Bond, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, Mary Quant, John Steed and Cathy Gale. (GAME: City of the Daleks)

Dated events

January - June

On 29 March, seventeen-year-old Lizzie Lewis was murdered by Ed Morgan in Cardiff. (TV: Ghost Machine)

In late March, the TARDIS materialised in the junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane, owned by I.M. Foreman, in the Shoreditch area of London, disguised incongruously as a police box. While the First Doctor attempted repairs and worked out a plan for safely disposing of the Hand of Omega on Earth so no-one could find and misuse it, his granddaughter Susan Foreman registered at the nearby Coal Hill School against his wishes. Britain, meanwhile, was in the grip of an unusual cold wave. (PROSE: Time and Relative) However, another account had Susan say they came to London in June, four months before October, and that Susan's first term at Coal Hill was the autumn term in 1963. (AUDIO: Hunters of Earth)

On 1 April, the First Doctor fought off an invasion by the Cold. (PROSE: Time and Relative)

In May, using the pseudonym "John Rutherford", the Seventh Doctor was elected as an independent member of Parliament on a platform of nuclear disarmament. He retained his seat until the next general election in October 1964. (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games)

In the summer of 1963, the First Doctor was put on trial for the murder of the werewolf Roberta Sampson. The Second, Third, Fifth and Eighth Doctors served on the jury, all using pseudonyms, and gradually convinced the other jurors of the First Doctor's innocence. (PROSE: The Juror's Story)

July - October

In the summer, the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones visited London. They met Fitz Kreiner and discovered that Charles Roley had amassed a group of individuals who were all descended from the test subjects of the Benelisan robot Azoth. The Doctor defeated Azoth, but was too late to save the descendants. He was forced to kill all of them, including Fitz's mother Muriel Kreiner. On the run from the police and without any living family, Fitz decided to leave London and travel with the Doctor and Sam. (PROSE: The Taint)

According to one account, Susan said she had been at Coal Hill since the start of the autumn term. (AUDIO: Hunters of Earth) Another account stated she enrolled in late March. (PROSE: Time and Relative)

In October, the TARDIS landed on the Queen Mary, a ship the Fourth Doctor found to be full of ghosts. (PROSE: Ghost Ship)

Susan encounters a human mutated by Operation Proteus. (COMIC: Operation Proteus)

On 22 October, whilst at a bar, Susan witnessed a human mutate into an alien. She and the Doctor followed a trail that led to Raldonn, an alien trying to mutate humans to use as pilots for his spacecraft. (COMIC: Operation Proteus) Susan was abducted by the Threshold. (COMIC: Ground Zero, COMIC: Operation Proteus)

The Imperial Daleks came to Earth in order obtain the Hand of Omega. Davros ordered that the First Doctor be exterminated. While the First Doctor was contemplating where to put the Hand, a Dalek tried to shoot him. The Seventh Doctor interfered and used his umbrella to make the First Doctor trip and evade the beam. He then pushed the Dalek into a bus. (COMIC: Time & Time Again)

In late October, the First Doctor made arrangements with a Shoreditch funeral parlour to bury the Hand of Omega in a nearby graveyard. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)

November

On 10 November, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (AUDIO: 1963: The Space Race)

Nemesis approached Earth before the assassination of John F. Kennedy and, the Seventh Doctor implied, influenced it to happen. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

22 November

John F. Kennedy moments before his assassination. (TV: Rose)

On 22 November, the assassination of John F. Kennedy took place, witnessed by the Ninth Doctor. (TV: Rose, PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?) According to one account, the assassination was created by the Renegade Time Lord Berenyi, who engineered Lee Harvey Oswald's personal history so that he would kill the president. Berenyi was a Designer, a time travelling mercenary who affected changes to the timeline. She was hired to engineer the assassination. Berenyi was with Oswald when he shot Kennedy. (PROSE: Untitled)

According to another account, Oswald was incorrectly arrested as the culprit and the true assassin was James Stevens. The Master attempted to use Francis Cleary - a brainwashed UNIT soldier from 1971 - to prevent the assassination to change history, but was prevented from doing so by James Stevens, who witnessed his future self carry out the murder. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

Also on that day, (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) Sarah Jane Smith went to London with her aunt Lavinia. While in Shoreditch, Sarah wandered away from her aunt and into Totter's Yard, where she found the First Doctor's TARDIS, but dismissed it as just a police box. (PROSE: Playtime)

Just after Sarah left, Coal Hill School teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright followed Susan home from the school. They discovered the TARDIS in 76 Totter's Lane. Fearing the consequences, the First Doctor abducted them. (TV: An Unearthly Child) The Doctor retained his library card from Shoreditch Library, which was due to expire this month, though he never bothered to renew it. (TV: The Vampires of Venice)

After this, the disappearance of the two teachers was noticed, but all thought Ian and Barbara had eloped. (PROSE: The Face of the Enemy)

After 22 November, the Spacefleet fighter Tisiphone, which had fallen into a temporal rift in 2547 during a battle with Daleks, exited the temporal rift near Earth space. Its crew, led by Admiral Isaac Summerfield II, escaped to England. (PROSE: Return of the Living Dad)

23 November

On 23 November, the Fourth Doctor and K9 Mark II returned to Totter's Lane to retrieve a Heshrax insect which he had been tracking the day that he left. While there, they met Debbie, Susan's best friend from Coal Hill School. Debbie, who turned fifteen that day, was concerned about Susan's sudden disappearance as she knew that Susan would never miss her birthday. She had met the First Doctor on one occasion but the Fourth Doctor did not recall seeing her before. He also did not remember Susan ever mentioning Debbie but admitted that he was not always the best listener. He told Debbie that Susan decided to stay on 22nd century Earth but then amended this by adding that he chose for her, expressing the hope that this decision was for the best. Debbie was thankful that she met the Doctor as, while she knew that she would never see Susan again, she could at least live her life safe in the knowledge that she was safe in the future rather than spend it wondering what happened to Susan and fearing the worst. (PROSE: Those Left Behind)

William Pike is interrogated by Barker. (TV: The Cambridge Spy)

Jorjie Turner was sent from 2050 to 23 November 1963. She was retrieved by K9 Mark 2 and Starkey; together they saved William Pike from being arrested by Barker, preventing Darius Pike from being erased from history. (TV: The Cambridge Spy)

In London, a man was stabbed in an alleyway with a flick knife. His murderer was never found. Elsewhere in the city, a baby boy was born. He was named after the late President. (AUDIO: 1963)

A creature called the Shroud attached itself to Earth soon after the assassination of the president and fed off people's grief all around the world. The Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald stopped the alien before it could take over the planet, and the whole event was written off as a chemical attack. (PROSE: Shroud of Sorrow)

After defeating the Decayed Master in an alternate timeline, the First Doctor visited Bob Dovie with Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Susan Foreman. Later, Dovie was visited by the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Zoe Heriot. Dovie was then visited by the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, the Fourth Doctor and Leela, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, and the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Dovie grew increasingly annoyed with each encounter and was very angry when he was visited by the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard. (AUDIO: The Light at the End)

Amy Pond, living in New York, sent a letter on this date, in which she talked about her time with the Eleventh Doctor. Yasmin Khan later managed to obtain the letter for use in the Thirteenth Doctor's book. (PROSE: A Short History of Everyone)

Late November

From 29 to 30 November, the Doctor returned to Shoreditch in his seventh incarnation to finish incomplete business and collect the Hand of Omega and aid the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group, the British Army's predecessor to UNIT. ICMG set up the evacuation of civilians from a three-mile radius of a fight between Renegade and Imperial Dalek factions over the Hand, an event which saw activity in 76 Totter's Lane and Coal Hill School. Humans aware of the events that occurred later called this the Shoreditch Incident. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks, PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)

During the events of the Shoreditch Incident on 30 November, Charlie Smith also briefly encountered Ace near Coal Hill, after he had fallen through a space-time tear in 2016. He encountered a guard on duty on the school, and had to flee from Imperial Dalek forces. He was rescued by Andrea Quill, just as ICMG forces showed up to deal with the Daleks within Coal Hill. (AUDIO: In Remembrance) Clive Finch's father, Gary Jonathan Finch, was attached to the ICMG and he was killed during the incident. (PROSE: Rose)

Eighteen minutes before the Seventh Doctor and Ace arrived in Shoreditch, their future selves visited Totter's Lane and found that the name on the gate had changed to "I M Forman." Ace confirmed that this was how it was spelled the last time they were here, alerting the Doctor that temporal disruptions were affecting history. (PROSE: The Algebra of Ice)

December

On 6 December, British Army sergeant Mike Smith was buried. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) When Ace and the Doctor were leaving Shoreditch after the funeral, the Doctor noted that there had been a temporal anomaly at the school that would need dealt with on a day in 2016. The Doctor was distracted however by another occurrence (possibly a Bandril timeship) but Ace was sure to remember the exact date so that she could deal with it in the future. (AUDIO: In Remembrance)

In early to mid December, the Seventh Doctor and Ace again assisted the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group, this time dealing with the Starfire Incident. (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games)

On 22 December, the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa visited Switzerland, where they solved the mystery of a school haunting and prevented the Spillager invasion of Earth. (AUDIO: Winter for the Adept)

A few days before Christmas, Hawkins hired Joseph Galloway to clear out Totters Lane. While doing so, Galloway found the Blessing Star. (PROSE: The Rag & Bone Man's Story)

Unknown dates

The First Doctor and the Seventh Doctor in Shoreditch. (PROSE: Echoes of Future Past)

The Seventh Doctor met up with the First Doctor in a Shoreditch alley and gave him the Hand of Omega. (PROSE: Echoes of Future Past)

Jody Lockhart was born. (GAME: "Player Characters" ^[+]Part of The Iytean Menace, Loading...{"namedpart":"Player Characters","1":"The Iytean Menace (game)"})

What's My Line? was hosted by Eamonn Andrews and ran on British television from 1951 to 1963, each Sunday at 8:30pm. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac)

River Song briefly visited Totter's Lane to catch a glimpse of the First Doctor. The Doctor saw her and threatened her with his cane for trespassing. River quickly escaped with her vortex manipulator. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)

Harold Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and was succeeded by Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Both men were members of the Conservative Party. (AUDIO: The Pelage Project)

In Liverpool, the Tenth Doctor took Martha Jones to watch the Beatles perform. Whilst they were returning to the TARDIS, Martha was teleported to an alien planet. (COMIC: Signs of Life)

The Beatles released their first two albums. (GAME: City of the Daleks) One of these contained the song "Love Me Do", which Susan Foreman considered to be the most important song of the five years before 1963. (PROSE: Time and Relative)

Sometime before Kennedy's assassination, the Cybock Imperium stole the Time-Gun of Rassilon from a Judoon containment facility on Janizzar. They brought it back to Las Vegas, where they had established themselves in the criminal underworld as the Kronos Family. After kidnapping members of The Wolf Pack and Clara Oswald, the Kronos Family became involved in a gang war with the Dragotta Family. (COMIC: Gangland)

Harvey was born. (PROSE: Bennelong Point)

Romana II's edition of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James was published. (AUDIO: The Haunting of Malkin Place)

Ashley ab Hugh was found staring at a sculpture in his private collection of art. He had been tearing strips of flesh from his face and sticking them to the outside of the sculpture. He was taken to hospital, and died three weeks later from septicaemia. (PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons)

Mrs. Smith, an usherette, saw the Doctor and his granddaughter in the Ritz Theatre on Totter's Lane, but told them to leave after the Doctor continually and rudely pointed out inaccuracies in a film about the fall of Rome. In early 2005, Mrs. Smith wrote about her encounter on whoisdoctorwho.co.uk, thinking that the Ninth Doctor may have been related to the grey-haired Doctor she met. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)

Other realities

In John Smith's possible future, he died, leaving behind Joan, his children and their children, all safe. (PROSE: Human Nature)

In a parallel universe, Terry Nation created the Daleks for the TV show Doctor Who. (COMIC: The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who)

In the original timeline, Kennedy lived past 1963 and became a very inspirational figure of the 1960s. Enemy life-spores infected Kennedy during his second term in office and almost used the psychic energy surrounding him to rewrite Earth's history, but he died of a heart attack in 1967 before that could happen. An agent of the Great Houses erased this timeline by organising the Kennedy assassination. (PROSE: The Annotated Autopsy of Agent A)

Alternate timelines

On 25 July, while on a fishing trip to an island to the Pacific Ocean, the Fifth Doctor discovered that the TARDIS had materialised in an alternative timeline in which World War II had never ended. After being held at gunpoint by an American fighter pilot native to this timeline named Angus "Gus" Goodman, the Doctor offered him the chance to get off the island, which was Japanese territory. Goodman accepted the Doctor's offer and became a short-lived companion. (COMIC: Lunar Lagoon, COMIC: 4-Dimensional Vistas) However, he was killed by the Moderator, a hitman in the employ of Josiah W. Dogbolter, before he could be returned to the United States of America in his timeline. (COMIC: The Moderator)

The First Doctor is attacked by Cybermen in 76 Totter's Lane. (COMIC: Prologue: the First Doctor)

In an alternate timeline where the Cybermen allied with Rassilon to take over history, they attacked the First Doctor on the day that he was supposed to leave Earth with Susan, Ian, and Barbara. (COMIC: Prologue: the First Doctor)

The Daleks, using the Eye of Time to change history, exterminated humanity, ravaging and conquering Earth. This timeline was averted by the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. (GAME: City of the Daleks)

Behind the scenes

• The Dalek Handbook dates the events of The Daleks to circa 1963, based on the assumption that the First Doctor was able to return Ian and Barbara to the right time period after An Unearthly Child, but not to the right place. Peaceful Thals Ambushed!, on the other hand, suggests an in-universe date of 2064.