1969

Events

January

• 30 - The Beatles performed an impromptu concert on the roof of the Apple Records building on Abbey Road in London. Ace prevented the killing of John Lennon during this concert. Huitzilin had hoped to feed upon the psychic energy released by the violence. (NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird) The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones attempted to witness the concert but ended up in 1669 instead (IDW: Black Death White Life).

April

• 8 - The Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song and Canton Delaware were hired by President Richard Nixon to investigate a young girl that kept phoning him. The Doctor traced the girl to a building in Florida. River and Rory discovered a long passageway of ancient caves, populated with aliens that they would forget about once they looked away. Amy shot the Astronaut, thinking it was the one that would kill a future version of the Doctor in 2011, (DW: The Impossible Astronaut) though she survived; the suit working as a life support. The group eventually went on the run for several months, uncertain on how to fight these aliens. (DW: Day of the Moon)

May

• 18 - The Eighth Doctor, Sam Jones and Fitz Kreiner confronted the 'Revolution Man' at Wembley Stadium. (EDA: Revolution Man)

Prior to July

• The Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Billy Shipton were touched by the Weeping Angels in 2007 and ended up in this time. Working with future information given to him by Sally Sparrow, the Doctor contacted Shipton and the now-elderly Kathy Nightingale and arranged for messages to be passed on to Sparrow in 2007, one of which was a recorded message by the Doctor. (DW: Blink)

July

• Before 20th July - After spending months on the run, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Roy feigned capture, while River leapt out of a building to be caught by the TARDIS, continuing their plot to take down the alien beings that they would forget about when they turned away. Canton captured one of these creature, who claimed to be of the Silence, and the Doctor interrogated it. The Doctor and River discovered the girl that contacted Nixon had escaped from the astronaut suit. (DW: Day of the Moon)
• 20 - Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy) Martha Jones later claimed that she and the Tenth Doctor viewed the event four times. (DW: Blink) The Eleventh Doctor secretly attached a video of one of the Silence saying that humans should kill them on sight to the broadcast of the Moon landing, causing every person who watched the landings to post-hypnotically attack the Silence. (DW: Day of the Moon)

August

• 9 - 10 - Followers of Charles Manson murdered actress Sharon Tate and others in what becomes known as the Helter Skelter killings. The Seventh Doctor theorised Huitzilin influenced the killings after his plot to have John Lennon killed in London failed. (NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)

• 15 - 17 - The Woodstock Music Festival was held. The Doctor attended the festival on two different occasions, in two different incarnations. (NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)

Unknown date

• After serving many years in prison for war crimes, Oskar Steinmann was released due to health problems. (NA: Just War)
• Great Britain readied its Mars Probes. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy)
• The Slakkenkind crashed on Earth having escaped a death sentence set by The Hunter. The Tenth Doctor and Heather arrived, as did the Hunter. The Hunter and the Slakkenind had a showdown as they both threatened peace of humanity. The Doctor managed to capture the Slakkenkind and they were taken back to their death sentence. (DWAM: The Slakken Cat)

See also

• Stories set in 1969

Behind the scenes

Events

January

• 04 - DW: The Krotons Episode 2 is first broadcast.
• 11 - DW: The Krotons Episode 3 is first broadcast.
• 18 - DW: The Krotons Episode 4 is first broadcast.
• 25 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 1 is first broadcast.

February

• 01 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 2 is first broadcast.
• 08 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 3 is first broadcast.
• 15 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 4 is first broadcast.
• 22 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 5 is first broadcast.

March

• 01 - DW: The Seeds of Death Episode 6 is first broadcast.
• 08 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 1 is first broadcast.
• 15 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 2 is first broadcast.
• 22 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 3 is first broadcast.
• 29 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 4 is first broadcast.

April

• 05 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 5 is first broadcast.
• 12 - DW: The Space Pirates Episode 6 is first broadcast. As of 2009, this is the latest episode for which no copies of any form are known to survive (except for audio).
• 19 - DW: The War Games Episode 1 is first broadcast.
• 26 - DW: The War Games Episode 2 is first broadcast.

May

• 03 - DW: The War Games Episode 3 is first broadcast.
• 10 - DW: The War Games Episode 4 is first broadcast.
• 17 - DW: The War Games Episode 5 is first broadcast.
• 21 - The final episode of The Avengers (created by Sydney Newman) airs in the UK.
• 24 - DW: The War Games Episode 6 is first broadcast.
• 31 - DW: The War Games Episode 7 is first broadcast.

June

• 03 - The final new episode of the original Star Trek series is broadcast in America.
• 04 - Julie Gardner is born.
• 07 - DW: The War Games Episode 8 is first broadcast.
• 12 - Final taping session for DW: The War Games, marking the end of Patrick Troughton's regular involvement with the programme. It is also the last black and white taping session before the conversion to colour production.
• 14 - DW: The War Games Episode 9 is first broadcast.
• 21 - DW: The War Games Episode 10, concluding Season 6, is first broadcast, ending in Patrick Troughton's regeneration (Jon Pertwee, however, does not appear). Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury also leave the series with this episode. The Time Lords and Gallifrey are officially introduced to the series (although the planet's name isn't revealed for several more years). This is the final episode of the series to be produced in black and white. This end of the series also marks the end of the show's long seasons; beginning in 1970 the number of episodes per season is reduced considerably. The hiatus of more than five months that follows before the start of Season 7 is the longest break for the show to date, although longer intervals are still to come.

July

• 20 - The Apollo 11 moon landing takes place.

August

• 26 - Martin Miller, who played Kublai Khan in DW: Marco Polo, dies from a heart attack in Austria.

September

• Publication of the fifth Doctor Who Annual.
• 13 - Filming begins on DW: Spearhead from Space, the first story to feature Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. This launches colour production for Doctor Who, although in a one-off occurrance, the entirety of Spearhead from Space is shot on film, rather than the standard film/videotape mix which would resume with the second Pertwee story DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians.