1955

1955 in

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the DWU • vital statistics

On Thursday, 1 December 1955, in Alabama, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested after she refused to give up her seat, on a segregated bus, to a white passenger, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began on 5 December.

Krasko attempted to alter this crucial event in history, but the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions worked to stop him, and succeeded in restoring this chain of events, which ultimately led to the end of racial segregation in America. (TV: Rosa)

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith visited Professor Chronotis in 1955, at St Cedd's College, Cambridge. The Doctor recommended that Chronotis read The Time Machine. (HOMEVID: Shada, PROSE: Cambridge Previsited)

The First Doctor and Susan discovered the Shakers, who were killing people while following outdated orders from World War II. (PROSE: Losing the Audience)

Lady Catherine Waverly's father died on this year. (AUDIO: Manhunt)

Park Vale Comprehensive School was built in Ealing on the site of a British Army barracks that had been destroyed in 1940. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)

In 1955, University of South Grimster parapsychologists John Struther, Margaret Schuman and Stanley Harris investigated the alleged haunting of Comarth Grange by a ghost known as the Old Peddler Woman. That night, Margaret was strangled to death, apparently by the ghost, who was photographed by Stanley. It was not until 2005 that the "ghost" was revealed to have been Iris Wildthyme, and Stanley Harris the real murderer. (PROSE: Most Horrid)

Alternative timeline

In an alternative timeline in which Nazi Germany won World War II, the Seventh Doctor fled Colditz Castle in October 1944 shortly after his companion Ace was killed by Feldwebel Kurtz. Immediately afterwards in his personal timeline, he returned to Germany during this year. The TARDIS materialised near a border checkpoint in the West. As he appeared to be carrying a weapon, the Nazi soldiers on duty shot him immediately. After examining his body, they realised that it was in actuality an old umbrella. Although the TARDIS was captured, the Doctor's body seemingly disappeared. Absconding after his regeneration into his eighth incarnation, the Doctor adopted the alias "Johann Schmidt." He later told Elizabeth Klein that he was a collector of sorts who had stolen the Doctor's body and gained possession of the TARDIS key. (AUDIO: Klein's Story)