Whoisdoctorwho.co.uk

Defending the Earth!, formerly Who is Doctor Who?, was an Earth-run website originally by Clive Finch, then by Mickey Smith, and later by the mysterious David R.

History

Originally Who is Doctor Who? only contained a page with a grainy black-and-white photograph of the Doctor with block capitals underneath reading "Have you seen this man?", a page where (in-universe) readers submitted their sightings of the Doctor and a page with historical drawings and photographs of him.

File:SlitheenCraftDrawing.jpg

Drawing of a Slitheen ship from the site

Later, when Mickey Smith took over, during 2005 and 2006 he wrote articles about various events, including the 2005 Auton invasion of London, the attempt by the family Slitheen to destroy the world and Guinivere One's flight to Mars, amongst others.

In 2007, he changed the style of the website, renamed it Defending the Earth!, and added missions to the readers of his website to help him as he seemingly decided it was hard to do things all by himself, allowing the readers to help combat alien invasions.

When David R took over from Mickey after he was left in an alternate reality, the missions were replaced with games and a quiz was added to test the readers of the website about what he, Mickey, Clive, LINDA and various other groups had been researching over the last few years. However, by the time of the Battle of Canary Wharf, the website was no longer being updated.

Sightings Page

Jenn I've seen him. I was in a panic about my A-Levels as the exam was this very day and I hadn't revised. Just when I decided to run off and miss the exam, he comes out of nowhere and says, 'Trust me, you don't want to miss these exams.' I was surprised that he knew exactly what I was thinking, but I asked him why. 'Listen,' he said. 'If you try and skip your ICT A-Level, the whole world is doomed.' I went to the exam...just to get away from the weirdo. Is he really an alien, Clive? Blimey!

Steven Hudson I saw him a couple a years ago outside a new building development in Totters Lane, East London. The guy seemed really confused and keep muttering, "They’re all gone, I'm the only one left". The man was either a complete loon or was drunk. Looking back I think he was probably drunk as he looked as if he'd been to a fancy dress party. He was wearing some old Edwardian outfit, not a leather jacket.

Matthew I saw him on my school trip to Chepstow castle. Our tour guide was telling us how people would of attacked the castle. Then a man with short hair, a leather jacket and a northern accent said I didn't see them do it that way. We all looked at him puzzled and he walked away grinning. Later we heared a strange noise like some sort of engine

Helva Soprano I run a firm of architects and this guy did some contract work for us last summer. We were never able to use any of his designs - the doofus kept making the floor plans bigger than the actual building.

trevor french about 20 years ago, when i was at school we visited the planetaruim in london. i am pretty certain even now that this guy worked there, he kept talking about halleys comet and gave us all orange fruit gums

Mrs. Smith I have no idea about the young man in the picture, but I do recall meeting an older, white haired gentlemen back in 1963 who called himself The Doctor. He had a younger girl with him who I think was his grand-daughter. I was working as an utherette at the Ritz Cinema in Totters Lane at the time. (The cinema's not there now, you know. They knocked it down and turned it into flats.) Any way, it was one evening and and we were showing a film about the fall of Rome. All this old boy kept doing was tutting and muttering that it wasn't historically accurate. He kept going on and on and upsetting the rest of the patrons so I had to ask him to leave. A right crotchetty old so and so he was, very bad tempered. Very rude too. I gave him a piece of my mind and sent him packing. I served in the Blitz and wasn't I wasn't having any of his nonsense. (I'm 81 you know.) He stormed out into the direction of an old jumkyard and I never saw him again! Thinking about it, perhaps the young man's a relation....

charm my friend is doctor who

Dazza P I think there's a team of them, all using the same name. My uncle usd to work as a lab assistant in some over-rated army base (not regular army, mind, a special unit but I can't recall the name) and he told me that the head of the unit - a scotsman I think - kept using this Doctor to head up the scientific research bit. But there were loads of them. I'm guessing The Doctor might be a code name or something. It's not like they can all be the same guy is it?

El Pinguino Research has turned up records of a man with this name showing up on the R101 airship in 1930. There are no descriptions, but it sounds like the same man. There are also unconfirmed rumours of "El Daktar" in 3rd Dynasty Egypt.

Venna I saw him a few months ago before a performance of "1776" at the Ford's Theatre here in Washington DC. He seemed a little confused when I told him President Lincoln had been dead for a very long time but he could see the museum in the basement full of Lincoln's things. I spotted him down there during intermission, hovering in a darkish corner (the museum was undergoing rennovations at the time and it was very shadowy and spooky). He was gazing at the empty pedisals where the busts are usually kept. He had a very odd sort of look on his face, I thought it best not to bother him...

Steve Hrad I swear I saw this guy the other day...I was in my sitting in the park listening to a Britney Spears CD on my boombox when this guy walks past and says "When you're long gone, that song will live on." I thought it was cool that he liked my choice in music, but he was a little odd.

Colin He was in Northampton about 3 weeks ago, buying a set of opera glasses and an old Dandy annual in the Age Concern charity shop. He used what he called a 25Euro note with a picture of the Queen Mother on it.

blue I think I know who you are talking about. I was travelling in Tibet several years ago and, whilst the high altitude makes you rather giddy, I remember thinking to myself that backpackers dont wear leather jackets. He was surrounded by several buddhist monks and he was engaged deep in conversation. I remember it well because of the facial expressions. The monks seemed to listen to everything he said. I even bumped into him outside the monastry outside Lhasa, I apologised, but he simply grinned and said "keep on going. you will see" It has intrigued me ever since. What else do you know Clive?

Thomas I saw him at a roller-disco in 1973. He looked just as he does now! It's like he hasn't aged a day!

Sarah Jane Smith I am a reporter doing a story on the Doctor. I am looking for an exclusive interview. I would appreciate if anyone could contact me immediately at the Daily Mail, if they see him in London.

Peter D Royal Wedding. Check the footage. In the background, near one of the OB vans. Now check footage from Aintree: same day, same man, over 100 miles away in less than an hour. Then check OB day before, St Peter's, funeral. Again, near the OB unit. Definitely blue box behind one of the stands, too.

Mr. Yates I think it might be in your best interest to not concern yourself with the Doctor or his doings. He is not the man you think he is and he is not involved in the manner you think he is. I should know, he changed my life completely. The Doctor is protected by friends in high places.

Arthur Dent This rather odd man was lying down in front of a bulldozer in front of my home.

The Cartoonist I saw this man jumping off an old Routemaster Bus on Tottenham Court Road in London, at the corner of New Oxford Street. But - there are no Routemasters anymore on Tottenham Court Road. How very strange.

Perry Winkle There was a boy in my class at school in Salford some thirty years ago who looked just like this man. Strange similarity...

Sam Ford I saw The Doctor in a library in Stafford reading a book by Charles Dickens...

Alex I saw him at the Science Museum. During my visit of the Star Trek-Science Exhibition. There was this man who was abviously amused about the shown props of a possible future.

Njsjedi Include details of your sighting here. i saw this man last week in a tea shop. he asked for Tea with two lumps and then he asked for two sugars!!!

E.D. Beckly Well, I was working part time at my local libary, when this bloke who looked just like the Doctor came and asked me where the history section was. I told him and he went there. About 10 minuites later he came back and said "Ok, now where do you keep the ACURATE history books?"

barry h i saw him shopping at the heart foundation charity shop and over heard him saying "well ive got 2 of them so i might aswell donate to your charity you never know when i might need you"

Daniel Roberts This man everyone is going on about cannot be alive today. There is photographic evidence of him taking part in King George VI coronation in 1936! He would be well over 100 years old by now! Impossible!

Samuel Wilkinson I once saw him on the tube, reading A Brief History Of Time and laughing heartily.

SkipN I saw him at a Boston Red Sox game back in 1998. He was saying something about "Patience, wait until 2004.".

R Spendsmith I don't know if he's the same bloke but he's the spitting image of a bloke I saw broken down at the side of the road the other day. He was driving some old yellow vintage thing and the AA man was looking well confused.

Miles Smith Saw him last week in an antique shop on Church St, North London. Trying to sell an old chess set...

Matneee I've not seen him personally, but my Great Grandfather did show me a photo and tell me of the 'tall unruly sort of chap in a leather jerkin shouting about ducks' who attended the archdukes parade in Sarajavo, 1914..

Charlie Pocket My wife and I were married in Las Vegas in 1992, we needed a witness and a best man quickly - so we grabbed the first couple who passed by - It's uncanny how similar my best man looks to the bloke on your website. He was with a blonde haired girl of about 19 or so - I've got his signature on our marriage certificate. Doctor John Smith!

Marty McFly I know that man, he stole my DeLorean!!!

Wake U. Sooka When I was fourteen (the year was 1984), I was fishing in a stream not far from my parents' home. I was alone, as I enjoyed the quietness of solitary fishing. I'd been out most of the day, having caught absolutely nothing, when something fierce tugged on the line. It nearly jerked the fishing pole from my hands! I struggled with it for several minutes, trying my best to reel in whatever it was that had been caught. At first I thought I had snagged the hook on a branch or a root, but when what I had caught surfaced, it gave me quite a fright. I thought it was a large turtle, as its head was shaped like a turtle's, but it was large. Very large. It hissed at me, the hook wedged in its beak and it glared at me with hateful red eyes. For some reason, I kept a hold on the pole, but I stopped reeling. The turtle thing began crawling through the water towards the shore, as if it were coming for me. As it neared, I could see more of its body. It was the size of a large dog. Suddenly, someone came up from behind me and cut the line with what I assume was a knife. The thing in the water hissed and swam back into the depths of the strem. I looked behind me and it was this man, the one in the photographs on this site, dressed in a battered leather coat and slacks. His attire was odd because it was sweltering outside yet he didn't seem to sweat. He smiled and nodded at me, saying that my catch was the kind of catch no one wants or needs. He then handed me a cluster of odd-looking fish, wished me well and headed off down the shore. Those fish he gave me tasted incredible.

Treadstone71 I saw somebody very similar serving fried eggs in our staff canteen and muttering something about the Da Vinci Code being his idea

Gavin My gradfather told me that his great grandfather told him about this strange man who mended their cuckoo clock

Matt Bull I saw him when I was eight singing an opera song to a bush in my local park. He was off key.

mississippi man it was in the mid 1940's i was in a blues bar in mississippi. A man, identical to the one in the picture, walked in. he was the only white guy who had ever stepped into the bar. no one thought much of it, he asked if he could play some blues. so he got up on the small stage and started to play this incredible song, it was only in 1969 when i heard purple haze by jimi hendrix that i realised it was the same song. how he could play it all those years before i do not know, i hav been puzzled to this very day??????

Bugs Nixon I saw him in Asda in 1979 buying up all the Star Wars figures.

domonic hyde I last saw this man just before closing time outside the Kings Head Orford suffolk in dec 28th 1980. He was comming out of an old police box, and I was going back to my car. He said DO NOT go back to Ipswich past Bentwaters or Rendlesham Forest find another way home. Put the willies up me!! but as I drove back another way I saw some very strange lights in the sky. Weird!!

Dan Nycia Include details of your sighting here. Saw this man walking out of a disused quarry near my home. He smiled and said, "I always land in a quarry. It's the last place anyone would think to look."

Mark B I've seen him!!! I was on my holiday last year in Tunisia. He approached me and asked me if I was interested in 'time shares'

Julie B There's a statue in the Egyptian museum that has a striking resemblance to him. It was made in 2500BC.

Woodie I was visiting the ruins of Pompeii and I saw him. I said: "Terrible what happened here, wasn't it?" He looked at me and he said: "Well, I tried to warn them..."

Laura McCabe I'm 11 years old and i saw the Doctor while visiting Carrick Castle in Northern Ireland. He was looking at military archives and prodding old suits of armour, mumbling something about "metal being so much safer than plastic"

Ian, UK. Clive, I've just stumbled across your site, and thought you should hear this. My daughter, Bella, was born on 27/11/2004. The day before, a man, matching the description of this "Doctor", walked up to me as I was helping my wife into the car and whispered "Put this on your daughter as soon as you hold her. It'll come in useful in the Future." He shook my hand. In my palm I found a small silver cross on a chain. He smiled. No, he grinned!! I pocketed the cross, and we continued on to the hospital. I placed the cross on Bella as soon as I held her. I have a feeling she's going to need it.

Dinah May I saw this man several years ago, dumping some old clothes at the local tip. There was a flute, a [{Third Doctor|velvet jacket]] and a long scarf. I asked him about them, and he just said he was having a clear out. Then he said he had never really liked cricket either.

Gerard Shannon You know it's the funniest thing, but I was visiting Newgrange - a 5000 year old Megalithic tomb - in Co. Meath here in Ireland recently with a group of friends when I saw this guy walking out of the tomb with some blond haired girl. "... well not to worry!", he was saying, "They're trapped down there for another 5000 years!" They both looked a little tired and worse for wear, so I figured there were some kind of archaeologists, but after reading this site, I really have to wonder...

Johnny He just ran past my house!

Adrian J Andrews I can't believe what I'm seeing here. If I am not mistaken, this is a gentleman who was claiming to be a botanist sent to my address by a local garden centre. I had discovered some strange plant life in my back garden which my dog had brushed against resulting in blue growths forming on his side. The vet had gone through every scenario before narrowing the cause down to these weeds. I contacted the local garden centre and was amazed that this so-called botanist had turned up at my front door within an hour. He took away every trace of these weeds and I have heard nothing since. I thought it was odd when he offered me a balm to rub into my dog's side and told me to discard that which the vet had given me. Is this man dangerous? I'm quite concerned now. Still, he DID cure whatever it was ailing my dog, for which I am grateful.

Katharine Its really weird but he looks like someone who I met on my PGCE course in Walsall. He helped me with my human anatomy and then disappeared.

Benn Stephens I think I saw him hanging around the day the local church burnt to the ground. I was told later the man (if it was him) had been telling ghost stories to the local authorities or something. They were after him to assist them with their enquiries for months but he never turned up again.

Dwayne Pipe I saw him in my local Smiths reading a copy of The Davinci Code. He was laughing his head off!

Bila I saw his face in my toast yesterday. I would provide a picture but I was hungry and I ate it.

Ted Prendergast I saw this man in the north east in the mid 1990s posing as a photo-journalist.

Kevin Jarvis I went to our local village hall on fete day and looked at guess the baby competition, in the background of two of the pictures taken in the village around 1946 he can be seen standing by the war memorial

John Razi Hi. Three years ago I worked in London for a company I cannot disclose. I am certain The Doctor worked as a security guard!

Richard J. Kingston I briefly worked in a private psychiatric institution during the summer of 1962 and I can vividly recall this so called "Doctor". He was the last patient to be admitted into our facility. The man was obviously delusional, reckless, and seemed to delight in agitating his fellow inmates. Prior to his arrival, a number of strange “incidents” had stirred up the patients and we, the staff, openly feared a mass breakout attempt. Violent confrontations between the staff and their wards were increasing daily. This “Doctor” only succeeded in making a bad situation worse. We would often find him wandering the corridors or searching through the staff quarters at night, despite the fact that we sedated him and placed him in a securely locked cell after his evening meal each day. How he escaped from him cell and evaded our security guards each night, I will never know. After only one week of incarceration, he vanished. I have no idea how he escaped our hospital, but I often wonder if his escape was somehow connected with the disappearance of our head physician Dr. Sirius Drake, and a mysterious fire that destroyed Dr. Drake’s private quarters and laboratory that same night. We never had time to recapture this “Doctor” - and I never found any answers to my questions - because, a few days later, our institution was ordered to close by the government, and our inmates were transferred to other institutions. I must warn you: Beware this man. Trouble circle him like vultures above a corpse. Do not be fooled by his friendly demeanour. Do not trust him. Do NOT follow him. I say again, beware this “Doctor.”

Terence Chua I was doing research into the American Civil War at the University of Georgia, going through photographs taken just after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. There was a man dressed in a Union Army captain's uniform standing by one of the many buildings that had been converted into field hospitals that looked slightly out of place. What mystified me was another photograph of apparently the same man, his arm bandaged, but this time in a Confederate colonel's uniform, among the other officer prisoners. Both looked exactly like this Doctor.

Billy Further to Samuel's story below, my grandmother remembers seeing this man in May 1945, when she was a child. Observing a destroyed building, he turned to her and said "Terrible, isn't it? Don't worry, it'll be over tomorrow" and left. The next day, she said, the war ended.

Richard Kilpatrick At a concert in 1987 - I'd swear I saw him playing guitar in a session band for one of Marillion's support acts. He kept looking at one of the exits frantically. Soon after that Fish mysteriously left the band...

Danu I saw him lurking at the bar in The Blue Angel, Islington. It was the 6th of January 1995. He was fascinated by my friend's tattoos. He seemed lonely...

Matneee I've not seen him personally, but my Great Grandfather did show me a photo and tell me of the 'tall unruly sort of chap in a leather jerkin shouting about ducks' who attended the archdukes parade in Sarajavo, 1914..

Steve-O I know it sounds weird, but this guy that looked like him stopped me last year when I was going to me A-levels and said "Remember, electrons have a *negative* charge. *Negative*."

Sarah T I saw him reading the dictionary at Waterloo Station saying, "Yes, I suppose it is..."

carol theres a statue on dover sea front of a miner been there a good few years. now i'm wondering who was it based on?

Winnie Malcolm Smith Outside Fettes College, Edinburgh, 1972. He was telling some longhaired teenager not to worry about being nicknamed 'Cynthia', and that he should stick with the school drama group. The man you call the doctor seemed quite keen to stress that a career in politics would be a big mistake. At first, I thought that the doctor meant it would be a big mistake for the young man...but he went off muttering something about 'global implications'. It seemed such a strange conversation, that I couldn't help eavesdropping, and I've often pondered it over the years. The thing that struck me most about it was that 'Cynthia' had such a stupid grin.

Lizzie We saw him in Debenhams in Sheffield looking nervously at the lift and asking for directions to the Winter Gardens. We were talking to try to work out the best way, and when we turned around to tell him he had disappeared.

John Lord Saw him at a curry house in Bradford a couple of weeks back. He ordered a Chicken Tikka Masala.

nigel wright If you look very closly at the background of the "Manhatten" project photographs from the 1940's, you will see him!, he is just to the right of Oppenheimer

Andrew - S. Wales I remember watching this guy play down the local arcade in the 80's , he was awesome on Pac Man and Galaga!!!

Dr Stanley Sidebottom I'm a student of Classical Civilisations and Archaeology. I recently came across a frieze in an ancient Persian temple in modern Baghdad, and was stunned to find the main effigy of Ahura Mazda (it was a Zorastrain temple) was a tall, lean figure, and bore what appears to be a leather jacket, with an intense glare in his eyes. The following day, I could swear I saw the very same man in a Baghdadi teashop, conversing with the locals in fluent Iraqi, asking something about the local telephone system. I have no idea if these two incidents are at all related.

Steve Wood There was a photo of him in my local paper last week. He'd apparently rushed into a small family run garden centre & set fire to a whole aisle of recently imported tropical plants. The Police here are still conducting enquiries but haven't been able to track him down as yet.

Gustavo Lugo I saw this man a couple of weeks ago at my local comic book shop trying to sale some early Spider-Man issues from the Sixties & Seventies. The owner of the store refused to buy them because they looked too brand new to be original copies.

Huw Evans I saw him in Aberystwyth in 1977 queing for to see Star Wars at the Commodore cinema. He had a very tall woman with him who had next to nothing on. I thought they were students.

Arnold Bocklin This looks like a homeless guy who used to hang about on Whitworth Street in Manchester, back in the eighties. I once saw him having an argument with Tony Wilson. If you tried to give him some money, he's just quote poetry at you.

Basil Brazil He's working here as a computer programmer!

Howard Pitfield I worked overseas from 1975 to 1984 - and think I saw hi at the Gates of the Khyber Pass, in Northern Pakistan. The road leads to Torkhum on the Afghan border - it was around the time the Russians invaded Afghanistan. I was just getting the number plates changed by exporting and reimporting my car back after selling it to someone else in the Brithsh Embassy Islamabad (Pakistan was not in Commonwealth at that time - so not a High Commission for any purists reading). H

Guy Anwar I think I saw this man in Cheltenham, running down the High Street with a girl with blonde air. I was standing outside the Green Man pub at the time, having just enjoyed a nice lunch of fish and chips. This guy looked rather anxious about something.

Mandy Thompson My grandad caught site of the pic whilst I was on line. He swears its some guy he met during WW2 who was connected to government. He's usually quite rambling and unstoppable with his war stories but when I asked him for more info, he clammed up and said that there were some things he didn't want to remember.

Ray Payne I saw that guy in a pub in New Cross. I remember him because I said "Excuse me mate, have you got the time?" He said "Time is an abstract concept invented by man. In reality, Time does not exist." I backed away slowly. I think he'd had a few pints.

C. M West I saw him in the lower observation deck of Tokyo Tower in 1991. He was describing the course of a fire and pointing out the path of destrcution to a cute blond girl. I asked they where planning to shoot a Godzilla movie but they then pretended not to understand english.

Random C I've got a photo of my gran on holiday in Devon, says 1948 on the back in pencil. This bloke's in the background. It stuck in my mind when I was a kid, because it looks like he's having a conversation with a donkey.

Arbuthnot Posseton I'm typing this on my laptop in broad daylight and I can see this man standing, across the road, outside an antique shop.

Kaleigh O'Connor Yes, I've seen him. It was in Sleepy Hollow, New York and he asked my associate for directions to the Washington Irving Museum.

Wilson Fubbles I saw him way back in 1981, he was next to me in the crowd outside St Paul's on the day of Charles and Di's wedding. "It wont last" He kept muttering, "But it's a much better turn out than his next wedding!"

David Southwell I am certain he was the same weird bloke who was in the seat next to me at Highbury a couple of weekends ago. He spent most of the game reading a book and but had this uncanny knack of stopping reading and getting into the game just before a goal was scored or something juicy happened on the pitch.

Jonni I saw him before a football match at Bury, he was filling in his pools coupon and asked me if we had any chance of winning today.

Ant Williams I'm sure he was in my local WH Smith's, trying to buy an issue of Classic Rock with a £10 piece.

Karen I'm sure I've seen him wandering around Royal Tunbridge Wells recently ... muttering something about needing to find a coach and some horses, I think... very odd.

C. S. I did see that man! It was the day that an explosion rocked my school. I had gotten separated from my classmates that were trying to get out of the school, and found myself by the boiler room door. Suddenly, the door burst open and nearly hit me square in the face! Smoke was pouring out of the room, and then that man walked out. He looked at me, said "You'll need to get a new boiler, that ones very unsafe." He then took off down the hall. I tried following him, but I lost him. Then, I heard a funny grinding sound, and I half expected another explosion, but one never came, and the noise simply faded away....

Dr. C.J. Sansom Include details of your sighting here. I am a historian, and last year I was researching Henry VIII's visit to York in 1541. I had found an unexpected cache of very interesting Tudor parchments in some archives (I feel it better not to specify which)and to my amazement they included a pdocument claiming to prove that Henry VIII was in fact the illegitimate grandson of an archer and had no right to the throne. I had just begun reading it, with great excitement as you might imagine, when this man ran up to me, grabbed the cache of papers, said, "I think this had better go back! And if I can't return it Rose is for the rack." Then he fled. I have been trying to trace other papers that may throw light on this, but have found none. Can anyone help?

David Gee I'm positive I saw him pull a child out of the path of a speeding VW Beetle in Southport in 1987. As he disappeared into the crowd afterwards he glanced at me and my wife and said, 'I'll regret that in the morning'.

Peri Brown He walked into my life one day, and right out of it. Interested in getting back in touch. Any information?

Chris Steele I believe I saw this gentleman on "Survivor" on American television

Xandra Lenea-Ashford I saw this man a couple of years back while on a holiday - he stopped me to apologize "for the flowerpot"; handed me a small spade and flowerpot, and then took off... Funny, I don't even know how to garden...

rewboss Clive, I don't know if you're a conspiracy theorist or something, but I've met the guy and he's a harmless nutcase. He couldn't conspire to save his life. Berlin, Germany, 1989, the day the Wall came down, he barged into me, apologised, grinned and said, "Oh, it's you again. Fancy bumping into you like this." The he was off again, and I lost him in the crowd. I saw him again in Wolverhampton in 1991: same hair, same ears, same jacket. So I said Hello, and fancy meeting you again, and of course he didn't recognise me. I told him we met in Berlin in 1989, but it didn't ring any bells with him. Well, it had been a couple of years.

Richard Greenleaf It was rubbish day today and he was at the end of my drive shouting something. Then he ran off. He stole my Wheelie Bin......

H.J. Hardeman I remember seeing someone very much like him about a year ago. He tried to swap some Edwardean gear at an Oxfam in Sheffield for a pair of jeans and trainers.

Richard Hawton I'm sure I saw this bloke a few years back in Brighton. He was protesting furiously that the West Pier should be saved as a fine example of Victoriana. A few months later it burnt down in mysterious circumstances. I'm sure that he would have been gutted!

'Eddie Duggan' I had a long, rambling conversation with this man on some stone steps in a square in Prague in 1999. It was about 4 in the morning and I had just come out of a club. We spoke about music mostly - he knew the most bizarre stuff about early reggae records. He said he was a traveller. I never thought to ask his name.

Nigel Dawson I saw him wandering around the Police station in Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Clive Evans I saw him a few years ago at the Louvre in Paris, he was gazing at the Mona Lisa muttering 'I prefer the original'.

Mark I saw him in the supermarket buying spam and corned beef while muttering "She'll eat what she's given"

Simon Cooper I'm pretty sure I saw him back in 1999. I was in Mornington Crescent underground station waiting to take the lift down to the platform when he came running up the stairs holding a large silver metal ball in both hands. He turned right up towards Camden and that was the last I saw of him.

Dean Brown I haven't seen him but I did see some pictures in an old New Zealand Newspaper (Christchurch Press) that could have been his Father they look so alike, same fashion sense too, from around '78 an article about some UFO sitings off the coast of New Zealand.

Steve Hanson I saw him about two years ago. He was with a group of fanatics trying to save an old cinema in Salford. It was pulled down!

Riccy Unwin I saw this man last summer. I was in a cafe in Cambridge and he was attempting to pay for a cup of tea with the really old, big 10p pieces, which stopped being legal tender ten years ago (or thereabouts). He was holding up the queue so I gave him 50p. He seemed quite genuine (if a bit troubled).

WillH There's someone who looks a lot like him in a book of Victoria photos in my local library. Not many people wearing leather jackets in the 19th century, were there?

Chris Martin He was thrown off my train yesterday as his season ticket was not valid until 2009

j q public Saw someone who looked like him in a university campus not too long ago. Seemed to be arguing with a little man with an umbrella.

A. Fergus I know exactly who you mean - he's not the sort of guy you'd forget. I was doing a report on the fifth birthday of the London Eye (for 60 seconds on BBC 3) a couple of months back, and right in the middle of my report this crazy (frankly pretty scary) looking guy ran up to the crew and I and told us to run for it. Well, he had blood on his face and was extremely manic. You meet all sorts of crazies on the Southbank and think nothing of it but that guy was different. Despite years of being hardened news gathers not one of us stopped to question him. We ran like children. To be honest, there was something familiar about him but I couldn't tell you why. So, who is he? A vigilante or something? Or aren't you saying Clive?

Marcus Butler Back in the sixties my dad used to play in a skiffle band - they got the occassional gig but mostly they were busking on the streets. From time to time this bloke in a leather jacket (and the spitting image of him in this photo) would turn up, take out his spoons and play along with the band. He must be in his 70s now.

Chris Cave I think I sw him fishing in Nottingham by Trent Brige!!!

Edward J Green I saw him last week. He was in my local newsagents buying a copy of Heat. I said good morning to him but he just stared back at me

JR My mum says she met him in 1977 and he hasn't aged a bit.

Ms Millicent Davies Clive. I've seen this man. As the senior librarian at York Central Library, I had to ban him for defacing books. We caught him using a hand-held electronic 'eraser' device to remove whole paragraphs (and then add his own scribbles) from the biographies of HG Wells, Bodica, Tancred Norman, Xenocrates, Blaise Pascal and Margaret Thatcher (he scribbled "Nessie was here!" in the erased section). We haven't seen since but we have applied for an ASBO to legally ban him from all UK libraries.

Derek Cook I'm not sure it was him, because he had his back to me, but this strange guy was in the British Library Cosmology Section, skim-reading "definitive" works on the creation of the universe, and he kept tutting or laughing, or scribbling things in margins. He left (in a hurry) when a Librarian asked him for some identification.

David Grant Yes, I've seen him, or someone who looks like him! It's very strange though, he was in a photo my Dad keeps from his army days, he's a bit off in the background but it is clearly him. He's holding something, it looks like it was made of steel but I can't tell what it is as part of it is out of the picture. I don't think he was actually meant to be in that shot, from the way he's standing. He doesn't look like he was waiting to have his picture taken.

Dave Tonbridge This might sound really strange, but he's the spitting image of the Best Man at my parents' wedding. I've got the photos to prove it - but that was over forty years ago.

Stephen Norris This was the guy that came up to me in an internet cafe in Las Palmas last year. I had logged on to the Liverpool website to put up a birthday message for Anthony Wallenda, a mate of mine. "I wouln't do that if I were you," he said with this enormous grin on his face."There's no future in it at all!" "What?" I asked, "being mates with Anthony, or supporting Liverpool?" "Both. Disastrous."

Josiah Rowe I'm sure this is impossible, but the man in your photo bears an incredible resemblance to a photo I've got from my grandfather's days as a pilot in the American Army Air Corps during the First World War. In one of his letters home, he told of a strange Englishman who appeared on the base (in Foggia, Italy), somehow ingratiated himself with the CO, and then stole a Spad XIII. He was never seen again. This Englishman can be seen in the back row of a photograph my grandfather took of his fellow pilots. If you're interested, Clive, I can try to get hold of a scanner and send you a copy.

Benjamin McKenzie I saw someone who looked identical to this man in a photograph I was being shown at the Melbourne Immigration Museum today...it surely couldn't have been him, though, as the photo was taken in 1892 of a boat of Irish immigrants holding some kind of strange fish they had caught on their journey...

j Mendoza He was in Los Angeles.......in the fashion district......carrying fruits and vegetables

Mr Nifty I'm pretty sure I saw him last week, he was standing at the enterence to the underground, I asked him if he was lost, but he just laughed and said 'I'm never lost, I just don't know where I'm going.' I left then. Weirdo.

Antonio Spinozzi Yes he bought a battery from me a few years ago for his new mobile phone. He was a very quiet chap.

GPW He is the spit of a bloke that found our two kids when they went missing for a short while. This was near Castleton in the Peak District last summer. He seemed a simple soul but harmless. The kids were fine and he had obviously entertained them as they came back with silly stories about "lizard people".

Pete Lambert We had a lot of trouble at the council, where I work, with some kind of industrial accident, which was all hushed up a few months ago. I swear this is the "independant consultant" that was called in. These guys think they can just walk all over our procedures. It's a nightmare, and as always the press just aren't interested for some reason.

Andrew Wooding This is bizarre. I know that face, but I saw him 30 years ago when he came to my school in Surrey. Did a painting class with us, where he got us all to paint pictures of our dreams. I never figured out why. And he was still wearing that jacket then. Can it be the same guy?

Steve M. I saw him ... scrawling the numbers "23 6 801" on a wall ....

Matt Very odd...the pic looks like a lot like a man who knocked me over on the sidewalk yesterday. He was running down the street with some girl, shouting...

Thomas Vaughan Just before Christmas in the souk in Marrakech. I was haggling for a carpet when he came in, asked the shopkeeper something in Arabic, and left.

Chris Fazey I saw him at Chester Zoo. Talking to a giraffe.

Joanne Marsden I think it was the same man. He was wearing a bus driver's uniform. He flagged down our bus (68 to Bolton), and relieved the driver - who left under protest. This new driver - the man in the photo - drove us for about another quarter mile or so, refusing to stop to let off any passengers. He then ordered us all off at the next stop, except for one woman, tall, very pale skinned, dressed in what looked like a sari or something. He then drove off, turning abruptly up Lancaster Rd - not part of the 68 route. I was half an hour late for work and when I complained to the bus company they claimed to know nothing about the driver or the incident.

r willimas I have seen this man today He was in B&Q purchasing a tin of Blue paint (cosmos blue, gloss finish ).He was interested in some AA batteries by the counter.He then asked for 10% off as it was over 65s discount day, the assitant asked "how old are you". He was about to answer and paused,"forget it" He then paid with some loose change and left.

Geoff Cliff I've seen him! He was browsing thru the drum n bass cds in hmv last tuesday. he asked my advice about them, as he was buying a present for somebody. i told him that the best cd in the whole world was Ultra by Depeche Mode. he didn't end up buying anything, tho, i think his credit card was rejected.

Aaron Smith I saw this man inside a department store. This was about six months ago.

trampus He bumped into me and didn't say sorry. He looked like he was in a terrible hurry.

Doris Spelgar I know the man you mean. I saw him last year, the day my Fred went into hospital for the last time.

He was there in the corridor, thumping a drinks machine. He nodded at me, smiled, and then handed me a drink from the machine.

It was a really lovely tea. In fine bone china.

"Keep the cup," he said. And left.

Continuity

• Former companions Sarah Jane Smith and Peri Brown appear in this asking if they have information on the Doctor's whereabouts.
• Mike Yates also appears (under the name 'Mr Yates').
• There is mention that the Ninth Doctor seems to have lived a long enough time before meeting Rose.
• Rose Tyler and Susan Foreman are mentioned.
• The First and Seventh Doctors are referenced.
• BFA: Storm Warning is referenced.

External Links

• Defending the Earth! at whoisdoctorwho.co.uk
• List of reader sightings