1938

1938 in

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the DWU • vital statistics

In 1938, the TARDIS, damaged by Mels' gun, crash-landed in Hitler's study in Berlin, inadvertently stopping the torture of Hitler by the Teselecta. Hitler was punched by Rory Williams and forced into a closet. In the confusion, Hitler shot Mels, causing her to regenerate, revealing herself as Melody Pond. Melody poisoned the Eleventh Doctor, shutting down his regenerative abilities. Having later captured Melody, one of the biggest war criminals in history, the Teselecta computer told the Doctor that a religious order called the Silence wanted him dead. Amy Pond caused the crew to evacuate from the ship to escape from the antibodies, releasing her daughter. After the Doctor succumbed to the poison, Melody used up her remaining regeneration energy to revive him, once she learnt that she would become his closest friend River Song one day. The Doctor then took River away to the Sisters of the Infinite Schism to recover. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

On 3 April, in New York City, Rory Williams was sent back in time by the Weeping Angels from 2012. Later, baby Weeping Angels displaced him in space to Winter Quay, a "battery farm" for humans the Angels could send back in time. Seeing an older Rory die in one of Winter Quay's rooms that day, Rory and his wife, Amy, created a temporal paradox by jumping off Winter Quay's roof, undoing the older Rory's death and destroying the hotel. Amy, Rory, their son-in-law, the Eleventh Doctor, and their daughter, River Song, were returned to 2012. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)

On 14 May, Peri Brown was abducted from Hollywood by the Threshold. She was later returned there by the Seventh Doctor. (COMIC: The Curse of the Scarab, Ground Zero)

On 30 October, in New York City, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre performed an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds on CBS Radio. The broadcast caused nationwide panic across the United States of America. Although calm soon settled as the American people realised that it was only a play, the public remained unaware that certain elements of the production were based on actual events. The Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard were present in New York City at the time. (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)

On 25 December, Madge Arwell met a "Spaceman Angel", in actuality the Eleventh Doctor, stuck back to front in a space suit. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Also on this date, the eight-year-old Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was given a box of toy soldiers by his namesake paternal grandfather, who promptly asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Alistair was not pleased with his present. (COMIC: The Warkeeper's Crown)

Adolf Hitler obtained the Validium Arrow, one of the key components of the Nemesis statue. Around the same time, the Nemesis statue passed Earth, heralding Hitler's annexation of Austria and the coming outbreak of World War II. (TV: Silver Nemesis)

In what became known as "the Cambridge University Fiasco," an archaeological team attempted and failed to open the Devil's Hump. (TV: The Dæmons)

Mr. Bayles began working as a butcher in Crook Marsham. (PROSE: Nightshade)

Joe Louis beat German heavyweight challenger Max Schmeling in a New York boxing match. Cody McBride was amongst the spectators. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)

Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and his parents moved from British India to the United Kingdom. (PROSE: Island of Death)

• 4 January - Actor Jim Norton was born.
• 12 January - Actor Lewis Fiander was born.
• 14 January - Designer Spencer Chapman was born.
• 21 January - Actor John Savident was born.
• 28 January - Actor Christopher Coll was born.
• 18 February - Jon Pertwee made his film debut in a bit part in the Robert Taylor film A Yank at Oxford.
• 25 February - Actor Malcolm Tierney was born.
• 26 February - Actor Tony Selby was born.
• 13 March - Actor David McKail was born.
• 13 April - Actor Julian Fox was born.
• 13 May - Actor Milton Johns was born.
• 29 May - Actor Barry Jackson was born in Birmingham, England.
• 30 May - Actor Christopher Robbie was born.
• 18 June - Actor Michael Sheard was born in Aberdeen, Scotland.
• 28 June - Actor John Tillinger was born in Tabriz, Iran.
• 14 July - Actor Lionel Sansby was born.
• 20 July - Actress Diana Rigg was born.
• 28 July - Actor David Weston was born.
• 5 August - Actor Tim Preece born.
• 18 August - Actor Roy Boyd was born.
• 3 September - Actor Tom Adams was born.
• 8 September - Actor Louis Mahoney was born.
• 17 September - Actor Richard Kane was born in Birmingham.
• 28 September - Actress Tina Packer was born.
• 30 September - Actor Lawrence Harrington was born.
• 2 October - Actor Bruce Purchase was born.
• 22 October - Actor Derek Jacobi was born.
• 30 October - Orson Welles' real-life radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds occurred. It inspired the Big Finish Productions audio story AUDIO: Invaders from Mars.
• 1 November - Actress Frances White was born in Leeds.
• 19 November - Actor Nicholas Pennell was born.
• 27 November - Actor Rodney Bewes was born.
• 5 December - Actress Elaine Ives-Cameron was born.
• 9 December - Director Waris Hussein was born.
• 12 December - Actor Leslie Schofield was born.
• 17 December - Actor Del Henney was born.
• 23 December - Production manager George Gallaccio was born.