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Andrew Verney was Little Hodcombe's historian and Tegan Jovanka's grandfather.
Biography
Andrew Verney was English (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"]) and lived in a cottage in Little Hodcombe where he worked as the local historian. (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"]) He was the father of Vanessa, Joy and Richard (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"]) and grandfather to Tegan Jovanka, (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"]) her brothers (PROSE: Qualia [+]Loading...["Qualia (short story)"]) and Colin and Michael Frazer. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"]) He kept in touch with Tegan by letter and told her all about his home, which she had never visited.
Verney was an old friend of Jane Hampden, whom he told about the history of the Queen of the May (PROSE: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (novelisation)"]) and his years of research dedicated to the Malus. After finding the dormant Malus in the church in 1984, Verney informed Sir George Hutchinson, whose "deranged mind" reactivated it. Sir George then had Verney kept prisoner to prevent his interference in the war games, but he escaped several days later after being joined by Vislor Turlough and they went to the church together to destroy the Malus.
Reunited with Tegan when she, the Fifth Doctor and Jane spotted him and Turlough on the TARDIS scanner, Verney witnessed the Malus's destruction and assured his granddaughter, whom Sir George had intended to sacrifice as Queen of the May, that the people of his village were usually more welcoming. He, Tegan, Turlough, Jane, Ben Wolsey, Joseph Willow and Will Chandler pressured the Doctor into staying at Little Hodcombe for a time. (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"])
Legacy
Verney Food Supplies was an animal feed company which was run by Tegan's father until his death. It was then taken over by Tegan, who was running it by 2006. (AUDIO: The Gathering [+]Loading...["The Gathering (audio story)"])
Other references
In a dream given to her by the Toymaker, Tegan was at her father's funeral and reasoned that Verney was not there because he was mourning Vanessa. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"])
Personality
Verney had an enthusiasm for digging up the past (PROSE: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (novelisation)"]) which led him to spend years researching the Malus. (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"])
Appearance
Verney was a harmless-looking old man (PROSE: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (novelisation)"]) with grey hair and blue eyes. (TV: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (TV story)"]) He wore a baggy old tweed suit with a matching hat. After several days in captivity, he looked grizzled and had untidy hair and an unshaven face. (PROSE: The Awakening [+]Loading...["The Awakening (novelisation)"])
Behind the scenes
Although Tegan refers to Verney as her grandfather, an error in Divided Loyalties [+]Loading...["Divided Loyalties (novel)"] indicates that he is Vanessa and Joy's uncle and thus her great-uncle.