"Cosmic Hobo"
"Cosmic Hobo" was a code name given by the British Army to an alien time traveller with a time machine shaped like a police box who went by a title that started with the letter "D". (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) The name was devised by Ian Gilmore and Oliver Hamilton; (PROSE: The Enfolded Time) it originated from the fact that several witnesses described the time traveller as being dressed like a hobo. The "Hobo" was often accompanied by young assistants.
Some reports suggested that the name "Cosmic Hobo" was a code name for was itself another code name used by multiple individuals. While most accounts of the "Cosmic Hobo" described him as being short and dark-haired, some witnesses described a different-looking old man. (PROSE: The Dogs of War)
By mid-1969, there were at least five documented sighting of the "Cosmic Hobo" dating back to the 1940s; these included: Northumberland in 1943[1], South Wales in 1959[2], (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) during the encounter ICMG had with alien battle machines in Shoreditch in 1963[3], (PROSE: The Dogs of War) at Gatwick Airport in 1966[4], (PROSE: The Dogs of War, Beast of Fang Rock) and during the London Event of 1969.[5] (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock)
Undocumented incidents involving the "Hobo" included the Great Intelligence's attack on the Det-Sen Monastery in 1935[6] and the Rutan scout incursion at the Fang Rock lighthouse in 1902.[7] (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock)
After Anne Travers and Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart met the "Cosmic Hobo" during the London Event, they were required to sign the Official Secrets Act - the Act required them to not refer to the "Cosmic Hobo" by his real name. Travers recommended that Lethbridge-Stewart train his mind to think of the time traveller as the "Cosmic Hobo". (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock)
During the Grandfather attack on Earth, McMillan inquired into Lethbridge-Stewart's previous encounters with extraterrestrials but was not able to find much information about Alistair's first alien encounter due to the involvement of the "Cosmic Hobo". (PROSE: The Grandfather Infestation)
However, in the 1970s the "Cosmic Hobo" underwent a drastic change which resulted in the description of him being a cosmic hobo no longer being very applicable. The code name was dropped and forgotten. (PROSE: The Enfolded Time)
Footnotes
- ↑ A reference to The Curse of Fenric.
- ↑ A reference to Delta and the Bannermen.
- ↑ A reference to Remembrance of the Daleks.
- ↑ A reference to The Faceless Ones.
- ↑ A reference to The Web of Fear.
- ↑ A reference to The Abominable Snowmen.
- ↑ A reference to Horror of Fang Rock.
