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On This Day (USA) - 5 February



The Massacre: War of God premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:15pm GMT, watched by 8.00 million viewers.

The Doctor and Steven arrive in Paris in the 16th Century. The Doctor talks science with apothecary, Charles Preslin, whilst Steven learns of a Catholic plot.


The Curse of Peladon: Episode Two premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:51pm GMT, watched by 11.00 million viewers.

The work of the committee is hampered by sabotage, fear and suspicion. The Doctor knows the Ice Warriors of old and believes that they may be the guilty party.


The Robots of Death: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 1977 at 6:22pm GMT, watched by 12.40 million viewers.

The Doctor and Leela are blamed for the murder of one of the sandminer's crew. But the real killer is still on the loose, intent on wiping out more of the humans.


 Birthdays
Michael Sheen was 55 - credited as Voice of House in The Doctor's Wife

Michael SheenOBE, is a Welsh stage and screen actor. 

After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Sheen made his professional debut in 1991, starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre. He worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s and made notable stage appearances in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don�t Fool With Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull(1995), The Homecoming (1997) and Henry V(1997). His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vicand Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively.

In the 2000s, while continuing to make sporadic stage appearances, Sheen became known primarily as a screen actor. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse and had a breakthrough performance as the British politician Tony Blair in the television film The Deal. He received a BAFTA Awardnomination in 2004 for his work in the ITV dramaDirty Filthy Love. In 2006, Sheen starred as the troubled comic actor Kenneth Williams in BBC Four's Fantabulosa! and came to the attention of an international audience when he reprised his role as Blair in The Queen. Both performances were BAFTA Award-nominated. Sheen received a fourth Olivier Award nomination in 2006 for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon at the Donmar Warehouse and he later revisited the role of Frost in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. In 2009, Sheen appeared in two fantasy films, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and starred as the outspoken football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United.

In the 2010s, Sheen has divided his time between film, television and theatre work. In 2010, he made a four-episode guest appearance in the NBC comedy 30 Rock and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Blair in the HBO film The Special Relationship. He appeared in the science-fiction film Tron: Legacy (2010) and Woody Allen's romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011). At Easter 2011, Sheen directed and starred in National Theatre Wales's The Passion, a 72-hour secularpassion play staged in his hometown of Port Talbot. From October 2011 until January 2012, Sheen played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic.


Robin Sachs (died 2013 aged 61) would have been 73 - credited as British professor in The New World(TW)

Robin David Sachs was an English actor.

Sachs was born in London, the son of actors Leonard Sachs and Eleanor Summerfield. He was married twice: to Welsh actress Siân Phillips (1979–1991), and to Casey Defranco.

Among his roles, he played the evil magician Ethan Rayne in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer as well as General Valen in Star Trek: Voyager and Coplann in Babylon 5: In The Beginning. He also made three different guest appearances in Babylon 5 and was the warmongering General Roth'h'ar Sarris in the sci-fi comedy parody film Galaxy Quest.


John Nettleton (died 2023 aged 94) would have been 95 - credited as Reverend Ernest Matthews in Ghost Light

John Nettleton (born London) is an English actor.

One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister (1980-1984) and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-upYes, Prime Minister (1985�1988). Another political role for Nettleton was a Conservative PartyMember of Parliament in the sitcom The New Statesman.

He played the Reverend Ernest Matthews in the Doctor Who serial Ghost Light (1989), 

Other roles were in A Man for All Seasons (1966), a police sergeant in Please Sir! in 1969, theBrian Clemens thriller And Soon the Darkness (1970), Elizabeth R (1971), Black Beauty (1971), a Detective Superintendent in Doctor at Large in 1971, Upstairs Downstairs (1972), The Country Wife (1977), The Flame Trees of Thika (1981), The Citadel (1983), Martin Luther, Heretic (1983),Brass (1983), East of Ipswich (1987), Jinnah (1998), Longitude (2000), Midsomer Murders (2005), and Kingdom (2008).

On stage, he has appeared in the Lyttelton Theatre of the Royal National Theatre in the 2006 productions of Harley Granville Barker's The Voysey Inheritance, directed by Peter Gill. He also voices Grandpa in the PC Game, "The Scruffs".

To a generation who grew up as children in the 1960s and 1970s, who were viewers of the long-running B.B.C. television programme, Blue Peter, John Nettleton's voice is immediately recognised as the reader of various illustrated stories, often about historical figures, such as Florence Nightingale.

He is married to actress Deirdre Doone.

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA  


 Deaths
Michael Jayston (died 2024 aged 88) - 9 credits, including The Valeyard in The Trial of a Time Lord (The Mysterious Planet)

Michael Jayston  was a Nottingham-born English actor.

He played The Valeyard in the Fourteen part storyTrial of a Time-Lord

He attended the Becket Grammar School in West Bridgford, then worked briefly as a trainee accountant at the offices of the National Coal Board before obtaining a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to train as an actor. He made his professional debut, aged 27, in a production ofThe Amorous Prawn, going on to work on the stage at the Salisbury Repertory, Bristol Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He enjoyed success as a classical stage actor, then played roles on British television.Shakespearean roles on TV include Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Gratiano inThe Merchant of Venice (1973) and Edmund in King Lear (1975). An early recurring television role was as civil servant Dowling in the final series of boardroom drama The Power Game in 1969.

In 1970 he played Henry Ireton in Cromwell. In 1971, he starred as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in the film Nicholas and Alexandra, then in 1973 took the lead role of Mr Rochester in a BBC adaptation ofJane Eyre opposite Sorcha Cusack. He appeared as Gratiano opposite Laurence Olivier as Shylockin the National Theatre's film The Merchant of Venice (1974). He made two appearances in the anthology series Thriller in 1974 and in 1975 played Quiller, a spy who never used a gun, in the British TV series of the same name. He appeared as Dornford Yates' gentleman hero Jonathan Mansel in the 1977 BBC adaptation of She Fell Among Thieves. In 1979 he played Peter Guillam opposite Alec Guinness in the serial Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He also played Mr Spooner in series Tracy Beaker Returns in 2010.

Jayston played Neville Badger in the 1989 television adaptation of David Nobbs's comedy of mannersA Bit of a Do. He portrayed James Bond in a radio adaptation of You Only Live Twice in 1990. In 1991 he appeared as Colonel Mustard in the television series Cluedo and a year later made a guest appearance in the Press Gang episode "UnXpected". Other TV appearances include in EastEnders,Coronation StreetOnly Fools and HorsesThe Darling Buds of MayTales of the UnexpectedThe Bill and the character of Donald De Souza in Emmerdale. He also was on Holby City and Tracy Beaker Returns

For several years in the 1970s and '80s, Jayston's voice was heard in the TV commercial for the aspirin product Anadin. The script (beginning with the words "Tense, nervous headache...?") became so well known that comedians worked it into sketches and routines.

He has also narrated many audio books, including works by P. D. James and John le Carr�. He provided the voices for the Wind in the Willows Story Teller group of tapes from 1983 to 1985.

In 2004 he narrated a radio version of Geoffrey Household's thriller Rogue Male for digital radio stationBBC Radio 7. From 2 February 2009 he read a new abridged recording of Geoffrey Household's sequel Rogue Justice, also on BBC Radio 7.

He also provided a "voice" for "Finisterre" (2002), an album by the British group Saint Etienne. He didvoiceovers for British television adverts. In 2010 he also lent his voice to a series of vocal interludes on an album celebrating the Giro d'Italia, released in May by British cycling clothing company Rapha.

Since 2001 he has been the male station voice on BBC Essex. Jayston was President of the Brighton Little Theatre as of 2010.

Jayston's first wife was actress Lynn Farleigh whom he married in 1965. He married Heather Sneddon in 1970, then Elizabeth Smithson in 1979.

He has played competitive cricket for Rottingdean (Sussex), opening the bowling as a leg spinner.

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


Wilfred Carter (died 1998 aged 89) - credited as Sir Reginald Styles in Day of the Daleks

Tip Tipping (died 1993 aged 34) - 2 credits, including Stunt coordinator for Remembrance of the Daleks

Before his career as a stuntman, Tip Tipping served in the Royal Marines and the SAS. As well as Doctor Who, he worked on TV series including The Bill and Bottom, plus films including Never Say Never Again, Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also played Private Crowe in Aliens. In addition, he served on the Equity Council and was a founder member of the Stunt Ball, held every year to raise money for children's charities. Tipping died in a parachuting accident during filming for the BBC1 docudrama series 999.


Emrys James (died 1989 aged 60) - credited as Aukon in State of Decay

Emrys James was a Welsh Shakespearean actor. He also performed in many theatre and TV parts between 1960 and 1989, and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was born in Machynlleth, the son of a railwayman,[1] and attended the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

He played Aukon in the 1980 story State of Decay.

After training at RADA, in 1953 James joined Peter Hall and John Barton's Oxford Playhouse-based Elizabethan Theatre Company. In 1956 he played his first season at Stratford, taking the roles of Guildernstern, Salerio in The Merchant of Venice and Claudio in Measure for Measure. Seasons at the Bristol Old Vic and the Old Vic, London, followed.

Notable roles at the RSC included Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1968; Gower in Pericles, 1969; Feste in Twelfth Night, 1969; The Boss in Günter GrassThe Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising, 1970; The Cardinal in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, 1971;Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, 1971; Iago in Othello, 1971; the title role in King John, 1974; Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe'sDoctor Faustus, 1974; Chorus in Henry V, 1975; the title role in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, 1975–76; York in Henry VI, parts III and III, 1977–78; Jaques in As You Like It, 1977; Edgar in Strindberg's The Dance of Death, 1978; Cassius in Julius Caesar, 1983; Malvolio in Twelfth Night, 1984; and Sir Giles Overreach in Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts, 1984.

In 1981, he played Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA