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On This Day (USA) - 8 January



The Daleks' Master Plan: Golden Death premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 9.20 million viewers.

The TARDIS lands in ancient Egypt at the Great Pyramid. The Daleks and the Meddling Monk also arrive in pursuit of the Doctor. The Monk is forced into an alliance with the Daleks.


Day of the Daleks: Episode Two premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:53pm GMT, watched by 10.40 million viewers.

A captive of the guerrillas, the Doctor discovers they intend to change history. Jo is transported to the 22nd Century where she unwittingly gives vital information to the Daleks.


The Face of Evil: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 1977 at 6:29pm GMT, watched by 11.10 million viewers.

Captured by primitive tribes-men, the Doctor faces the 'Ordeal of the Horda'.


 Birthdays
John Griffiths (died 2020 aged 89) would have been 93 - 3 credits, including Production Assistant for The Mind of Evil
John Griffiths was a member of the team responsible for the first-ever piece of Doctor Who screened, the original opening title sequence.

In 1963 Griffiths was working for the BBC at Ealing film studios when he was introduced to Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein, Doctor Who's first producer and director. They gave him the raw material of a recent studio session where they had filmed the output of an electronic camera looking at its own viewfinder and asked him to edit the material to provide a new title sequence for their new TV Series Dr. Who.

The sequence Griffiths produced, when combined with the music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire, became one of the most iconic title sequences in television history. Heralding the beginning of each episode for the next three years.

As film editor, John Griffiths also worked on the 1964 story The Dalek Invasion of Earth, editing the famous footage of the Daleks patrolling a deserted London. As production editor, he worked on the third Doctor story The Mind of Evil.

after retiring from the BBC John Griffiths retired to Worthing. He died on Thursday 9th January.

Professor Stephen Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA (died 2018 aged 76) would have been 82 - credited as Self in Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor(Factual)

Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

Among his significant scientific works have been a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set forth a cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a vocal supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.


William Hartnell (died 1975 aged 67) would have been 116 - 38 credits, including Dr. Who in An Unearthly Child

William Hartnell was the actor who originated the role of the Doctor in the 1960s, playing the first incarnation of the character for BBC Television from 1963 to 1966.

Emerging from a difficult family background about which he was later evasive, Hartnell held down a succession of short-term odd jobs before turning to acting in the 1920s. He enjoyed success as a touring repertory actor, and in the 1930s began appearing in films, particularly the "quota quickies" companies were obliged to release to fulfil their obligations to promote British film. Here Hartnell developed his talents as a light comedy actor, but it was not until the Second World War that his reputation began to flourish. After being invalided out of the army, he appeared as the sergeant in the well-received propaganda piece The Way Ahead, and this helped him to develop a reputation for such tough-guy roles that won him many major supporting parts. Of all the actors to have played the Doctor he had the most successful film career, with major roles in landmark films such as Brighton Rock, as the eponymous sergeant in Carry On Sergeant and, cast against type in a sensitive character part, in the film version of This Sporting Life.

It was this role that led producer Verity Lambert to offer him the part of the Doctor. Although Hartnell was initially uncertain about it, Lambert and director Waris Hussein persuaded him to accept the part, and it became the role for which he is best remembered, making him a household name in 1960s Britain. Hartnell became incredibly attached to the role and particularly enjoyed the attention and affection it brought him from children, groups of whom would follow him around his local village. He would often happily open fetes and other functions in costume and character as the Doctor. Although ill health forced him to reluctantly relinquish the part in 1966, he remained fond of the series and in 1972, with his health rapidly deteriorating even further, battled his failing memory to film one final performance as the character in the tenth anniversary special The Three Doctors, which aired between December 30, 1972 and January 20, 1973. It was his final professional performance; he died on April 23, 1975, aged 67.

The actor is played by David Bradley in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure In Space And Time.


 Deaths
George Little (died 2022 aged 93) - credited as Haroun ed-Din in The Crusade

Actor who appeared in the 1965 story The Crussade.

Had a long career in Television and Films including roles in Emmerdale, A Tale of Two Cities and The Avengers.


Bruce Wightman (died 2009 aged 83) - 4 credits, including William de Tornebu in The Crusade

Bruce Wightman appeared in several Doctor Who stories: as William de Tornebu in The Crusade, Scott in The Daleks' Master Plan, and a Radio Operator in Terror of the Zygons.



Dudley Foster (died 1973 aged 48) - credited as Caven in The Space Pirates

Dudley Foster was an English actor..

He appeared in such series as Danger Man, The Saint, The Avengers, Steptoe and Son and Doctor Who (The Space Pirates), often in villainous roles; in Z Cars, he played a police detective. He occasionally appeared in films.

In 1970 he provided the voice-over for an edition of the BBC documentary series Chronicle: "The Great Iron Ship", about the salvage and return from the Falkland Islands of the Isambard Kingdom Brunel ship SS Great Britain.

His early death was the result of suicide.


Hamilton Dyce (died 1972 aged 59) - credited as Scobie in Spearhead From Space

Hamilton Dyce was a British film and television actor.

He appeared in Whistle Down the Wind (1961), Dr. Crippen (1962), Mrs. Gibbons' Boys (1962), Becket (1964), Master Spy (1964), The Comedy Man (1964), King Rat (1965), Sky West and Crooked (1966), The Wrong Box (1966), Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969), Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971), The Pied Piper (1972)