B00DPX9ST8 EBOK (91 page)

[
856
] Dating
Mother Russia
(BF CC #2.1) - As the back cover says, “it’s 1812”. The Doctor’s party is said to lodge with Nikitin for some “weeks” before Napoleon marches on Moscow and the battle of Borodino, which occurred on 7th September. Steven claims that it’s “spring” when the TARDIS arrives, but that would mean that the TARDIS crew spends entire months with Nikitin, so he’s probably just estimating and it’s actually summer.

Troublingly, the historical 1812 fire of Moscow and the withdrawal of Napoleon’s troops from the city (concurrent with the arrival of winter, which is why it starts snowing in the final scene) are here conflated into the same day. In real life, the fire occurred 14th-18th September, but Napoleon’s troops didn’t withdraw until a month later, on 18th-19th October. It’s possible that Napoleon have left sooner in the
Doctor Who
universe than in real-life - but mid-September still seems a bit early for snow, even for Moscow.

The fifth Doctor recalls witnessing Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in
Loups-Garoux
, and that the occassion had stormy weather - retroactively, this could be taken as a reference to
Mother Russia
.

[
857
]
Iris: The Panda Invasion

[
858
] “End Game” (
DWM
)

[
859
] Dating
The Mark of the Rani
(22.3) - The date is never stated on screen or in the script, but
DWM
reported that the production team felt that the story was set in “1830”.
The Terrestrial Index
set the story “c1825”, the novelisation simply said “the beginning of the nineteenth century”. Tony Scupham-Bilton concluded in
Celestial Toyroom
that, judging by the historical evidence and the month the story was filmed, the story was “set in either October 1821 or October 1822”. As that article states, the story must at the very least be set before the Stockton-Darlington line was opened in September 1825, and after Thomas Liddell was made Baron Ravensworth on 17th July, 1821. However, Jane Baker later told
DWM
that her research was confused by the Victorian convention of biographies referring to Lords by their titles even before they were given them. Given that, Jim Smith in
Who’s Next
suggested that the date given in
DWM
was a mishearing of “1813”, which fits all the evidence apart from the existence of Lord Ravensworth.

[
860
] Dating
Frostfire
(BF CC #1.1) - The year is given. Historically, the last River Thames frost fair started on 1st February, 1814, and only lasted four days. The issue of whether the first Doctor only had one heart or not is complicated by the phoenix’s comment about the cold “in the Doctor’s hearts”. As Austen claims, she had only published two novels by 1814:
Sense and Sensibility
(1811) and
Pride and Prejudice
(1813).
Mansfield Park
, her third book, saw print in July 1814.

[
861
]
Iris: The Panda Invasion
. Austen lived 1775 to 1817.

[
862
]
A Good Man Goes to War

[
863
] Dating
World Game
(PDA #74) - The Doctor arrives on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, so therefore it’s 17th June, 1815.

[
864
]
The Dying Days
. His first name and rank were given in
The Scales of Injustice
.

[
865
]
The Eye of the Jungle

[
866
]
The Eight Doctors

[
867
] Dating
World Game
(PDA #74) - The date is given.

[
868
]
Players
, almost certainly the same meeting mentioned in
The Eight Doctors.
The bank account is also mentioned in
World Game
.

[
869
]
The Land of the Dead

[
870
] Dating
The Company of Friends
: “Mary’s Story” (BF #123d) - “It was 1816,” says Mary, later adding that it was “one dreary night in June”. Interestingly, Mary
was
calling herself “Mary Shelley” (as opposed to “Mary Godwin”, her maiden name) by this point, even though she and Percy weren’t actually married. They wouldn’t wed until late 1816, after his first wife killed herself. The Doctor having familiarity with Byron, Mary Shelley and/or the night that
Frankenstein
was created was also mentioned in
Storm Warning, Neverland
,
Zagreus
and
Terror Firma
.
Managra
mentions a separate incident involving the Doctor, Byron and Percy Shelley.

[
871
]
The Silver Turk

[
872
]
The Company of Friends:
“Mary’s Story”

[
873
] The epilogue to
Army of Death
has Mary deciding to ask the Doctor to take her home. That story also implies, however, that they’ve only experienced events in
The Silver Turk
,
The Witch from the Well
,
Army of Death
and a side trip to the planet Mayhem. Given that she and the Doctor travel together for “years” (
The Company of Friends
: “Mary’s Story”), perhaps she reconsiders for a time, or she goes home for a bit and travels with him again.

[
874
] Dating
The Ghosts of N-Space
(MA #7) - It is “eighteen eighteen” (p63), one hundred and fifty-seven years before the present-day setting (p200).

[
875
] The Doctor mentions Beau Brummel in
The Sensorites
,
The Twin Dilemma
and
The Two Doctors
. Brummel lived 1778-1840. He was an arbiter of fashion in Regency England, and helped further the style known as “dandyism”.

[
876
] The Dalek ship crashed “two hundred years” before
The Power of the Daleks
. This is the first recorded Dalek expedition in our solar system assuming, of course, that Vulcan is (or was) in our solar system.
War of the Daleks
states that this capsule is from the far future (after
Remembrance of the Daleks
), and this fits some of the circumstantial evidence - a Dalek from this mission recognises the Doctor, despite his regeneration (and despite no recorded adventures with any Doctor - except for
Genesis of the Daleks
- up to this point). In
Day of the Daleks
, the Daleks must use the Mind Analysis Machine to establish the Doctor’s identity. On the other hand, the Daleks are silver and blue, and dependent on external power supplies - quite unlike the Davros Era Daleks.

[
877
]
War of the Daleks

[
878
] “Eighty years” before
Horror of Fang Rock.

[
879
]
The Stones of Blood

[
880
]
The Curse of Fenric

[
881
]
The Sands of Time
(p220). The year is given, and Napoleon died 5th May, 1821.

[
882
] “Seaside Rendezvous”

[
883
]
The Silent Stars Go By
. Chingachgook (misspelled here as “Chingachook”) appeared in Fenimore Cooper’s
Leatherstocking Tales
, published from 1826 to 1841.

[
884
] The liner notes to
Army of Death
hint that this book was inspired by Mary’s trip to the planet Draxine, and her encountering an army of skeletons there.

[
885
] Dating
The Beast of Orlok
(BF BBC7 #3.3) - The year is given. Greta says that she and Hans can’t leave Earth because Frau Tod will kill them if they “weren’t home for Christmas”, and she makes an “early gift” to the Doctor by returning his sonic screwdriver - but the statements are offhanded enough that the story doesn’t necessarily take place in winter.

[
886
] Dating
The Eye of the Jungle
(BBC
DW
audiobook #13) - The year is given in the blurb, and when the Doctor whispers to his companions, “Ahhhh... this is 1827, the year before London Zoo opens”.

[
887
] Dating
Medicinal Purposes
(BF #60) - The back cover says 1827. Burke and Hare met the real Knox in November 1827, but the majority of their murders occurred throughout 1828, until they were caught in November of that year. The audio concurs with the historical date for Burke’s execution. Hare was granted immunity because he turned King’s Evidence against Burke. The real Knox was never prosecuted.

[
888
]
The Eye of the Jungle.
The zoo opened on 27th April, 1828, at first as a collection for benefit of scientists. It opened to the public in 1847.

[
889
]
Assassin in the Limelight

[
890
] “Three years” before
Hornets’ Nest: The Circus of Doom.

[
891
]
The Stealers from Saiph

[
892
]
Timeless

[
893
]
Reckless Engineering

[
894
]
The Haunting of Thomas Brewster

[
895
] Dating
Hornets’ Nest: The Circus of Doom
(BBC fourth Doctor audio #1.3) - The Hornets told the Doctor they met “over a hundred years ago” in
Hornets’ Nest: The Dead Shoes
. It’s “June” and “1832” according to the Doctor here. The CD sleeve includes a
Radio Times
entry saying it’s “1832”, and a letter from Sally’s father - dated “15th June 1832” - warning against the circus.

[
896
] “One hundred seventy-six years” before
Voyage of the Damned.

[
897
] Dating
Bloodtide
(BF #22) - The date is given.

[
898
] “These past ten years” before
Demon Quest: A Shard of Ice
.

[
899
]
Cuddlesome
. William Webb Ellis is the alleged inventor of rugby, and lived 1806-1872.

[
900
]
Sometime Never

[
901
] “Three years” before “The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack”.

[
902
]
The Curse of Peladon
. Victoria was crowned in 1838.

[
903
]
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor