A History of the Whoniverse

The Nineteen Sixties (1960-1969)

1960

At this time, human space probes were being sent "deeper and deeper" into space.

"For the last ten years" before Spearhead from Space.

The assassin Jones returns to Britain, having been assured that the police cannot touch him.

Six or seven years after he left the country, and some time before The Scales of Injustice chapter 3 page 12.

Lettice Butts, the last child of Zantor, is born, [shortly before] the lizard-race called the Garvaks destroy the planet.

This isn't dated in Short Trips Companions: The Man from DOCTO(R), though Harry thinks that Lettice looks in her mid-20s on page 22. She isn't human, so that could be totally inaccurate, however, it's the nearest thing to a date that we're given.

American humorist Franklin Adams dies.

The Seeds of Doom.

The fourth Doctor visits Professor Chronitus at St. Cedds College and receives an honorary degree.

Shada.

Tegan Jovanka is born.

A character outline put her at 21 during Logopolis, which is set in 1981.

Nicholas Bridgeman, aged 13, gets a scholarship at Blue Coats school.

Invasion of the Cat People.

Earth Reptile shelter 429 is revived.

About 10 years before The Scales of Injustice page 89 (chapter 3 page 4).

SHORT TRIPS AND SIDE STEPS: GONE TOO SOON

The sixth Doctor plays with the Beatles in Hamburg, replacing guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe.

The Beatles played in Hamburg between August and December 1960; Stuart Sutcliffe died in 1962.

A Dalek from the future crash-lands on the Ascension Islands, Earth. It burnt in its crater for 3 days before anybody else get near it.

Diana Goddard says that this was over 50 years ago (from 2012) in Dalek.

1961

Elizabeth Shaw decides to study Medicine rather than Physics when she goes to Cambridge.

Mentioned in The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 151. I assume this is when she was 18.

James Court is born.

In Vampire Science (page 25), he is 5 years younger than Carolyn.

April 1961

Yuri Gagarin officially becomes the first man in space.

The Seeds of Death. However, in Imperial Moon humans had already travelled into space in their own spacecraft.

Lavinia Smith publishes her paper on the teleological response of the virus.

The Time Warrior. The exact date is arbitrary.

The Intrusion Counter-Measures Group (ICMG) is formed.

The date is given in Who Killed Kennedy on page 69.

Pop music began about this time.

The Doctor says that this is 20 years away in The Doctor Dances (set 1941).

Around this time several synthetic fabrics are invented.

In The Empty Child, Jack says that some of the materials in Rose's clothes won't be invented for another couple of decades.

1962

New Yorker Richard Casey is blinded by an industrial accident.

Three years before Salvation.

Dorothea Chaplet is orphaned and sent to live with her great-aunt Margaret.

This is nearly three years before Salvation on page 5.

Moor Drive is built in a village called Gerrad's Cross, Buckinghamshire.

Eight years before The Scales of Injustice chapter 2 page 10.

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart marries Fiona.

Eight years before The Scales of Injustice (chapter 2 page 12, chapter 4 page 8).

Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart meets Doris Wilson on Brighton Pier. Doris gives him a watch as a wedding gift, in addition to the Wedgwood dinner set from her and her husband.

This was the day after his marriage to Fiona according to The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 page 8.

The Space Tracking Centre, a radio telescope, is built on the site of Marsham Castle, just outside the village of Crook Marsham.

According to the Abbot,this was five or six years before Nightshade page 65.

James, who is engaged to Holly Kidd, is killed in a car accident.

According to Nightshade page 102, this was 'six years ago' in 'spring 1962'.

Mariatu returns to her father's tribe with a son, Mariama, who is fair skinned with green eyes.

According to Transit page 184. Mariama is only named in Lance Parkin's A History of the Universe.

Police Sergeant Robert Franklin marries a pathologist called Julia.

This was eight years before The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 130.

The CIA work out how the Nedenah navigated their spacecraft.

This was fifteen years after 1947, according to Control on page 237 of The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 237.

October 1962

Aleister Crowley uses magic to influence the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Or so he claims in Heart of TARDIS (page 197). The Cuban Missile Crisis ended at the end of October 1962.

Part of the US Army called Section Eight begins Project Golgotha, an attempted superweapon to use against the Soviets. They select the town of Lychburg, and convert its inhabitants to be susceptible to mind control such that they could fully believe in anything as they are directed.

This was "the early 60s" according to Heart of TARDIS page 199. Details are also given on page 200. It is, by implication, after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Late November 1962

The Doctor and Susan arrive in London. The Doctor forges documents so that Susan can attend Coal Hill School.

In Time and Relative, Susan says that it feels like they have been in 1963 for five months (page 11). She remembers Malcolm's Mum complaining about the weather before the cold came (page 30), and the snow has been there since well before Christmas (page 17).

December 1962

Snow falls. It will remain on the ground for many months.

This was well before Christmas according to Time and Relative page 17.

1963

Nyssa, daughter of Tremas of Traken, is born.

The writer's guide for season 18 says that she's 18 years old.

The Official Secrets Act is passed.

The year is given in The Scales of Injustice (prologue page 1).

Wednesday March 27th 1963 - Wednesday 4th April 1963

TIME AND RELATIVE

The cold that has been taking hold across the planet intensifies. The USA and USSR blame each other. The death toll goes up very sharply, and there are reports of the ice coming alive. In Piccadilly Circus and other areas of London, there are ice storms, which kill a lot of people. There are outbreaks of looting and rioting. However, the cold starts to recede from April 2nd.

The story is told in the form of extracts from Susan's diary, and each section has a date at the top of it. On page 11, Susan thinks they've been in 1963 for 5 months - but then says that it feels that they've been there for five months everywhere they stay, and the chronology has been thrown off by the Doctor's tampering with the TARDIS.

April 1963

[The Doctor becomes involved in London's scientific community] in order to obtain replacement parts for a faulty filament.

The involvement with the scientific community is an explanation for his immediate acceptance in The War Machines. In Matrix, the Doctor claims that they were in London for six months, though given his mental state in that story his memory could be playing tricks on him. He certainly needed to repair the TARDIS following the events of Time and Relative

Summer 1963

SHORT TRIPS COMPANIONS: THE SPLINTERED GATE

Ian Chesterton visits a holiday resort in Dorset. Whilst there, he briefly meets a palmist called Rosy Parks. At some point after this, he meets a palmist called Rosemary at a party organised by Barbara Wright. She phones him the Tuesday after the party, and reads his palm on the Friday.

It is the school summer holidays when Ian is still teaching at Coal Hill on page 15.

October 1963

A John Smith and the Common Men single goes from number 19 to number 2 in the charts. At the same time, the first Doctor decides to hide the Hand of Omega in a grave.

Just before An Unearthly Child. The single is mentioned in An Unearthly Child. The Hand was left a month before Remembrance of the Daleks.

AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

Two schoolteachers (Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright) at Coal Hill School investigate the background of their pupil Susan Foreman. They visit her supposed address, actually a junkyard. The teachers and Susan all disappear.

It is clearly 1963. Remembrance of the Daleks is set in November, and probably occurs before Kennedy's assassination (inferred from the facts that it's not in the pre-title sequence, and that nobody mentions it). This story is probably a few weeks before Remembrance but certainly less than one month before. Who Killed Kennedy dates this as the 22nd of November on page 71.

November 1963

Smithers begins working on the deadly insecticide that later became known as DN6.

A year before Planet of Giants.

November 1963

Professor Rachel Jenson is moved from the British Rocket Group to the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group.

According to Who Killed Kennedy, page 70. The Scales of Injustice (chapter 4, page 32) incorrectly suggests that this happened after Remembrance of the Daleks

The Nemesis Statue passes near Earth, heralding the assassination of John F. Kennedy [as well as the Dalek attempt to take the Hand of Omega.]

Silver Nemesis.

16-17 November 1963

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS

An Imperial Dalek ship arrives at Coal Hill School searching for the Hand of Omega. A group of Renegade Daleks also arrives on Earth, after the Hand. Thanks to the intervention of the Seventh Doctor, the Imperial Daleks are tricked into blowing up what they believe to be Skaro using the Hand and the two Dalek factions are both defeated.

Ratcliffe's calendar says it's November. As no-one refers to JFK's assassination, it is almost certainly before the 22nd. Furthermore, the pre-title sequence shows a sequence of momentous events from this year, but omits JFK's assassination. Thus I'd go with The Discontinuity Guide and place it the weekend before. Who Killed Kennedy (page 71) places this a week after An Unearthly Child, and says it took place over 48 hours.

22nd November 1963

WHO KILLED KENNEDY

James Stevens, travelling back from the 1970's, prevents the Master and a hypnotised Private Cleary from saving Kennedy's life. Had they succeeded, they would either have destabilised the space-time continuum or caused a nuclear war. During these events, Stevens sees himself, aged 50, fire the shot that kills Kennedy.

The date is historical and is stated several times in the book.

The Ninth Doctor was in the crowd watching Kennedy's Assassination.

We see photographic evidence of this in Rose.

Billy Coote predicts a mild winter, but is proved wrong.

According to Nightshade page 105.

The Darkmoor Experimental Nuclear Research Station is built in the Cheviot Hills, Northumberland. It receives bad publicity and, following a terrorist attack by a group called the Reavers, the Northumberland Health Authority, Greenpeace, and CND successfully campaign against the station.

According to The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 page 31 this was 'the mid-60s'.

1964

Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart spends a weekend in Brighton, where Doris gives him a wristwatch as a "mark of her gratitude".

Eleven years before Planet of the Spiders.

The Civil Defence (Amended) Act is passed.

The date is mentioned in The Scales of Injustice (Prologue, page 1).

The Doctor visits St. Cedds College.

Shada.

PLANET OF GIANTS

The scientist Smithers kills government inspector Arnold Farrow, who had warned him that his insecticide, DN6, was too lethal to be approved for production.

The setting is clearly contemporary, and they still have manual telephone operators.

Professor Rachel Jenson retires from the ICMG. However, she does suggest that ICMG make use of Allison Williams, Ruth Ingram, and Anne Travers.

Her retirement is mentioned and dated in Who Killed Kennedy (page 70). The Scales of Injustice mentions her suggestions at recruitment from her colleagues at Cambridge - though it suggests that this was when she was recruited.

March 1964

Valentina Shuskin joins the Soviet Marines.

She served with them for four years, seven months, and 27 days before 1968 according to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 2.

22nd July 1964

Melanie Bush is born.

Just War (page 272) states that she was born 28 years after 1936. The precise date is given in Business Unusual on page 22.

Tobias Vaughn is contacted by the CyberFaction. Their technological assistance allows his company, International Electromatics, to market the micromonolithic circuit and become world leaders in electronics.

Vaughn says this was 5 years ago in The Invasion.

There is a fire at a chemical plant a few miles from Crook Marsham.

This was 'a few years' before Nightshade page 128.

Clancey Tilson is first elected Police Chief of Lychburg.

Or so he believes in Heart of TARDIS (page 70). This is said to have been 20 years ago.

23rd November 1964

SHORT TRIPS COMPANIONS: A LONG NIGHT

Joan Wright has a dream telling her that her daughter Barbara is safe and will eventually return to Earth.

This is dated on page 210, and said to be exactly a year after An Unearthly Child.

1965

Billy Coote predicts Churchill's death.

According to Nightshade page 105. Churchill died on the 24th of January 1965.

The Beatles perform Ticket to Ride.

As shown on the Time/Space Visualiser in The Chase.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is born.

She is five in The Scales of Injustice (set in 1970) - chapter 2 pages 11, 13, and 15. However, Fiona became pregnant with her within the 18 months following The Web of Fear according to chapter 5 page 17.

THE SANDS OF TIME

Cedric Prior tells his nephew Aubrey that he has cancer, and only has a few weeks left to live. He hands over his estate, including the mummy in his basement.

The date is given on page 10 (instalment 1, page 10).

THE CHASE

Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright return to Earth. Ian has to sell all his possessions in order to get a new place to live, whilst Barbara is able to stay at her parents house. Ian soon gets a job teaching at the Royal Aircraft Establishment's Technical College at Farnham. [Department C-19] confirms their story to the authorities - saying that they had been associated with the Doctor.

They see a tax disc dated December '65 and conclude that they have arrived 2 years after they left. On page 44 of Face of the Enemy Ian recalls that they had been away for nearly three years and on page 115, Barbara recalls it being two years. Ian could be thinking of how long he was in the TARDIS rather than how long he was missing from Earth. The other details are also from Face of the Enemy. The obscure government department is not named, but is almost certainly C-19.

Edmund Trevithick is in the film There's Someone in My Trousers!

According to Nightshade page 111.

11th March 1965

Dodo and her Aunt Margaret have a row when Dodo buys a short skirt and thigh length boots.

This was two weeks before Salvation.

SALVATION

Saturday 20th March 1965

Green lights are seen over midtown Manhattan, starting a newspaper silly season.

The date is on page 1.

Thursday 25th March 1965

In London, Dorothea Chaplet disappears, after visiting Neville Miller - who is found dead.

The date is on page 19.

Friday 26th March 1965

THE MASSACRE

The TARDIS lands on Wimbledon Common and is boarded by Dorothea (Dodo) Chaplet.

It's a contemporary setting. The War Machines suggests that it is some time before the completion of the Post Office Tower. Salvation gives a precise date.

Friday 19th March-Thursday 1st April 1965

SALVATION

In what was later believed to be a giant hoax by Alexander Lullington-Smythe, the Church of the Latter-Day Pantheon is set up. It is centred upon six gods: The Patriarch; Norman, God of Order; Jennifer, Goddess of Free Love; Dennis, God of War; Max, God of Materialism and Joseph, God of Peace. These Gods appeared to perform miracles. It began in an abandoned Church in the SoHo area of New York. The Gods then moved to the Sheep Meadow part of Central Park, where they set up a rainbow arch. The hoax ended on April 1st following intervention by the US Army.

The Gods landed the night 19th March/20th March according to a press clipping on page 1. They disappeared on 1st April according to page 264. However, the timescale given in press clippings inserts two days that are not accounted for in the narrative.

Elizabeth Shaw graduates from Cambridge, having a degree in Medicine and a one-year degree in Physics. She spends four months as a house officer in an inner-city A&E, before returning to Cambridge as a Physicist.

According to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 151. I have dated this four years after she started at Cambridge.

Martyn Townsend had lost his arm and gained a scar on his face. He is asked by his boss [Tobias Vaughn] to undergo an experiment - a chance to gain a new arm. He is given two new arms, two new legs, and improved internal organs.

This was five years before The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 pages 35-36. Townsend isn't named until Business Unusual.

25th December 1965

THE DALEKS' MASTERPLAN

The TARDIS lands outside a Liverpool police station whilst the Doctor is attempting to repair the scanner.

We see the date on a calendar. It is a contemporary setting, and the exact year is provided on page 163 of Short Trips Companions: The Little Drummer Boy

SHORT TRIPS COMPANIONS: THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

In Liverpool, an eight-year-old twin called Christopher is miraculously cured of Leukaemia.

This is dated on page 163.

1966

1st January 1966

THE DALEKS' MASTERPLAN

The TARDIS lands in Trafalgar Square during the New Year Celebrations.

It's clearly contemporary & indisputably New Years Eve.

February 1966

Wonder Comics launches a comic based on the gods who visited New York the previous year.

Salvation.

THE CHASE

The TARDIS lands on the Empire State Building, as do the Daleks.

It is a contemporary setting.

The ICMG is disbanded.

Three years after the Shoreditch Incident (Remembrance of the Daleks) according to Who Killed Kennedy page 73, and, by implication, just before The War Machines.

Ian and Barbara marry at Gretna Green.

Exactly one year after they returned to Earth, according to Face of the Enemy page 44.

The nuclear plants act is passed.

Invasion of the Cat People.

Alexander K. Bridgeman is murdered by his wife, who then commits suicide.

Invasion of the Cat People. This was almost 10 years after his accident.

5th July 1966

Ben Jackson begins a 5-month shore posting.

The War Machines.

12th-20th July

THE WAR MACHINES

The sentient super-computer WOTAN attempts to take over London with robotic "War Machines". On Monday 16th July, WOTAN is supposed to be connected to a number of other important computers around the world. He is stopped with the aid of the First Doctor, seaman Ben Jackson & secretary Polly Wright, both of whom join the Doctor in his travels. [This project was backed by IE, as the effects of C-Day would potentially make a Cyber-Invasion easier.]

C-Day is Monday 16th July when, in reality, that date was a Saturday in 1966. However, it has to be 1966 because of events in The Faceless Ones.

20th July 1966

THE FACELESS ONES

The Second Doctor, Polly, & Ben return to Earth and prevent the alien Chameleons kidnapping and replacing airline passengers. Polly & Ben return to their own time.

EVIL OF THE DALEKS

Professor Edward Waterfield steals the TARDIS in order to capture the Doctor and Jamie and take them back to 1866.

Evil of the Daleks follows straight on from The Faceless Ones. Both are clearly dated 20th July 1966 on screen.

August 1966

THE WEB OF FEAR

The great intelligence attempts to use the yeti that Professor Travers brought to London to take over the city. Military forces under the command of Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, aided by the Second Doctor, Professor Travers, and his daughter Anne prevent the take-over. These events were later known as The London Event and covered up as an industrial accident. Lethbridge-Stewart kept The Locus; a small carved statuette of a Yeti.

Travers says that The Abominable Snowman (dated as 1935 by Anne) was 40 years ago, making this c.1975, although the Yeti has only been in the museum for 30 years. The tube map went out of date on 7th March 1969. Downtime dates this as "25 years ago" (from 1995ish) in "1968". In The Scales of Injustice, this is said to have been over five years ago (from 1970). Who Killed Kennedy dates this as August 1966. Extra details come from Downtime. I'm accepting the Who Killed Kennedy date, as it fits with the rest of UNIT dating better than any of the others.

Soon after these events, Private Benton begins working with Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart.

According to The Scales of Injustice chapter 7 page 1.

1967

Doctor Fendelman begins work on a Time Scanner, which will later lead him to the Fendahl Skull. At this time, he is also working on missile guidance systems.

Ten years before Image of the Fendahl.

The first archaeological digs begin at Kilgai, Tanzania.

This was thirty years before Genocide page 58, according to Julie.

Section Eight begins its tests on the Golgotha Project. They condition the population of Lychburg to believe that the gates of hell have opened. This opens the way for an evil being to enter this dimension. It is apparently stopped by a nuclear strike. The crater contains an unknown mirror-bright globe. Unknown to Section Eight, these effects are affected by the appearance of an early Gallifreyan Time Travel Device, which had accidentally left Gallifrey.

This was more than three years after the project started [1962], according to Heart of TARDIS page 201. More details are given on pages 201-203.

1st February 1967

Jacqueline Andrea Susette Prentice is born.

Jackie Tyler's full maiden name is given in Father's Day. Her alternative self turns 40 on the 1st of February 2007 in Rise of the Cybermen, so it's safe to assume that this is her real birthday.

February 1967

Lethbridge-Stewart meets Air Vice-Marshall "Chunky" Gilmore in the Alexander Club. They discuss the Dalek invasion of 1963, the London Event, and evidence of alien intervention in Earth's history dating back to the time of the Pharaohs. This conversation prompts Lethbridge-Stewart to press for the creation of an international taskforce to deal with the potential threat.

There is a flashback to this conversation in Downtime, and it happens 6 months after The Web of Fear. It is also mentioned in The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 page 8. The Brigadier's role in the formation of UNIT is suggested in Who Killed Kennedy.

July 1967

The famous actor Justin Grayson (really Jossie O'Grahame) is involved in some kind of scandal involving a young actress, a letter, and an overdose of sleeping pills during the filming of Carry on Digging. He is sacked, and the scandal ruins his career. The film is abandoned. Justin spends the next 18 months touring holiday camps, bingo halls, and small clubs.

According to The Scales of Injustice chapter 1 page 10.

Summer 1967

Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is posted to Suez and then Aden under the command of Augustus 'Tubby' Hayes. Whilst there, he sentences Private Bull for cowardice in the face of an enemy. Along with John Benton and a Jamaican called Jacob Hartfield,he saves the life of Sergeant Hutton.

This was in 1967, during 'The Summer of Love' (which is confirmed to have been 1967 on page 138 of Short Trips Companions: Cirriculum Vitae). The Brigadier was fresh from his first encounter with alien beings, and both him and Benton were shortly to be seconded to UNIT, according to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 100. Events also mentioned on pages 148 and 189.

15th November 1967

Peripugilliam Brown is born.

Her birthday is on her passport in Planet of Fire. A character outline said she was 18 during season 21. Her age at the time is confirmed in Bad Therapy.

Brendan Richards is also born in this year.

He is 14 in K9 and Company.

Dodo has had several mental blackouts and she is sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, where she is repeatedly given shock therapy.

Who Killed Kennedy. The blackouts started months after The War Machines. The shock therapy happened at a hospital near Colchester over a 14-month period. Severalls hospital on the outskirts of Colchester, closed in the 90's, was a mental hospital.

Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart flies to New York to press for the creation of a permanent UN taskforce to combat extra-terrestrial incursions, having previously failed to convince UK leaders of the need. His efforts are successful, though it will take eighteen months before UNIT finally becomes a reality. It is at this point that he begins serving with Corporal Maisie Hawkes

According to Who Killed Kennedy, page 76. Corporal Hawkes has been serving with the Brigadier for three years before The Scales of Injustice chapter 5, page 21.

John Alydon Ganatus Chesterton is born to Ian and Barbara Chesterton.

He is old enough to be in primary school by Face of the Enemy page 55. He is six and a half or six and a quarter in 1973 according to Byzantium! page 7.

Paula, daughter of Edmund Trevithick, dies.

According to Nightshade page 111.

The Darkmoor Experimental Nuclear Research Station is dismantled.

This was four years after its mid-60s opening, and before the creation of the Vault according to The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 page 31.

Ace visits Adelaide, Australia, and a man called Medge teaches her to ride a horse.

According to Love and War page 33

1968

Mortimus places �200 in a London bank account

The Time Meddler.

The Mexico Olympics are held.

The Underwater Menace.

Carolyn McConnell takes a very fast and bumpy ride in her brother's new GTO, as he wants to show her what it can do.

According to Vampire Science page 10, this happened when she was 12.

Abner starts taking a law degree by night classes.

According to Vampire Science page 192.

THE CYRSTAL BUCEPHALUS

Whilst on a time-travelling meal in the Crystal Bucephalus, Maximus Arrestis is poisoned. He had been dining in Beswicks in London. On another visit to this time period, Arrestis is almost responsible for changing history when he kills several people. However, the reality quotient isn't quite high enough for this to actually happen.

The date of the poisoning is given on page 18. Arrestis' killing spree is about 200 years before the Battle of Cassius, which ended the Dalek blockade of Earth (so it's about 1967), and there is a reference to Star Trek.

Ernest Derricks, a US Soldier responsible for airlifting troops, murders several bar girls in Saigon, South Vietnam. He is not caught because the police have other things on their minds.

More than fifteen years before Heart of TARDIS page 172 (1984)

February 1968

Jocelytn Bell discovers the first Pulsar from the mallard observatory.

'Earlier in the year' than Nightshade, page 82.

Late April 1968

Vijat Degun and Holly Kidd begin working together at the Space Tracking Centre outside Crook Marsham.

This was eight months before Nightshade according to page 14.

3rd June 1968

MORE SHORT TRIPS: FEMME FATALE

Andy Warhol is shot by a clone of Valerie Solanis. Meanwhile, the real Valerie is actually in Paris.

The date is on page 326 and page 332.

June 1968

Dobson becomes Bruno Taltalian's chief assistant at the British Space Centre.

This was two years before The Ambassadors of Death.

Reporter James Stevens travels from New Zealand to London, and is soon employed at the Daily Chronicle.

According to Who Killed Kennedy, page 11.

Late August 1968

Vijay Degun and Holly Kidd become lovers.

Four months before Nightshade according to page 14.

Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart' is promoted to Brigadier. He is replaced as colonel in the Scots Guards by one of his men, Alexander Christian.

This is mentioned in The Dying Days chapter 5 page 18.

October 1968

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is sent to a Middle East Peace Conference.

"Just before he joined UNIT," according to The Paradise of Death. Downtime suggests that his promotion happened soon after The Web of Fear.

November 1968

The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) is set up. The UK branch of UNIT is placed under the auspices of Department C-19 and parliament grants it powers under an Enabling Act. These powers would later be expanded, as alien invasions alarmed those in power. At some point after UNIT is set up, Lethbridge-Stewart is placed in command. The Brigadier's initial staff consists of Corporal Benton, Corporal Jack Tracey, Captain Turner, Sergeant Walters, Maisie Hawke, and Carol Bell.

Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Zygons imply that UNIT existed before the Brigadier joined. Who Killed Kennedy says that UNIT had been formed by early 1969. The Scales of Injustice says that UNIT has been around for at least 24 months (chapter 4 page 3) and gives UNIT's initial roster (chapter 7 page 1).

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart attempts to get Colonel Alexander Christian into UNIT, but Christian has already been recruited into the Space Service.

This is mentioned in The Dying Days chapter 5 page 18.

Colonel Shuskin of the Red Army Marines is posted to Prague. She works at the underground installation at Semipalatinsk. After her boyfriend defects, she is posted to UNIT.

This is mentioned in The Devil Goblins from Neptune pages 2 and 64. It is dated 1968. I have given the month based on my dates for the formation of UNIT.

George Wilson dies in Northern Ireland. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart sends Doris a brief letter of commiseration.

A couple of years before The Scales of Injustice chapter 4 page 8.

23^rd - 25^th December 1968

NIGHTSHADE

The Space Tracking Centre just outside Crook Marsham experiences a security breach at the same time as receiving a sudden inundation of readings - including that Bellatrix, a double-star in Orion, has gone nova. That day it is discovered that two villagers, Jack Prudhoe and Doctor Shearsmith, have disappeared, and the phone lines have been cut. People trying to leave the area find that they can't as there is some kind of barrier causing physical sickness and intense fear for those trying to leave. Several others go missing, and some of their bodies are found. The surviving villagers gather together in the village church, and are told that it's probably due to the leak of an unusual, hallucinogenic, poisonous gas. They survive, as do a few people in the nearby observatory. However, many villagers die, along with the monks from the local monastery, which seems to have suffered an explosion, and the residents of a local old people's home. Amongst the dead is Edmund Trevithick, star of the 1950s TV drama Nightshade.

It's the 23^rd of December 1968 on page 18, Christmas Eve on page 110, and Christmas Day on page 173. BBC2 has recently been launched (page 8) and it's a few months since Apollo 7 (page 13).

20th December 1968 - 30th January 1969

THE LEFT-HANDED HUMMINGBIRD

The newly formed UNIT had a Paranormal Division, run by Lieutenant Hamlet MacBeth. After The Happening in St. Johns Wood, London on December 21st, the division was disbanded.

This section ends on January 30th 1969 (page 8), it starts on December 20th (page 122). The happening is dated 21st December (page 163).

1969

January 1969

Jossey O'Grahame (Justin Grayson) declares himself bankrupt and ends up a down-and-out on the South Coast of England.

An unknown time before The Scales of Injustice chapter 1. However, as he was a star of the 50s and 60s, it can't be that long before.

30th January 1969

Ace foils an attempt to assassinate the Beatles.

The Left Handed Hummingbird.

Dodo tries to leave the psychiatric institution she's in and instead is placed on a mixed sex ward for the severely disturbed. Within hours, another patient tries to rape her, but she fights back, accidentally killing him. She is subsequently transferred to the Glasshouse, a radical new centre for psychiatric treatment. Whilst there, she is repeatedly questioned by its director, the Master, about UNIT and the Doctor. She never gives him any information.

Who Killed Kennedy. This starts 14 months after she is put in the Colchester hospital.

Oskar Steinmann is released from prison on medical grounds.

Just War.

Charmagne Peters, who is still a student, visits Romania. She sees orphaned street children in Sighisoara begging from tourists and more affluent Romanians at café tables, and being driven away by the angry and indignant proprietors. This inspires her to become an investigative journalist.

According to Rags page 99, this was five years ago (from May or June 1974).

A group of hippies set up a commune on the tiny Channel Island of L'Ithe. They leave within a week because they believe the island to be haunted. Local entrepreneur Tom Renault tries to set up tourist trips to this 'haunted isle'. He is ostracised and goes to build a house on the island. Four days later, he is found dead in his boat - which has been burnt from underneath.

This was in 1969, according to The Scales of Injustice chapter 3 page 1.

May 1969

Harry Ransome, the head of Sales and Designs at Auto Plastics Ltd. travels to the US on a business trip. At the same time, half a dozen meteorites land in Epping Forest. They contain part of the Nestene Consciousness.

Six months before Spearhead from Space.

Mars Probe 7 lands on and takes off from Mars. Twelve hours afterwards, contact is lost, as ambassadors from an alien species have replaced the astronauts.

This was 7 or 8 months before The Ambassadors of Death. According to Who Killed Kennedy, the British space programme didn't get going until after The Invasion, but this is probably an exaggeration. The presence of Bernard Quatermas in the early 60's British Rocket Group probably had more to do with it - as did the early space programme seen in Loving the Alien. I would also suggest that Mars Probes 6 and 7 were the only manned missions, and that missions overlapped.

July 1969

THE INVASION

Following reports of UFOs at sites owned by the multinational corporation International Electromatics, UNIT began monitoring the company's activities. With the help of the second Doctor, they discovered that its managing director, Tobias Vaughn, had made a deal with Faction Cybermen to use his company's equipment to take over the world. UNIT troops engaged the Cybermen attack force hidden in London's sewers, whilst soviet nuclear missiles destroyed the main invasion fleet. Earth's population was completely unaware of these events because IE's products had broadcast a hypnotic signal, causing those within range to fall asleep. During these events, Vaughn was presumed killed in an explosion.

Dating this story is difficult. The Brigadier says it's nearly four years since The Web Of Fear (which I've dated 1966) - which is reiterated in Face of the Enemy (page 21). The technology, fashions & social information clearly suggest a near future setting. Iceberg places it in the exam period during the 1970's (page 2) & 10 years before The Tenth Planet - hence 1976 (page 90). Millennial Rites suggests a date of around 1979. In Original Sin, Vaughn claims it was the 1970's (page 281) - though his memories are corrupted. Killing Ground claims 1970 (page 60). Who Killed Kennedy and The Devil Goblins from Neptune both claim Spring 1969 (pages 64 & 77 of Who Killed Kennedy, and page 164 of Devil Goblins). I've gone for a summer 1969 date, to fit in with Iceberg's exam scene and my UNIT dating.

By this time, there were a number of advanced technologies. IE had produced [a limited number of] voice-operated computers and instituted a [trial] "Public Video" videophone system. [This system was expensive and of poor reliability and, despite numerous attempts to revitalise the technology throughout the 70's, the system never took off.] UNIT had procured a substantial amount of IE equipment, including a computer and TM45 radios, which had a fifty-mile range. Some IE personnel were issued with wrist communicators & they had developed an elaborate security system. All this technological advance was enabled by the Cybermen with whom Vaughn had been working. By now, the Americans, Russians, and Britons [thanks to Bernard Quatermas' British Rocket Group & IE co-operation] had established a network of communications satellites. The UK had sent several probes to Mars and the US and USSR both had manned rockets able to reach the moon. UNIT [were experimenting with] new styles of uniform in an attempt to distinguish themselves from regular armies. Collarless shirts were available, [although they never really took off]. [Feminism was on the rise and] "Anti-feminists" were [condemned in the media as] outdated.

This is a summary of the technological and social differences in The Invasion. I presume that social differences were a collection of short-lived fads and that the otherwise unused technology never took off, especially after IE went out of business. The Mars probe is from The Ambassadors of Death.

Following the destruction of the main Cyberman Invasion fleet, the remaining Cybermen were scattered. [Some groups were flung out into space, others regrouped on the moon and] one particular group buried itself beneath the Antarctic snow, preparing for the time when they could attack again.

Iceberg.

Following the Cybermen invasion, IE was forced to drop out of the market by government and UN institutions. The British Space Centre, under Sir Ralph Cornish, helped Vaughn's associate Ashley Chapel in developing what technology was left in IE premises by the Cybermen. This allowed the British Space Centre to leap ahead of the US and USSR in their space program, [upgrading the Mars Probe programme to a series of manned missions]. Ashley Chapel set up his own company, Ashley Chapel Logistics. Much of the technology was owned by the government, despite Marmaduke Harrington-Smythe's attempts to buy it up.

These details come from Who Killed Kennedy (the BSC involvement), Millennial Rites (Ashley Chapel). The fate of IE is uncertain. In Original Sin, Vaughn claimed that IE continued, yet Who Killed Kennedy strongly suggests otherwise and The Scales of Injustice states that it went bankrupt (chapter 4 page 36), and mentions Harrington-Smythe's involvement (chapter 5, page 19).

Vaughn had survived the explosion by downloading his consciousness into a robotic body [built using Cyber-Technology]. For the next thousand years, he ran a succession of electronics corporations developing state of the art equipment. One of his first acts is to send Martyn Townsend into Department C-19 as head of the Vault team. Townsend's task is simply to learn as much as possible from the information, hardware, and software that UNIT collected from its global operations.

Vaughn's survival is from Original Sin. Townsend's role is from The Scales of Injustice, though Townsend isn't named until Business Unusual.

Soon after these events, Marmaduke Harrington-Smythe uses his family fortune to set up the Glasshouse, a hospital for the UK's 'discreet' organisations like MI5, C-19, and UNIT.

According to The Scales of Injustice chapter 5 pages 5 and page 19.

August 1969

At least two incarnations of the Doctor are present at Woodstock.

The Left Handed Hummingbird, page 147.

Dutch journalist Jana Kristen goes missing not long after an award-winning scoop concerning corruption in the armed forces. The scoop had won her a journalistic prize for the third year running. Jana had actually been shot in the head and placed in her car before it was dumped in a river.

This was eight months before the body was found in The Scales of Injustice (chapter 5 pages 1-4).

C19 decide to renew the Glasshouse's contract.

This was last year according to The Scales of Injustice chapter 5 page 5.

The Cyclotron (an experimental attempt to turn nuclear energy directly into electricity) at Wenley Moor Research Centre leaks radiation, activating the revival sequence of a nearby Silurian shelter. Those awakened continue the revival process, causing a number of power failures in Wenley Moor. Their third eyes are responsible for mental breakdowns in several Wenley Moor personnel.

Three months before The Silurians.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart meets Captain Shuskin, a senior member of UNIT USSR, whilst on a visit to Geneva.

This was 'last year' according to the Brigadier in The Devil Goblins from Neptune (page 84).

Decker tracks the Nestene mothership.

'Last summer' relative to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 162.

Arthurs spots a Julasen fleet which later lands in Argentina.

An unknown time before The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 162.

September 1969

James Stevens marries Natasha Howarth.

Who Killed Kennedy, page 12.

October 1969

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart visits UNIT Geneva.

He last visited Geneva 'eight months' before The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 88. However, on page 139, he is said to have been in Geneva to report on the Stahlman crisis (Inferno) - which is far more recent than that. Perhaps the latter visit was only very brief.

Monday 20th October

SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE

UNIT tracks a shower of 50 meteorites in formation, which lands in Epping Forest. At the same time, the newly regenerated third Doctor is found in Oxley woods and taken to Ashbridge Cottage Hospital. Some details of the Doctor's unusual physiology are leaked to the media.

Thursday 23rd October

Across the UK power stations, police stations, army barracks and media networks were attacked in dawn raids. The incident, known as Black Thursday, was accompanied by bizarre fringe reports of shop dummies coming to life and ended when UNIT stormed a plastics factory in Ashbridge. In fact, Earth had been attacked by the Nestene Consciousness.

In Planet of the Spiders, the Brigadier claims that this was months after The Invasion (July 1969), though in Face of the Enemy (page 21), he remembers it as being two years later. Space probes have been sent out for the last ten years. The Black Thursday label is from Who Killed Kennedy (which gives a date of October 1969 on page 19). The Scales of Injustice gives the date Liz arrived at UNIT as Monday 21st October on page 9 (Prologue page 1), so it's 1968, 1974, or 1985 and Monday 31st October on page 13 (Prologue page 3), so it's 1966, 1977, or 1983). The Devil Goblins from Neptune - set summer 1970 - dates it as 'last summer' on page 10.

Sergeant Mike Yates led the clear-up operation and discovered a single energy unit that had not been recovered by the Autons. [Due to the Master's intervention] it was loaned to the National Space Museum.

Terror of the Autons. However, The Scales of Injustice claims that he's only been in UNIT for two months, whilst claiming that Liz has been in UNIT for eight months. Corporal Maisie Hawke did the paperwork for the transfer of the Nestene unit according to The Scales of Injustice chapter 5 page 13.

The Doctor designs some special radar equipment to track things falling to Earth. However, it is only installed in one radar station.

This was after Spearhead from Space according to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 17.

At this stage, the Doctor's laboratory is on the third floor of the Whitehall War Office.

That's where it is in Blood Heat, so that has to have been where it was during The Silurians.

Martyn Townsend creates Celian and Ciara by replacing their blood with Nestene fluids. These two Irish twins will soon be employed by Sir Marmaduke Harrington-Smythe

This was seven or eight months before The Scales of Injustice chapter 5 page 23, and definitely after Spearhead from Space.

November 1969

THE SILURIANS

UNIT investigates the problems at Wenley Moor. Interaction with the Silurians leads first to the Silurians releasing a deadly plague against the humans, for which the Doctor and Liz manage to find a cure, and then to UNIT entombing the Silurians.

Pre-decimal currency is still in use, so it's before 1971. Blood Heat, set in an alternate universe, places its universe's equivalent in 1973. Who Killed Kennedy places this in November 1969.

22nd November 1969

James Stevens, a journalist at The Daily Chronicle, receives an anonymous tip-off, alerting him to the connection between the plague and Wenley Moor. The resulting scandal forces at least two ministers to resign.

Who Killed Kennedy. The exact date is given on page 47.

Mike Yates' team is placed on clear-up duty around Wenley Moor.

According to Eye of the Giant, page 18.

DECALOG: THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK

The Doctor discovers a downed alien spacecraft and tries to hide it from UNIT.

It is described as autumn on page 99. It appears to be fairly soon after The Silurians.

Soviet radar detects a meteorite breaking up during descent above Siberia.

This was 'late last year' relative to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 99.

10th December 1969

THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH

The British Space Program was thriving. There were several varieties of fuel. The standard fuel, known as K, enabled rockets to get to Mars in less than 8 months, whilst a more powerful variant, called M-3, produced greater G-forces than humans could withstand. The British Space Centre was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, including colour videophones and a machine able to automatically display star charts. Even decontamination procedures had been reduced from two days down to one hour.

There was, however, a problem. Contact had been lost with Mars Probe 7 and was subsequently lost with the Recovery 7 rocket used to retrieve astronauts from the probe. Pictures were being broadcast live round the clock on the newly launched BBC3. After the Recovery craft was found to be empty, it was decided to relaunch the Recovery craft, using the M-3 fuel to investigate what actually happened. This mission recovered the crew.

The Doctor is still bitter about The Silurians, so it's fairly soon afterwards. The BBC3 broadcasts come from Who Killed Kennedy, which gives the date as December 1969.

[The Alien ambassadors who had been discovered on the surface of Mars soon left our solar system].

As they are never referred to again, there was almost certainly no lasting significance to the encounter. It is implied that they are not Martians - They were there before us. Both of these things are confirmed in The Dying Days.

The Mars Probe program continued after this incident [in much the same way as Apollo did after the problems on Apollo 13].

Probe 9 is mentioned in Dancing the Code, and the final mission was over 20 years before The Dying Days (1997) page 3.

Late December 1969

The Doctor undertakes a brief lecture tour to the United States. Whilst speaking at MIT, he recruits a young man called Sam to UNIT's research and development wing. Whilst in Texas he meets Von Braun.

This was 'last year' according to The Devil Goblins from Neptune page 34, probably placing it in the few weeks after The Ambassadors of Death.

The Brigadier spends Christmas in Geneva.

This was the Christmas before The Scales of Injustice chapter 7 page 2.