20 things you don't know about Doctor Who

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• Publication: The Sun
• Date: 1985-02-16
• Author: Tim Ewbank
• Page: 19
• Language: English

Colin aims to ride the space shuttle

COLIN BAKER is a big hit with sci-fi fans as the sixth Doctor Who.

And he says: " I'm so happy in the role I would love to carry on being. the doctor for five years."

Everyone knows that Baker was previously married to actress Liza Goddard, by whom he has a nine-year-old son, Tom.

He is now married to actress Marion Wyatt and they are expecting a child next month after tragically losing their son Jack in a cot death in November 1983.

He. says: "Of course we are both very excited. Marion is fine and everything is going well."

Colin Baker has been a fan of Doctor Who (BBC 1, tonight, 5.20) for many years and thought about auditioning for the role when Tom Baker quit.

But before he could do anything about it, the BBC signed up Peter Davison. Baker's big chance in the Doctor Who role came two years later.

Did you know that:

1. He has a big fear of spiders. He has even asked not to nice to meet any during his Doctor Who adventures.
2. Baker was bombed and strafed by Mirage fighters in Israel while he was working on a kibbutz. He says: "It was in the Six-Day War in 1967. I just threw myself on' the ground, petrified."
3. He was at school with comedian Mike Harding and singer Peter Noone. Herman of the hit Sixties group Herman's Hermits. Baker won his Rochdale school a half-day holiday by passing the 11-plus exam.
4. In between acting jobs he has sold shirts in a Manchester store and worked as a cleaner at people's homes.
5. On the opening night of a new show he always wears a pair of Paisley-patterned Marks And Spencer underpants which are 15 years old. He reckons they bring him luck.
6. Baker is crazy about cats. It was his idea to wear a cat badge on the lapel of his Doctor Who coat. At home he has five cats, including one he rescued from a motorway after it had broken a leg.
7. The role that made him a big TV star was Paul Merroney in The Brothers, a series about a road transport firm. Just before he got the part he had a lob driving lorries for a firm in Camden Town, North London.
8. He once reached the regional finals of The Times crossword competition.
9. Baker's first acting role was playing a girl—in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Iolanthe.
10. When he married his actress wife Marion, he got special permission for his Irish setter Cleo to attend the wedding ceremony with a ribbon around her neck.
11. Baker's worst habit is leaving his shoes on the sitting room floor. He says: It drives Marion mad."
12. He is a big fan of Paul McCartney. His favourite song is McCartney's. Fool On The Hill. He says: "It sums up a lot of the way I feel about life."
13. His role as ruthless Paul Merroney in The Brothers cost him a tooth. A motorist once leaped out of his car and punched Baker on the jaw. It knocked a tooth out and it cost Baker £150 to have it bridged.
14. He used to wear a trendy moustache, until Laurence Olivier told him to shave it off. He says: "Olivier told me I had good features and I should separate them. I haven't had a moustache since."
15. Baker's best friend is Upstairs, Downstairs star Simon Williams. "We met in a play in 1976," he says, "and we have been great friends ever since. "We are both Gemenis."
16. He used to smoke 30 cigarettes a day but gave up when he learned that The Brothers actor Mike Pratt was dying of cancer. In hospital Pratt warned Baker to give up smoking. He says: "I could not waste that man's death so I gave up."
17. For five years he trained to be a solicitor before dropping out to become a drama student.
18. Baker's Doctor Who connection goes back years. He was best man at the wedding of actor David Troughton, son of the second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton.
19. His biggest regret is not going to Oxford or Cambridge At school he got nine O-levels and five A-levels, including Latin. Greek and French.
20. His great ambition is to ride on the space shuttle. He says: 'I would dearly love to get off this planet and look at it from space. I'm going to start flying lessons soon."

Colin Baker ... brainy boffin

Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org

• APA 6th ed.: Ewbank, Tim (1985-02-16). 20 things you don't know about Doctor Who. The Sun p. 19.
• MLA 7th ed.: Ewbank, Tim. "20 things you don't know about Doctor Who." The Sun [add city] 1985-02-16, 19. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Ewbank, Tim. "20 things you don't know about Doctor Who." The Sun, edition, sec., 1985-02-16
• Turabian: Ewbank, Tim. "20 things you don't know about Doctor Who." The Sun, 1985-02-16, section, 19 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=20 things you don't know about Doctor Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/20_things_you_don%27t_know_about_Doctor_Who | work=The Sun | pages=19 | date=1985-02-16 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=4 May 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=20 things you don't know about Doctor Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/20_things_you_don%27t_know_about_Doctor_Who | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=4 May 2025}}</ref>