How I Found The Tardis
- Publication: Best of British
- Date: Nov. 2023
- Author: Ian McCann
- Page: 3
- Language: English
Ian McCann recalls the early impact of a telly legend
What was it with the 60s? Everything was mysterious. Bands were called the Who, and ? and the Mysterians. Adverts appeared in the streets saying: "The Russians Are Coming" with no explanation. There was a telly series in which an agent was sent to a Stepford Wives kind of place, and even the people producing it didn't appear to know what it was about or how it should end. And one Saturday night, before the advent of Adam Adamant, there was a TV show with a wobbly, mind-bending introductory sequence and music beamed down from the planet Gawdnose. It featured young, nearly groovy people who were too inquisitive and an old grandfatherly bloke who, it turned out, could travel through time. And space. My dad saw through Doctor Who right away. This was a load of rubbish. I couldn't get enough of it. It wasn't that long before every kid in school was swivelling around the playground, arms held stiffly, barking "Exterminate!" Some did it so much, maybe they really were aliens. If Tasers had been invented back then, few of us would have survived. But Doctor Who offered other monsters, such as things that looked like hairbrushes; I think they were called Larvae Guns but don't hold me to it. All I know is, my older sister wasn't delighted when I nicked her hairbrush and started dragging it across the floor in imitation, especially since one of the cats had been moulting over a rug I saw as alien terrain. Five minutes' walk away, there was a police box.
My friend Gordon and I began to ponder what it was for: we had never once seen a copper use it. We decided to keep it under surveillance for a week, which turned out to be a very dull 20 minutes. A few weeks later, I noticed a Bobby open it, and dashed up as fast as I could, hoping to get a squint inside. He clocked me — nothing could get past him — and poked his head around the door. "Now young fella, I bet you think this is one of those Tardises, doncha?" he said. "Is it?" I asked, barely able to contain myself. "That's for me to know, you to wonder," he smirked, and shut the door behind him. But he couldn't fool me. All I had to do was wait and see if it vanished. And years later, it did.
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- APA 6th ed.: McCann, Ian (Nov. 2023). How I Found The Tardis. Best of British p. 3.
- MLA 7th ed.: McCann, Ian. "How I Found The Tardis." Best of British [add city] Nov. 2023, 3. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: McCann, Ian. "How I Found The Tardis." Best of British, edition, sec., Nov. 2023
- Turabian: McCann, Ian. "How I Found The Tardis." Best of British, Nov. 2023, section, 3 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=How I Found The Tardis | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/How_I_Found_The_Tardis | work=Best of British | pages=3 | date=Nov. 2023 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=How I Found The Tardis | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/How_I_Found_The_Tardis | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024}}</ref>
