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{{article | publication = Daily Post | file = 1981-04-15 Daily Post.jpg | px = 250 | height = | width = | date = 1981-04-15 | author = Michael Owen | pages = 17 | language = English | type = | description = | categories = | moreTitles = | morePublications = | moreDates = | text = IT WAS slow progress through Soho with Tom Baker. Not because of Dr Who but he does just seem to know everyone on that particular patch. They lean out of windows and he shouts back: "Hello, Ronnie" For someone across the road ire "Hi, Mike," then down the pavement for "See you in the French, Alice." Alice, by the way, was a bloke. Tom Baker is one of the few originals around. A large, looking figure with a personality to match the scale of his frame and a con, stud wanderer, especially around Soho. I knew him 10 years ago when he was being brilliant with Olivier at the Old Vic and working on a building site by day. Since then Dr Who arrived and made him a global cult figure. He has finally left the Tardis and returns to theatre to play Oscar Wilde in Peter Coe's Feasting with Panthers. He said: "I've always been interested in Wilde. Not so much for what he wrote but for the character he was. He was an actor, he played a role all his life. "I'm interested now in playing those fantastical characters, larger than life. Someone like Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Now, I'd love to have a go at that." Mr. Baker, now in his mid-40s, is a Liverpool-born friend to all. He nearly became a monk and has depths which do not always show. He spent six years playing Dr Who, with occasional breaks for films that unfortunately turned out to be forgettable. "It was not hard to leave Dr Who, I felt it in my finger-tips that the time had come to move over and give someone else a chance. There was nothing more that I could do with it." He is still inundated with Dr Who fan mail and in August has promised to attend one of those Dr Who conventions in America where the following has reached fanatical level. "I went to one in Los Angeles. These people were coming up with theories about Dr Who I could not understand. I asked them What they wanted and they all wanted the same thing. Would I take them with me in the Tardis? It was very weird." Had marriage changed him? He grinned broadly. "It's the most extraordinary thing. For the first time in my life I'm thrilled to so home. I'm no longer so nomadic, loitering around Soho bars. "I do admire Lalla. She's a good actress and a smashing artist. She had two books published last year. She's also a whim at The Times crossword. I think that's terrific, don't you?" Caption: TOM BAKER: One of the few originals }}

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