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How Dr. Who travels

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2008-09-03 Winnipeg Free Press.jpg

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LETTER OF THE DAY

How Dr. Who travels

I noticed the headline written above the article on maintaining the red British phone booths. It read Dr. Who would be pleased (Aug. 29). Although the humour and eye-catching effect are good, I would like to point out a fundamental error in the headline.

Dr. Who travels in a Tardis, which is modelled after a police call box. These boxes were ubiquitous around 1955 and were unnoticeable and somewhat hidden away from the general public. They were used by officers on the beat to check in with their station at regular intervals. The station would call its officer by activating the flashing blue light and the officer would call in for instructions. The general public could use these phones only for emergencies as they had a direct line to the police station only.

This is probably why the writers of Dr. Who used this symbol for the Tardis as it was a common object that was largely ignored by the general public as opposed to the red call boxes, which were very evident. Of course, when police officers were issued radios, these call boxes became obsolete and disappeared. Nobody, other than those of us who enjoyed the Dr. Who series, really cared.

JIM HANSFORD

Winnipeg


Caption: A scale model of the Tardis from the television series Doctor Who.

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.: (2008-09-03). How Dr. Who travels. Winnipeg Free Press p. A10.
  • MLA 7th ed.: "How Dr. Who travels." Winnipeg Free Press [add city] 2008-09-03, A10. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: "How Dr. Who travels." Winnipeg Free Press, edition, sec., 2008-09-03
  • Turabian: "How Dr. Who travels." Winnipeg Free Press, 2008-09-03, section, A10 edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=How Dr. Who travels | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/How_Dr._Who_travels | work=Winnipeg Free Press | pages=A10 | date=2008-09-03 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 December 2024 }}</ref>
  • Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=How Dr. Who travels | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/How_Dr._Who_travels | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 December 2024}}</ref>


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