[557] Dating “The Road to Hell” (DWM #278-282) - The Doctor asserts “I’m fairly sure I’ve set us down in the tenth century”, but quickly corrects this to “the early seventeenth century”.
[558] “The Glorious Dead”
[559] Birthright. It’s entirely possible that after this point, Jared Khan passes off the identity of “John Dee” to a successor who later starves to death while containing the Enochians (“Don’t Step on the Grass”).
[560] “Don’t Step on the Grass”. The head Enochian says its spaceship arrived on Earth “over five hundred years” prior to 2009 (so, concurrent with Dee’s lifetime), and the date is given as “sixteenth century Greenwich” in “Final Sacrifice”. Seemingly without any evidence, the Doctor also claims that the spaceship has been on Earth for “thousands of years”. Enochian is an occult/angelic language found in Dee’s journals in real life.
[561] “Final Sacrifice”
[562] The Dying Days
[563] Dating The Plotters (MA #28) - The year is given (p23).
[564] Endgame (EDA)
[565] Before Revenge of the Cybermen. The signing of the Convention is the central event of The Empire of Glass.
[566] “Don’t Step on the Grass”. In real life, it’s unknown if Dee died in 1608 or 1609, as both the parish registers and his gravestone are missing.
[567] Dating The Empire of Glass (MA #16) - The Doctor states that it “must be the year of our lord, 1609” (p30).
[568] Managra. Bathory lived 1560-1614; her trial commenced on 7th January, 1611, with her in absentia.
[569] The Empire of Glass
[570] Three hundred years before Year of the Pig.
[571] The Settling. The person who bestows the forceps upon the Doctor is merely referred to as “Chamberlen”. Peter Chamberlen is regarded as the inventor of forceps, although the name actually refers to two brothers (respectively 1560-1631 and 1572-1626). The elder Peter is apparently the creator of the device, which was a family secret for generations.
[572] “Don’t Step on the Grass”
[573] The End of Time (DL), p40. There were actually two “Defenestrations of Prague”, in 1419 and 1618, although the term more often refers to the latter. Some real-life texts do claim that those thrown out the third window of the Bohemian Chancellory lived owing to a large heap of manure.
[574] Silver Nemesis
[575] Sometime Never
[576] “Ten generations” before Imperial Moon.
[577] FP: Newtons Sleep (p14). Silver says he was born “the year the last king came to the throne” - meaning Charles I, in 1625.
[578] Dating The Church and the Crown (BF #38) - The date is given.
[579] The Abominable Snowmen. This was “1630” according to the Doctor. The Programme Guide suggested “1400 AD”.
[580] The Doctor speaks Tibetan in Planet of the Spiders (but can’t in The Creature from the Pit), and uses Tibetan meditation in Terror of the Zygons.
[581] Heart of TARDIS. Bacon died in April 1626.
[582] The War Games. The Thirty Years War ran from 1618-1648.
[583] Dating Borrowed Time (NSA #49) - The year is given (p253). The peak of “tulip mania” was February 1637.
[584] The Church and the Crown
[585] Dating Silver Nemesis (25.3) - The Doctor gives the date of the launch, but there is no indication of exactly how long afterwards Lady Peinforte leaves for the twentieth century. Quite how “Roundheads” can be involved in this business when the term wasn’t used until the Civil War is unclear. As a letter to Radio Times after Silver Nemesis aired noted, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752 means that eleven days were “lost” in Britain, so had the Nemesis really landed exactly three hundred and fifty years after 23rd November, 1638, it would have landed on 3rd December, 1988.
The statue passes over the Earth every twenty-five years (in 1663, 1688, 1713, 1738, 1763, 1788, 1813, 1838, 1863, 1888, 1913, 1938, 1963 and finally 1988). The Terrestrial Index offers suggestions as to the effects of the statue on human history, but the only on-screen information concerns the twentieth century.
Fenric’s involvement is established in The Curse of Fenric.
[586] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - The date is given on the back cover, in accord with the English Civil War starting in 1642. The publisher of Newtons Sleep, Random Static, has stated that the lack of an apostrophe in the title was deliberate; it’s a quote from William Blake.
[587] The War Games. The English Civil Wars ran from 1642-1649.
[588] The Time Monster
[589] The Awakening
[590] The Hollow Men
[591] The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
[592] Nightshade
[593] The Daemons. The witchhunter Matthew Hopkins died in 1647.
[594] Players
[595] Dating The Roundheads (PDA #6) - The Doctor says it’s “1648, December I should say” (p39).
[596] Dating The Settling (BF #82) - Cromwell’s ultimatum to Wexford is issued on 12th September, 1649, and the story begins shortly beforehand. The sacking of Wexford lasted from 2nd to 11th October. The “Dr. Goddard” in this story apparently refers to Dr. Jonathan Goddard (1617-1675), a distinguished Society member and a favourite of Cromwell.
[597] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - Newton was born on 4th January, 1643, and is currently “a child of nine summers with shite on his brow” (p1). Rene Descartes is “freshly-dead” (p2) - he died on 11th February 1650. Newton is constantly referred to in Newtons Sleep by his pseudonym, “Jeova Unus Sanctus” (more commonly rendered as “Jeova Sanctus Unus”) - the letters of which can be rearranged (allowing that J’s in Latin are rendered as I’s, as demonstrated in that great and seminal documentary of archaeology, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) to spell Isaacus Neutonuus, an invented rendering of his name in Latin.
[598] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - Behn, a real-life historical figure, was born on 10th July 1640, and is age 10 when she meets Larissa.
[599] “The seventeenth century”, says Rags (p39).
[600] The Androids of Tara. Izaak Walton lived 1593-1683, and published The Compleat Angler in 1653.
[601] Ghost Ship. Hobbes lived 1588-1679.
[602] According to the monument in Silver Nemesis.
[603] The Stones of Blood. The English writer John Aubrey (best known for his collection of biographies, Brief Lives) lived 1626-1697.
[604] Ghost Light. The Royal Geographical Society was formed in 1645 during the Civil War.
[605] The Doctor says that these should have been outlawed “centuries” before The Many Deaths of Jo Grant.
[606] Dating The Witch from the Well (BF #154) - It’s the “seventeenth century”, and “three and a half centuries”/“350 years” from the present day. The Varaxils landed in spring, and it’s now six months later.
[607] The Ghosts of N-Space
[608] The Eleventh Hour. This was in 1665.
[609] SJA: The Eternity Trap
[610] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - The year is given in the blurb.
[611] Dating The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories: “The Demons of Red Lodge” (BF #142a) - The Doctor twice comments that it’s 1665, and it’s “twenty years” after the time of Matthew Hopkins, who operated as a witchhunter from 1645 to 1647.
[612] TW: Hidden. In real life, Vaughan was a member of the Society of Unknown Philosophers, established his reputation by writing the pseudo-mystical work Anthroposophia Theomagica, and lived 1621 to 1666.
[613] K9: Fear Itself
[614] Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space
[615] Dating The Visitation (19.4) - The Doctor, trying to get Tegan home, suggests “we’re about three hundred years early”. The action culminates with the start of the Great Fire of London, which took place on the night of 2nd to 3rd September, 1666, so the story would seem to start on 1st September. According to the novelisation, the Terileptils crashed on “August 5th”. O
n screen, Richard Mace says this was “several weeks ago”.
[616] The Doctor says he was blamed for the Great Fire in Pyramids of Mars. He refers to Mr and Mrs Pepys in Robot, and to Mrs Pepys’ coffee-making prowess in Planet of the Spiders. Pepys lived 1633-1703 and began his diary in 1660. His wife Elizabeth died in 1669. Mention of the Doctor’s reluctance to talk about the Great Fire is from Doctor Who and the Pirates.
[617] Dating “Black Death White Life” (IDW DW one-shot #6) - “It’s the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and sixty-nine” according to a villager.
[618] Dating The Impossible Astronaut (X6.1) - No date is given. The affronted man is not named in the story, and is only referred to as “Charles” in the end credits. However, the story implies that he is king, and the man’s attire, moustache and impressive hair all match that of Charles II (who reigned 1660-1685) as painted by John Michael Wright. Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia cites the man as a “seventeenth-century nobleman”, and also says that Matilda is the man’s daughter. None of Charles’ real-life children have that name, although he did have an awful lot of illegitimate issue.
[619] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - The back cover names the year.
[620] Sometime Never
[621] The Forgotten Army. New Amsterdam reverted to the name “New York” in November 1674, but the Bronx wasn’t incorporated into New York until 1874. Either this discrepancy owes to some aspect of time travel on the Doctor’s part, or - as with a lot of the Doctor’s spurious and inaccurate claims in this novel - one does have to wonder if he’s just making it all up.
[622] “Don’t Step on the Grass”
[623] The Happiness Patrol. Wallis lived 1616-1703, and is credited with furthering the development of modern calculus.
[624] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - Events follow the death of the courtier Edward Coleman (p143), who was hanged on 17th May, 1678. Rochester in real life went underground as “Dr Bendo” following a brawl with the night watch, in which one of his companions was killed. “The Inferno” is presumably a precursor to the nightclub seen in The War Machines. (Writer Daniel O’Mahony also mentions the Inferno - the nightclub, that is, not the brothel - in The Cabinet of Light, so the name of the brothel here is looking less and less like coincidence.)
[625] “Centuries” before “The Iron Legion”. Vesuvius is the oldest robot, and a guard says he “should have been dealt with centuries ago”. Likewise, the Bestarius have lain in their suspended animation “for centuries”.
[626] “Three centuries” before Shada.
[627] Enlightenment
[628] Phantasmagoria
[629] The Last Dodo
[630] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - The back cover cites the year.
[631] “Two hundred years old, at least” before Kiss of Death. Mention of the Arar-Jecks suggests this is the time of the Twenty Aeon War cited in Frontios.
[632] Dating The Glorious Revolution (BF CC #4.2) - It’s 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution. The specific day isn’t mentioned, but historically, the king fled on 10th of December and was captured the next day.
[633] Ghost Ship. Purcell lived from 1659-1695.
[634] Battlefield. This is the date on the capstone above the hotel’s fireplace.
[635] The Hollow Men
[636] The Pirate Planet. Newton lived 1642-1727, and published his theories of gravitation in 1685. This meeting clearly predates the fifth Doctor encountering Newton in Circular Time.
[637] Circular Time: “Summer”
[638] Psi-ence Fiction
[639] Winner Takes All. This would be around 1690.
[640] “Final Sacrifice”
[641] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - Behn died 16th April, 1689. The real-life cause of her death isn’t actually known, but she was buried in Westminster Abbey.
[642] TW: Trace Memory
[643] Cat’s Cradle: Witch Mark. The Ceffyl have lived at peace with the humans on Tír na n-Óg for “three centuries” (p169).
[644] Dating The Witch Hunters (PDA #9) - Each section states the date. Nurse was executed on 19th July, 1692.
[645] 100: “Bedtime Story”
[646] Dating The Smugglers (4.1) - The Doctor notes that the design of the church he sees on leaving the TARDIS means that they could have landed “at any time after the sixteenth century”. Later, he says that the customers in the inn are dressed in clothes from the “seventeenth century”. The Terrestrial Index and The TARDIS File set the story in “1650”, The TARDIS Logs in “1646”. Timelink went for “1672”, About Time said it’s “likely to be after 1685”.
The Discontinuity Guide states that as a character says “God save the King” (and, perhaps more to the point, Josiah Blake is the “King’s Revenue Officer”), it must be when England had a King (between 1603-1642, 1660-1688 or 1694 onwards). However, William III ruled as King from 1688-1702, and even though this was alongside Mary at first, legally and in the minds of the public he was King. The Guide further speculates that the costumes suggest this story is set in the latter part of the century.
[647] “The previous winter” and “three years” before The Curse of the Black Spot.
[648] Dating The Curse of the Black Spot (X6.3) - The Doctor says it’s the “seventeenth century”. The BBC website preview for the episode has Avery give the date as “April 1st, 1699”, and says the ship has been becalmed for eight days. There’s no evidence that this Avery is the same pirate said to have died in The Smugglers. The Skerth are named in Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia, but not on screen.
[649] A Good Man Goes to War
[650] “Hundreds of years” before Death Comes to Time. Anima Persis is also mentioned in Relative Dementias and The Tomorrow Windows.
[651] Relative Dementias
[652] “Operation Proteus”
[653] Unspecified “centuries” before The Deadstone Memorial.
[654] Wishing Well
[655] The Stones of Blood
[656] Fury from the Deep
[657] The Highest Science
[658] “Many generations” before SJA: The Gift.
[659] Rags
[660] Loups-Garoux
[661] SJA: Warriors of Kudlak
[662] “Three hundred years” before Excelis Rising.
[663] The Lodger (TV)
[664] “The Child of Time” (DWM). Hume lived 1711-1776.
[665] Unspecified “centuries” before Closing Time.
[666] “Centuries” before SJA: Sky.
[667] “Centuries” before SJA: Judgement Day.
[668] “Within a century” of his crusade beginning, according to “The Glorious Dead”.
[669] “Three hundred years” before SJS: The Tao Connection.
[670] Dating Phantasmagoria (BF #2) - The exact date is given.
[671] Dating Doctor Who and the Pirates (BF #43) - The date isn’t specified beyond it being “the eighteenth century”.
[672] Dating “Ravens” (DWM #188-190) - It’s “four hundred years” before the main event of this story.
[673] Dating Circular Time: “Summer” (BF #91) - The year isn’t specified, but the month is given as July. The story occurs while Newton is warden of the Royal Mint - he was appointed to the post in 1696, and served until his death in 1727. This date is otherwise arbitrary, based upon actor David Warner’s age of 65 when he voiced Newton (who was born in January 1643 by the Gregorian calendar) for this audio. Historically, counterfeiting in this period was treated as high treason, and those found guilty were put to death. Convictions proved difficult to achieve, but Newton - often venturing out in disguise, as occurs here - personally collected evidence against such criminals. His most notable prosecution was against the counterfeiter William Chaloner - who was hanged, drawn and quartered on 23rd March, 1699.
[674] Only Human. Montagu, an aristocrat chiefly known for her letters from Turkey (when she was the wife of the British ambassador) lived 1689-1762.
[675
] The Android Invasion. The Doctor presumably means the first Duke, who lived 1650-1722 and was made a Duke in 1702.
[676] The Wages of Sin. This would have to be between 1712-1725.
[677] The English Way of Death (p46).
[678] “Hundreds of years” before SJA: The White Wolf.
[679] Malohkeh has been watching mankind “for the last three hundred years” according to Cold Blood.
[680] “One hundred forty-five years” after The Vampires of Venice (which is in accordance with Casanova’s real-life birth year).
[681] The Mind Robber
[682] Dating The Girl in the Fireplace (X2.4) - Reinette says it’s 1727. The Doctor tells her that August of that year is “a bit rubbish”, but he’s no way of knowing if August has already passed or not. We might expect Reinette to correct him if it has, but he’s gabbling and doesn’t really give her a chance.
[683] Dating The Girl in the Fireplace (X2.4) - It is “weeks, months” after the Doctor and Reinette’s first meeting. It’s snowing outside, so it’s winter. The older Reinette later says she has “known the Doctor since she was seven” - as she was born 29th December, 1721, she would have been that age almost exclusively in 1728. If the initial meeting takes place in 1727 and the second is “months” later in 1728, then Reinette’s comment about her age makes some sense - although it means (not unreasonably) that she’s more referring to the Doctor saving her from the clockwork man than their initial, very brief conversation through the fireplace. This probably isn’t what was intended on screen, but it fits the available evidence fairly well. The alternative is that the Doctor and Reinette first meet in the last three days of 1727 - which would again push their second meeting into 1728.
[684] “Thirty years” before The Many Hands.
[685] Dating FP: Newtons Sleep (FP novel #6) - It’s “nearly sixty years” (p135) after the raid at Salomon’s house in 1671. It’s also spring (p134).
[686] The Highlanders
[687] World War Three strongly implies that the Doctor met this man. Mr Chicken is historical, and was the last private resident of the building before King George II put it at the disposal of Sir Robert Walpole, the first British Prime Minister.
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