The Birthday of the Doctor

A foggy night in London, fifty years ago today. A policeman on his evening patrol passes by a building with a sign outside that reads: "I.M. Foreman, Scrap Merchant, 76 Totter's Lane". Inside, all manner of rubbish is strewn across the floor. And in the corner, there's a blue police telephone box. At least, it's something that looks like a police telephone box.

Let the Adventures in Space and Time commence! Today, the single most important piece of serial fiction in my life is fifty year's old. Happy Birthday, Doctor. You don't look a day over 906.

Splendid chaps. All of them.

"I Tolerate This Century, But I Don't Enjoy It"

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought."

"Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway."

"Well, of course I'm being childish! There's no point being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes."

"There's always something to look at if you open your eyes!"

"Rest is for the weary, sleep is for the dead. I feel like a hungry man eager for the feast!"

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do."

"I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."

"Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother."

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"

"Amy Pond, there's something you better understand about me 'cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it...I am definitely a mad man with a box."

"I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off, back to his TARDIS. And open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor. In the TARDIS. Next stop: Everywhere."

UPDATED: Because I really wanted to capture all thirteen: