My button from the Doctor Who Fan Club of America.
Here is my badge from the 1985 Whoevent (I had won a local radio show contest and snagged tickets for my mom and I. I was 15 years old at the time.)
Here is a scan of the Program guide to the 1985 Whoevent in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Again, I had won a contest to the convention and had a blast. What a great time!
A picture of Anthony Ainley at the 1985 Whoevent.
Now let me explain something: Back in 1985, Doctor Who conventions were an event. The actors didn't simply come out and charge $15 for autographs, answering questions such as: "When the Cybermen attack you in episode 76, why didn't the Doctor use his sonic screwdriver?" No, the actors put on a cabaret show for the audience. Here's a picture of actor Anthony Ainley (who played The Master in the Doctor Who TV series) singing. Yep, the Master singing!
Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) singing to the audience. I can't remember what he sang, but I do remember it was something extremely funny and at one point in the song who crossed his eyes and looked extremely funny. Now that he's passed on, I'm really happy to still have this picture.
I can't remember what Nicola Bryant sang during the cabaret, but again, how amazing was it to actually hear the actors perform? What a great cabaret show that was!
April 1985: Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) addresses the audience in Philadelphia. It was his birthday so the audience sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
Notice that Davison is spelled incorrectly. In the picture above, you'll see that the convention promoters covered up the second "D" with duct tape. How funny!
There's a story to this picture. Mary Tamm (Romana in Doctor Who) had been signing autographs for hours. Her hand looked like is was ready to fall off. My mom and I went to get an autograph and she initially said that she was too tired, but my mom convinced her to sign a picture (see below). She was getting up and was ready to leave, but my mom snapped a quick picture of her. I really appreciated the fact that Mary Tamm autographed my picture for me.
You can tell from her scribble that she was really, really tired!
There's a story to this: Back in the mid-'80s, the BBC would send you plans on how to make a Dalek or the color sequence to Tom Baker's long scarf. I wrote to the BBC and received a package back that basically has all the instructions on how to make a Dalek. Because of copyright issues I only wanted to post their letter to me here.
Around this same time, I discovered the various addresses you could write to obtain an autograph of your favorite Doctor Who actor/actress. Here's Janet Fielding's (Tegan in Doctor Who) autograph.
As a 15 year old boy, let me just say that I was extremely pleased to receive this autographed picture in the mail. Sarah Sutton even took some time to answer I question I had asked her on the back of the postcard.
This is the last of the autographs I had sent away for through the mail. Considering that I was pretty young at the time and there was no Internet, the world was a different place. Sending a letter via air mail took weeks, and there was no quick e-mail or online order form. You simply sent a letter to the actor's agent and received an autographed postcard back in the mail.
Everyone remember this book?
How about this one?
And, of course, this one.
Here's a scan of the front cover of an issue of the Whovian Times newsletter.
An autograph of Nicola Bryant.
Here is my Friends of the Doctor in the Delaware Valley pin. Yeah, I was nerd, but I loved Doctor Who!