Doctor Who?

Blue Police Box, or
"What TARDIS Looks Like."

Today is Doctor Who Day.  For those who don't know, (and that includes me), Doctor Who is a British science fiction television show on the BBC (British Broadcasting Company). 

As a boy, this was my Welsh husband's favorite TV show.  That is, even though at times he was so frightened by the concept of what he was watching that he had to shield his eyes and peek between his fingers!



Doctor Who is a time-traveler whose time-travelling machine looks like the blue police box pictured here.  In the show, its name is TARDIS.  Don't ask, because I don't know what TARDIS stands for. 

Hubby says that as a boy, he didn't see many blue police boxes.  They are mostly extinct now.  In reality, one could enter a police box and pick up the telephone inside and get an instant, direct connection to the police station.

These blue police boxes are a kind of cultural icon in Britain, mostly for their representation as TARDIS.   Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz, or Fonzi's leather jacket from Happy Days have a similar cache in the U.S.

The Doctor Who character time-traveled with a group of friends, and also fought enemies to right wrongs.  The show is the longest-running science fiction TV show in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.  It first aired on this date in 1963. 

When hubby tells me stories of watching Doctor Who while visiting his Grandma, I can only laugh.  I recall similar evenings in front of the television, slightly terrorized by episodes of The Twilight Zone.  We children, we're the same all over the world!