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Friday, 4 October 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
United Kingdom: The National Media Museum in Bradford will play host to an 'invasion' of Daleks during the October half-term (26 Oct - 3 Nov). Doctor Who Family Fun will give visitors the chance to learn about the Doctor's foe in the Science of the Daleks event, and will also be able to participate in making a light-up TARDIS, a moving Dalek or even create their own monster to take home. Other events include behind-the-scenes on the making of the show, plus a screening of this year's Nightmare in Silver. Learning programme coordinator Elaine Richmond said: "We hope families will join us this half term to help keep the Museum from the clutches of the dreaded Daleks. We’re very excited about this event and promise a lot of Doctor Who-themed fun and activities in anticipation of the 50th anniversary episode next month."

UK: The University of Central Lancashire are planning a special event on the 16th November: Doctor Who: The Science Behind The Scenes will be a day of presentations about the show and the science it uses, including topics like Science Fact or Science Fiction?, The Psychology of Doctor Who and Is Time Travel Possible? There will also be workshops, make-up, costumes and mask-making, and a area to have memorabilia assessed and valued! [EventBrite]

UK: The popularity of Doctor Who Experience at Cardiff Bay has led to the town council to consider additional parking space in order to ensure that the perceived lack of space is leading to a drop-off in number of visitors to the area. A BBC Worldwide spokesperson commented: "An improvement in parking in Cardiff Bay will support increased visitor numbers but there is no suggestion that visitor numbers at the Doctor Who Experience are falling. We do receive comments from potential visitors and visitors post-event about the lack of parking in the Bay and we welcome the move to improve the situation." [Wales Online, 19 Sep 2013]

UK: Special Events Group Limited are arranging for a mass Doctor Who themed wedding which is expected to take place at the Bloomsbury Ballroom in London on 24th November. [Doctor Who Wedding]

UK: As part of the BBC's plans to simulcast The Day of the Doctor across cinemas in 3D, Cineworld in Crawley Leisure Park aim to host a special day to celebrate, including an appearance by Simon Fisher Becker, who played Dorium in the series. Money raised from the day will be donated to the charity Autism All Stars. [Crawley Observer, 2 Oct 2013]

UK: Doctor Who features as a session at next weekend's Film and TV Conference in Norwich; Doctor Who and Beyond: Science Fiction & Fantasy TV takes place on the 12th October at 11:15am and is expected to feature writer Phil Ford amonst panel speakers. [Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, 27 Sep 2013]

UK: Three fans have set off on a round-trip from Pontllanfraith in Wales to Munich in Germany - each dressed as the Doctor - in order to raise money for Parkinson's research. Richard Shelton said: "Three years ago I took part in a similar rally across Europe to Croatia. We want to raise between £1,000 and £2,000 for Parkinson's UK and have £800 so far." [South Wales Argus, 20 Sep 2013]

UK: A Dalek ended up "chasing" a pensioner in Southampton as fan Chris Baker was in the process of moving home. Tony Holland had in fact offered to pull the prop along; as Baker observed: "This dalek is worth quite a few thousand pounds and I wasn't sure it would survive being pulled along by a mobility scooter! But Tony was very keen to assist and I saw no harm in giving it a go. He did a great job. We kept having to stop as people wanted to have their picture taken with the dalek." [Daily Star, 25 Sep 2013]

UK: Chester Zoo have released a video featuring their penguins - all with Doctor Who related names! [YouTube, 25 Sep 2013]

United States: The Norman Public Library in Tulsa is to hold a Doctor Who event on the 4th October to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. The library website states: "The event is open to all ages and features games, crafts, Doctor Who-themed snacks and a chance to look at and check out the library’s collection of Doctor Who books." [Pioneer Library System, 1 Oct 2013]

US: Fans are attempting to have the Empire State Building in New York lit for the 50th Anniversary; an online petition states: "We are asking the Empire State Building to light up “TARDIS Blue” on November 23rd to celebrate 50 great years of Doctor Who. The Empire State Building regularly uses their spectacular light show to celebrate special moments in pop culture, such as sports events, the 15th anniversary of The Lion King, and Wrestlemania, as well as all the holidays and occasions it’s more known for being lit up for. As far as we know, however, they’ve never lit up to celebrate a SciFi show. What better place to start than the iconic series Doctor Who?" [Change Petitions]

US: Fans from the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy, New York, have built a "TARDIS photo booth" for use at community events; creator Mick Cipollo said: "There was a concept for Troy night out first for a video booth for 30 second clips of 'why you enjoy Troy.' Then Laban Coblentz, founder and chairman of Tech Valley Center of Gravity, thought it should be in a TARDIS. I thought is was a good idea also." [All Over Albany, 27 Sep 2013]

Canada: A candidate in the Edmonton council elections has turned to Gallifrey for inspiration; Jim Gibbon used the Doctor's language to make up his campaign signs, Vote Gibbon Ward 5. Gibbon said: “You need to take your time and see what the person (a candidate) is all about”. [Canoe, 2 Oct 2013]

Australia: The Thuringowa Library in Townsville, North Queensland has had an exhibition of Doctor Who memorabilia courtesy of fan Robyn Gandini, who will also be making a presentation about her collection on the 5th October. [ABC, 30 Sep 2013]

AU: Actor and fan Santa Strohfeldt has been building his own TARDIS, and aims to have it completed in time for Peter Capaldi's debut at Christmas. His creation can be found in Southport on the Gold Coast. [ABC, 25 Sep 2013]

New Zealand: Another TARDIS builder, Michael Fenton from Inglewood, Taranaki, explains how his prop now helps him to teach school children: "What started as a gimmick for the careers expo became really cool for kids when I was teaching science and mathematics at high school. The whole idea is to show that stuff you're learning at primary and high school can be useful in the real world. I was trying to show students that you don't have to wait until you're older, you can actually do this stuff now." [Stuff, 19 Sep 2013]




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