Doctor Who Tom Baker’s flying visit to meet pupils Echoes

Forty years ago, the Doctor took time off from his travels in time and space to drop in at a South Wales school. Here’s how we reported it...

FOR the junior boys of Maesteg Comprehensive it was a morning when lessons were abandoned in favour of star spotting.

None of them knew that The Doctor – alias actor Tom Baker – planned to visit the school until the morning’s assembly.

Even the staff, apart from a select band of five, were in the dark.

“We were concerned to avoid crowds outside the school gates.” said headmaster Mr Warren George.

The visit came as a result of one of the junior forms entering a competition to design a monster for Doctor Who.

Terry Sampson of the BBC’s promotion department, who accompanied the Doctor on his flying visit, said, “Although they didn’t win, the standard was very high.” He invited Form Two D to visit the Doctor Who exhibition at Longleat – all expenses paid by the BBC. The Doctor said that during the past four days he had seen more than 1,000 children in schools throughout the country. But this was his first visit to a Welsh school. He said: “Part of the plan is to bring the programme closer to the children. “There is often a lot of rubbish talked about it being too frightening for children, but whenever I meet them this nightmare aspect is defused. “It’s obvious, having met me, that I could only produce a very gentle sort of nightmare.” Before disappearing in his Tardis, he signed autographs in the school playground and visited the nearby Llwynderw Infants School. Were you one of the lucky pupils that met The Doctor that day 40 years ago? If you were there, we would love to hear your memories of the visit.