NOVEMBER 23, 1963 NOVEMBER 23, 1991

The BBC broadcasts An Unearthly Child, starring William Hartnell, the first episode of the first series of Doctor Who, which is now the world’s longest-running science-fiction drama.

The four-part series also introduced viewers to the Tardis, a police box which was bigger on the inside than the outside.

Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury announces that he is HIV-positive.

He dies the following day, aged 45. In 2002, Mercury was voted 58th in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.