B00DPX9ST8 EBOK (97 page)

In
Chronoclasm
, Payne is suitably vague when he tells Nikolas Tesla that the year is “1890, give or take a few years.” Jago and Litefoot’s encounter with Claudius Dark is the lead-in to
Jago & Litefoot
Series 4 (released in 2012, so outside this chronology).

[
1133
] The background to
Jago & Litefoot
Series 1, largely given in
The Mahogany Murderers
and
J&L: The Similarity Engine
.

[
1134
] Dating
Benny: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
(Benny audio #9.3) - Benny guesstimates her arrival in this era as being “late spring” based upon the “filthy weather”, and she seems to spend some weeks helping Mycroft solve cases. Her diary states that her confrontation with Straxus begins on “7th of May”, and events spill over to the next day. It’s doubtful that Benny spends much more time in 1893 after getting a working time ring on 8th May, as she seems awfully eager to check on Peter.

The legendary figure of the Cwejen, “Mr Seven”, also here called Time’s Champion, is almost certainly the seventh Doctor. Mycroft’s housekeeper is named as “Mrs Grose”, presumably the character seen in
Ghost Light
. Cloisterham is a fictional town from
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
, Charles Dickens’ unfinished work. A different incarnation of Straxus appeared in Big Finish’s BBC7 range.

[
1135
] Dating
Camera Obscura
(EDA #59) - It’s the “nineteenth century” (p6), Maskelyne (presumably the magician John Nevil Maskelyne, 1839-1917) is alive (p7) and it’s a “century” before Anji’s time (p35). Fitz here meets George Williamson, so this is before
Time Zero
.

[
1136
]
Camera Obscura
. William is the human version of Spike from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
. However, the dating is awry - in
Buffy
, Spike became a vampire in 1880.

[
1137
]
Army of Death

[
1138
] “Four years” before
Grand Theft Cosmos
.

[
1139
]
TW: To the Last Man

[
1140
] Dating
Time Zero
(EDA #60) - This was in “1894” (p15).

[
1141
]
The Burning

[
1142
]
The Gallifrey Chronicles.
This is the same issue of the
Strand
the Doctor is looking for in
The Bodysnatchers
.

[
1143
] Dating
Demon Quest: The Demon of Paris
(BBC fourth Doctor audio #2.2) - The Doctor dates the poster to “1894” in
Demon Quest: The Relics of Time
. Mrs Wibbsey affirms that year in
Demon Quest: Starfall
, and it’s “June 1894” according to the sleeve notes.

[
1144
]
Demon Quest: The Demon of Paris

[
1145
] Dating
Iris: Enter Wildthyme
(Iris novel #1) - The year and month are given (p80). It’s a Thursday (p82).

[
1146
] Dating
The Bodysnatchers
(EDA #3) - It is “11.01.1894” (p15). It is six years since the Ripper murders (p2), and five years since
The Talons of Weng Chiang
(p37). Previous editions of
Ahistory
postulated that the minor character “Mr. Stoker” (no first name given) was
Dracula
author Bram Stoker, but a closer examination of Stoker’s life voids this idea. Stoker was living in London in 1894, but served as the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre from 1878 to 1905 - it doesn’t seem likely that such an established businessman, husband and father would moonlight (as “Stoker” does here) as a thuggish enforcer to a factory-owner.

[
1147
] “Three years” before
Grand Theft Cosmos
.

[
1148
] Dating
The Burning
(EDA #37) - It’s “a few years” since the Doctor arrived on Earth (p142), dated in
Escape Velocity
to 1888. The most precise indication in
The Burning
itself is that it’s “the late nineteenth century”. It is “fifty years” before
The Turing Test
(p59), which is set in January 1943.

The fire elemental first manifests on Earth in
Time Zero
and writer Justin Richards has confirmed that whereas bits of the creature seep through Williamson’s time corridor (causing a residual presence of it to be worshipped by ancient cultures, etc.), it’s only when the main chunk of it arrives in 1894 that the elemental attains enough critical mass to work toward its own insidious agenda. Therefore,
The Burning
- in which the elemental works to its own design, and the Doctor defeats it - manifestly has to occur after
Time Zero
.

The Burning
(p238) specifies that it’s January, so allowing that some time (a few months at least) probably pass while the elemental and Nepath forge their pact and start to implement it, January 1895 seems the most likely time for
The Burning
to occur. The date was given as 1889 in the original story synopsis.

[
1149
]
Assassin in the Limelight

[
1150
]
The Gallifrey Chronicles
, a reference to Nicholas Meyer’s novel
The West End Horror
, which features Holmes and Shaw. Holmes at this point would have resurfaced following his encounter with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, per Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Empty House”, set in 1894.

[
1151
] “The Forgotten”. He actually got the stick from Kublai Khan, and the shroud from the San Francisco hospital where he regenerated for the seventh time.

[
1152
]
Wolfsbane
. George was born in 1895.

[
1153
]
J&L: Chronoclasm
. Year unknown, but Tesla lived 1856-1943. Duncan Wisbey, who played Tesla, was 40 when this story was recorded. Tesla might well be the same age when Payne abducts him, but that only puts him a few years ahead of the
Jago & Litefoot
stories, and begs the question of why Payne didn’t just look up Tesla’s contemporary self.

[
1154
] Dating
The Vampire of Paris
(
DL
#5) - The year is given (p10). This “time vampire” has different attributes from those described in
The Time Vampire
, and follows Varlos’ “time trail” - suggesting that he has, in fact, come back in time (see Dating
The Darksmith Legacy
). For the Doctor and Gisella, the story continues in
The Game of Death
.

[
1155
] Dating
The Sands of Time
(MA #22) - The date is given (p29).

[
1156
]
Paper Cuts
. Queen Victoria’s reign began on 20th June, 1837, and her Diamond Jubilee was held in 1897.

[
1157
] Dating
The Death of Art
(NA #54) - It’s “26 November 1897” (p16).

[
1158
]
TW: Miracle Day

[
1159
] According to the Doctor in
Heart of Stone
(p79).
War of the Worlds
was published in 1898 and had a contemporary setting.

[
1160
] Dating
FP: Warring States
(
FP
novel #4) - The White Pyramid seems to (mostly) be located outside linear time, so the dating here, based upon the year in which Compassion allows the Pyramid to become historically noticeable (p187), might be a bit of a cheat. One interpretation of the ending is that Octavia and Ying leave the realm of fiction altogether.

[
1161
]
TW: From Out of the Rain

[
1162
] Dating
The Banquo Legacy
(EDA #35) - The date is given (p7).

[
1163
]
The Curse of Fenric

[
1164
] Dating
Grand Theft Cosmos
(BF BBC7 #2.5) - Lucie expresses frustration to the Doctor that as it’s 1898, she can’t play her MP3 player in public.

[
1165
] According to Alice’s diary on Torchwood.org.uk. A morgue inventory on the website suggests that Holroyd’s partner was named Philip Lyle. Holroyd and Guppy appear in
TW: Fragments
.

[
1166
] Dating
FP: Movers
and
FP: The Labyrinth of Histories
(
FP
audios #1.5-1.6) - It’s “one hundred and twenty-five years” after 1764. More specifically, it’s “about six months” before the Siege of Mafeking, which commenced in October 1899. Emma comments that Justine’s step-mother is always “drunk after a Saturday”, so it’s probably Sunday.

[
1167
] Dating
TW: Fragments
(
TW
2.12) - The exact year isn’t given, but it’s before 1900 per the prediction of The Girl (who everyone calls the tarot-reader according to Torchwood.org.uk). Jack generalises that Earth is “a century away” from official first contact with alien life, also hinting that it’s closer to 1900 than not.

Transcripts of Jack’s bar conversations - seen briefly on screen, but better illustrated on the official Torchwood website and in
The
Torchwood Archives
- are dated to 12th February, 1987; 16th December, 1897; and 4th April, 1898. However, as Alice Guppy only joins Torchwood in mid-September 1898 and seems very adept when she meets Captain Jack, it’s probably 1899 when she and Holroyd approach him.

[
1168
] Dating
TW: Consequences
: “The Baby Farmers” (
TW
novel #15a) - Charles Dickens’ reading at the Taliesin Lodge (in
The Unquiet Dead
) happened some “thirty Christmases past”. Moreover, the future Jack writes a letter to Holroyd (p241) that says, “I’m guessing the year [where you are] is 1899.”

[
1169
] Torchwood.org.uk, elaborating on
TW: From Out of the Rain
.

[
1170
] Dating
Players
(PDA #21) - The date is given (p15).

[
1171
] Dating
Castle of Fear
(BF #127) - The exact day is given. The fifth Doctor here says that he hasn’t visited Stockbridge prior to 1899.

[
1172
]
The Scarlet Empress
. Although never specified, the “fish people” could be the amphibious gondoliers that appear in Paul Magrs’
The Stones of Venice
. This meeting must have occurred after Wilde’s release from prison on 19th May, 1897, but before his death on 30th November, 1900.