World War One Leather gaiters

A lot of people have been a little confused by the laced leather footwear The Doctor is wearing.

Some people seem to think they are calf boots, laced from the bridge of the foot to just below the knee.

Well, they are actually ankle boots with leather gaiters around the shins. These are World War One issue, and fit in perfectly with the Edwardian styling of The Doctor.

As we’ll seem they aren’t worn in the usual way - but then that’s The Doctor all over.

As ever, the best place to track down a set is eBay, where you can pick up a pair of genuine period gaiters for around £60 to £100.

The design you need have ideally six (though I have seen some with either five or seven) studs with leather loops that hook around them to fasten them together.

Here are some examples I’ve found on eBay recently.

This ones a really nice set, along with a perfect belt and a nice map bag which wouldn’t look out of place on the costume.

WW1 Leather Gaiters + Samual Browne Belt + MAP BAG British Army Officers

This set come with a nice set of wooden formers to keep the gaiters in good condition.
I did bid on these, but it went over my allotted budget, which was a shame.

WW1 British Army Offr’s Brown Leather Gaiters & Faulkner Wooden Trees

Finally here’s the set I bought myself.

WW1 Brown Leather Soldiers Gaiters

Radio Times - 50th anniversary issue covers

The 50th Anniversary week is almost here, and as expected the cover of the latest Radio Times features The Doctor - not just once, but TWLEVE times!

The sources of the images used are quite interesting, the majority of which are from the Radio Times own extensive archive of Doctor Who images. All are out-takes, so are being published for the first time.

The First and Second Doctors come from the 10th Anniversary Special published by the Radio Times in 1973. The Third Doctor comes from a photoshoot in 1970 for the launch of Jon Pertwee in the role.

The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors are pictured from the shoot for the 30th Anniversary special, which featured in the 1993 Children In Need.

This shows that they were all taken separately before being composited into the group on the cover.

The rest of the Doctors come from bespoke cover shoots done for the Radio Times in more recent years. For example the Ninth Doctor is from the gatefold cover which launched the new series in 2005; and the Tenth from The Next Doctor in 2008. The Eleventh and War Doctors are obviously newly taken.

Here’s the full size version of the Eighth Doctor’s cover.

Finally, have you noticed that all 12 covers join together to form a long single image?