Long live the 10th Doctor

David Tennant has stepped out of the Tardis for the last time, leaving me (and many other fans) mourning his departure. 

His final outing saw The Doctor saving Earth from being knocked out of orbit by his home planet, Gallifray, which had been brought back in time, and sacrificing himself to save Donna’s grandfather, Wilf.  Sound confusing?  You’re not alone. 

It was a great episode with Tennant showing the range of his character but it was one of those storylines that you really needed to concentrate on and if you missed one subtle hint you ended up being very confused.  There seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions, such as who really is Wilf, why was he so special, and who was the woman who kept appearing to Wilf?  There seem to be plenty of theories out there, including that he is actually a Time Lord whose memories are stored in a pocket watch or some other amulet, similar to The Master in an earlier episode.  If anybody can astonish me with their Doctor Who knowledge by helping to answer some of these questions it’d be greatly appreciated.

David Tennant has been a great Doctor and I’ll miss his wit and humour but I’m sure Matt Smith will bring something new to his character so I am eagerly awaiting the new series.  If you can’t wait for the new series and need a Dr Who hit we have plenty of the DVDs  as well as Dr Who books available at the library.

The final furlong – farewell to Dick Francis

World War II pilot, champion jockey and internationally bestselling author, Dick Francis CBE has died today aged 89 at his home on the Cayman Islands.

The recurring theme of his many mystery thrillers was of course racing, and first out of the starting gates was Dead cert published in 1962. Publishing a novel a year, Francis employed a variety of  main characters. Sid Halley appeared in several titles, as did Kit Fielding, and his leading men all shared similar character traits: solitary, physically and mentally tough, resourceful and attractive to women, Francis’s heroes strive to win but not at any cost. Decency, responsibilty,  justice and fair play are central themes in all Francis’s 41 racey-pacey titles.

Unusually in 1999 his publishers acknowledged the important creative input of Francis’s wife Mary, previously she had been credited just with draft reading and editing his work, and after Mary’s death in 2000 Francis’s son Felix came on board as co-author. 

Regardless of writing roles, together the Francis family made the racing world come alive.