In all his travelling throughout the universe, the Doctor may have battled against power-mad conspirators but he never had to pit his wits against a ‘stick-shift’ car or search for a definition for a prime constituent of the traditional English breakfast (‘Bacon: Thin slices of ham’).
These were some of the challenges facing US Doctor Who fans Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman, as recorded in their location guide Travel Without the TARDIS, published by Target Books in 1986.
“As far as I know, it came about because the two authors were friends with the Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner,” says David Howe, co-author of The Target Book: A History of the Target Doctor Who Books. “And he got them the commission. This was a time when JN-T appeared at lots of US conventions, and all sorts of favours were being done for American fans.”