Fish Fingers and Custard Issue 18 school and go on to have what I thought would be a great career. That plan was dashed to the rocks, leaving me without a future it seem, destined to languish at a job I came to hate to pay repentance for my lack of hubris.
August, features a protagonist modeled on Sir John Hurt. I even adopted one of Hurt's lines (originally written by Terrance Dicks) as a personal motto: “Never give up, never give in.”
Yet once an idea is in your brain, it doesn't really go away. Events during the year after the special was broadcast were to show me that, like Hurt's Doctor, I did have another choice and that I could change my mind. In a sense I found my own version of the Moment who showed me the way, someone who would become my best friend for all intents and purposes, who encouraged me to write again and to look for a way out of my job. It was no accident that my first serious piece of fiction in years was a War Doctor tale, one written for the Seasons Of War fan anthology that was accepted but later cut when a strand of stories were removed. Or that my first published story, published in an anthology back in
That is what the War Doctor and Hurt's performance meant to me. This was a man who had seen and done terrible things given a chance to reclaim the man he once was. This was a man who found, in spite of everything, a chance to be who he wanted to be again. It's a lesson I haven't forgotten and that I hope I never will. Rest in peace Sir John and thank you so much for being the Doctor I needed. •
MATTHEW KRESAL
(Taken from http://warpedfactor.com. Follow Matthew’s blog at http://timdalton007.livejournal.com)
Sign up to the Fish Custard Mailing List for the latest news, updates, contribution details and general daftness
tinyletter.com/fishcustardfanzine 13