Cultural Punch

I was there when William Hartnell first stepped out of the Tardis back in '63, when I was but a boy and no one knew just what a cultural phenomenon Doctor Who would become.
I followed the Doctor's adventures through Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, though later incarnations like Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Christopher Eccleston flitted across my peripheral vision like shadows as my focus shifted unerringly towards a life of wine, women and song.
But such is the show's cultural punch I found myself drawn back by the promised demise of the latest and, possibly, most iconic Doctor of all, watching goggle-eyed as David Tennent and John Simm battled it out to a bitter end that had half the nation reaching for the kleenex. Despite the poor script I even got a little moist myself, and can only wish the Doctor a safe journey... and declare a period of national mourning.