Pop links: Original Dalek dies; Rolf Armstrong pin-ups;

Michael Summerton, British actor and the last of the Dalek operators on the original Doctor Who series, has died.

His agent told him he would not need to learn any lines for the casting, and when he arrived at the BBC workshops he was asked to strip down to his underpants and sit in what appeared to be a tub on castors.

Summerton (who was one of the four original Daleks) was instructed in how to move this apparatus about, the director saying: "We want to test this prototype for manoeuvrability. We want you to move forwards, backwards, sideways. Quickly, slowly." Presently the director lowered a lid over him with a plunger sticking out of it. Summerton found himself in total darkness. He would later relate: "When the lid went on I knew my career as an actor was over."


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From Golden Age Comic Book Stories: A big selection of pin-up art by Rolf Armstrong.