18 August

On 18 August 1951, Eddie and Barbara Smith, companion Sarah Jane Smith's parents, were killed in a car accident after attending the Foxgrove Village Fête. Luke Smith called this a fixed point in time. The Trickster, in an attempt to gain a physical presence on Earth, opened a time fissure between then and Ealing, 2009, and tempted Sarah Jane into entering it. She initially broke her parents' car with her sonic lipstick to prevent their deaths, but after the Trickster broke free, she fixed it, and her parents — having figured out the truth about Sarah's identity — willingly drove off to their deaths, leaving behind a baby Sarah Jane. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

Gerrard Lassiter was born on 18 August 1922. On what would have been his 22nd birthday in 1944, the Germans invaded Turelhampton, recovered an alien body from the Vvormak cruiser that had crashed there on 17 May, and left with the body frozen in a casket. Peter Spinney reported on these events to UNIT years later. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass)

In 1572, Protestant King Henri of Navarre married the Catholic Princess Marguerite of Valois. (PROSE: The Massacre)