Fez

A fez was a type of brimless hat in the shape of a flat-topped cone. Fezzes were made of felt and typically, but not always, had a single tassel attached to the centre of their flat tops. They were particularly popular in Egypt, judging from the number of times the Doctor encountered fezzes around Egyptians or Egyptian artefacts.

Ibrahim Namin and Kemel both wore fezzes. (TV: Pyramids of Mars, The Evil of the Daleks)

The Seventh Doctor briefly donned a fez while searching through the basement of Windsor Castle, before passing it on to Ace (and also picked up a mop, for that matter). (TV: Silver Nemesis)

His eighth self wore a fez to a football game in 1977. He originally intended to land the TARDIS near the River Nile which was why he wore the fez in the first place. The Doctor lost the fez soon after the police began to chase him from the stadium. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game)

Whilst in his eleventh incarnation, he took a fez from an exhibit in the museum where the Pandorica was and wore it as he leapt back and forth through time. When River Song queried this by asking, "What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?" he answered, "It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool", much as he did when defending his bow tie. River Song and Amy Pond promptly destroyed it, before continuing to reboot the universe. Later, he noted that he was missing his fez, but concluded that he could buy a new one. (TV: The Big Bang)

When the Doctor dropped his fez over the TARDIS' controls, it resulted in the fez' original owner, Albert Einstein, materialising via a Time window. (TV: Death Is the Only Answer)

While taking Abigail Pettigrew out one Christmas Eve, the Eleventh Doctor and Kazran Sardick donned fezzes. (TV: A Christmas Carol)

The Doctor considered sporting a fez when Amy, Rory and he visited Nevada in 1861. However, Amy and Rory insisted against it, so the Doctor wore a Stetson instead. (PROSE: The Good, the Bad and the Alien)

When a version of Rory from the future appeared, the Doctor used a fez taken from the TARDIS storeroom to differentiate him from the present Rory. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel) The Doctor claimed he looked good in a fez. (PROSE: The Way Through the Woods)

The Eleventh Doctor wore a fez while dancing in a Laurel &amp; Hardy film. He later requested a fez while in the White House. His request was ignored. Later, he blamed his inability to do the work assigned to him as well as he had promised on his lack of a fez. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)

Rory later mentioned to an older version of Amy that the glasses he had to wear were better than a fez. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)

In 2013, the Eleventh Doctor, while picking a new outfit, briefly donned a fez, although he quickly took it off. Soon afterwards, he used it to collect tips from people at the South Bank of London who were impressed with the TARDIS materialising. He then gave the fez to a young boy. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)

In 1923, The Doctor wore a fez trying to stop Miraclo taking a rabbit out of a hat. (COMIC: The Hat Trick)

In 1930, the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswin Oswald went to Baghdad to visit Omar, the best fez-maker in all of Mutter's Spiral to replace his previous fez, which was eaten by a slime-frog on the Third Moon of Puggo. (COMIC: A Wing and a Prayer)

One piece of art deemed 'unfit for public consumption' by the crowned heads of England was a fez, and it was placed in the National Museum's Under Gallery as a result. When the Eleventh Doctor and Clara visited, the Time Lord stole the fez, and later used it test the safety of time fissures opened on his personal time stream. As a result, the fez was brief handled by two of his previous incarnations, before being confiscated by Queen Elizabeth I's guards in 1562.

Behind the scenes

 * Steven Moffat said that Matt Smith grew fond of the fez, so they had to destroy it to stop him from insisting on wearing it for the next series. Matt Smith had also once said that he hoped the costume would evolve to include a hat.
 * Following the airing of The Big Bang, Doctor Who Adventures started running "top five" lists, with the #1 item being awarded the "Golden Fez".
 * The series 5 episode guides in The Brilliant Book 2011 feature items which relate to each episode. A fez is featured on the page for The Big Bang.
 * The fez worn in TV: The Big Bang appears to be lacking a tassel.
 * Among the hats that can be collected in GAME: The Eternity Clock is a fez.