John Smith and the Common Men

John Smith and the Common Men was a music group in 1960s England. John Smith was the stage name of the honourable Aubrey Waites, who started his career as Chris Waites and the Carrollers. (TV: An Unearthly Child) One song from the "Chris Waites and the Carrollers" period was "Christmas Caroline". (PROSE: Time and Relative)

In November 1963, John Smith and the Common Men went from 19 to 2 in the British charts. Susan Foreman was fond of their music. Her science teacher and future travelling companion Ian Chesterton was quite familiar with them and knew Smith's true identity. (TV: An Unearthly Child)

Earlier in 1963, John Smith and the Common Men had been beaten to No. 1 by the Beatles. (AUDIO: Hunters of Earth)

In 1965, Dodo Chaplet listened to John Smith and the Common Men, but thought that they were "a bit past it". (PROSE: Salvation)

During one UNIT Christmas party, the Third Doctor provided the music, which included John Smith and the Common Men. (PROSE: UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas)

In May 1997, while the Eighth Doctor and Bernice Summerfield searched Timothy Todd's flat, Benny discovered a cassette entitled Twang: More Than Thirty Years of John Smith and the Common Men. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

Sam Gold, the DJ of Radio Yesterday, played a cover of one of the band's songs during his ex-wife Iris Wildthyme's visit to the station. (AUDIO: The Sound of Fear)

Behind the scenes

 * The song used in An Unearthly Child was called "Three Guitars Mood 2" by Nelson & Raymond/The Arthur Nelson Group, which had been previously heard nearly two years earlier, on 2 January 1962, in the Z-Cars episode, "Four of a Kind". The song was released on the Doctor Who Appreciation Society cassette Space Adventures - Music from Doctor Who 1963-1968 in 1987.