Bernie's Quiz on the Life of Roger Delgado

Answer: London, England

Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was born in the East End of London in 1918 to a Belgian mother and a Spanish father. Roger Delgado used to say that his place of birth made him a true Cockney.

Answer: Army

He served in both the Leicestershire Regiment and the Royal Signals. During the war he reached the rank of major. The Leicestershire Regiment was an infantry unit. The Royal Signals provided battlefield communications for the army. Interestingly, the first three actors to portray the Doctor on "Doctor Who" were all also veterans of World War Two.

Answer: Roger Delgado's wife

Roger Delgado and Kismet Shahani were married from 1957 to 1973. Born in 1929, Kismet Shahani has a handful of imdb credits as an actress including voice work in the serial "Planet of the Spiders" for "Doctor Who".

Answer: The Master

Like the Doctor, the Master was a Time Lord, although not as benevolent as the Doctor. Like the cliched line goes, he is "the evil opposite" of the Doctor.
"Doctor Who" editor Barry Letts specifically created the role of the Master for Roger Delgado who was the only actor considered for the role. Roger Delgado appeared as the Master in 37 episodes of "Doctor Who", beginning with the serial "Terror of the Autons". Several actors have since played the role of the Master including Anthony Ainley and John Simm.

Answer: The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)

Roger Delgado was already a friend of Jon Pertwee and probably enjoyed the chance to work with him on the set of "Doctor Who". All of the episodes that featured Roger Delgado appeared between 1971 and 1973. Perhaps it was the excellence of Roger Delgado's portrayal of the Master that led to "Doctor Who" reviving the character even after his death.

Many of these episodes were set on then-present day (1970s) Earth since in the show's storyline, the Time Lords had temporarily taken away the Doctor's use of the TARDIS.

Answer: Planet of the Spiders

"The Planet of the Spiders" was the final serial for Series 11 (1973-1974). It was written and filmed to replace the a proposed serial "The Final Game" which was supposed to be the final appearance of Roger Delgado as the Master. While "The Planet of the Spiders" does not have Roger Delgado, it does feature the regeneration of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker as well as the voice work Roger Delgado's widow, Kismet Shahani.

Answer: Athos

All six episodes (30 minutes each) of the mini series are believed to be lost. The six episodes, filmed in black and white, also starred Laurence Payne as D'Artagnan.

Answer: Count Bernardino de Mendoza

It was his role as the Spanish Ambassador, Mendoza, that brought Roger Delgado to widespread attention. It would begin a series of villains that Roger Delgado portrayed on the large screen and the small screen. A throwaway line in "Doctor Who" refers to this role when a character says a suspected sighting of the Master was only the Spanish Ambassador.

Answer: Black Leather Gloves

Roger Delgado used black leather gloves in many of his various portrayals of villains (not just as the Master in "Doctor Who"). Jon Pertwee, a friend to Roger Delgado, described it this way: "He was especially keen on the idea of having a pair of very tight black leather gloves, which he had learnt were very sinister when he'd been playing Gestapo agents in other productions."

Answer: Car Crash

Roger Delgado died during the shooting of a French/German mini series "La Cloche Tibetiane". A car in which he was traveling with two film technicians crashed. Back on the set of "Doctor Who" a final storyline "The Final Game", in which the the Master was to have died while saving the Doctor's life was left unfilmed.

The death of Roger Delgado was said to have been one of the reasons that Jon Pertwee left "Doctor Who" the next season.