Two items which don't really require any elaboration...

If you missed out on the official BBC 50th Anniversary celebration come November then you can apply for some tickets in a lottery, either by calling a phone number (+44 0844 693 0780) or by sending in an online application.

"The ballot can be entered online and via telephone now, and will remain open until 10am (BST) on Monday 30 September 2013. Ticket prices are £45 for adults, £20 for children and £104 for a family ticket (two adults and two children, prices exclude booking fee)."

"Ticket holders to this once-in-a-lifetime event at London’s ExCeL will have access to a whole range of activities including panels with key cast from 50 years of Doctor Who, special effects shows, stunt workshops, quizzes and games for fans young and old and more Doctor Who features than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at. For more information on the Celebration and a Plan Your Day guide, visit celebration.doctorwho.tv."

Secondly, an eight-minute video interview from the Guardian with Freema Agyeman, Carole Ann Ford, Karen Gillan, Louise Jameson, Katy Manning, and Billie Piper. In which they rhapsodize about their time on DW, with lots of amusing little snippets - Piper didn't know much about the show when she started, Agyeman knows quite a lot about the distinction between "assistant" and "companion", Jameson wants a black ginger lesbian to play the Doctor...all good fun and worth a look.

And now they've put up extended text versions of the interviews: here's the Sixties and Seventies post, the Eighties and Nineties post, and the Aughts and Teens post. There's several companions here who weren't in the video, including Catherine Tate, Sophie Aldred, and others (we'd hate to suggest that either the Guardian or Sarah Sutton got their facts wrong, but surely the anecdote about a Baker who couldn't enter the TARDIS with his mighty chicken-shaped hat was Colin in "Arc of Infinity" and not Tom...). Oh, and an interview with Jenny Colgan in which she talks about how exciting it was to meet Peter Davison, her plans for a Mickey/Martha divorce novel, and her book "Dark Horizon".