It was on 2nd May, 1973, that Target books - a new imprint from Universal-Tandem - first published its trio of Doctor Who novelisations. These had previously been published in hardback by Frederick Muller in 1966.
All three were adaptations of William Hartnell stories, two of which came from their original writers.
Doctor Who and the Daleks was by one-time story editor David Whitaker. It was retitled from the original - and hugely unwieldy - Doctor Who In An Exciting Adventure With The Daleks.
As the very first book, with the notion of a complete range far in the future, Whitaker opted to make this an origins story of sorts - creating an entirely new introduction into the TARDIS for Ian and Barbara, following a car crash on Barnes Common.
Whitaker also provided Doctor Who and the Crusaders - an adaptation of his own The Crusade.
This would prove to be the only historical story novelised by Target for eight years - Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child coming out in 1981 to tie in with the Five Faces of Doctor Who set of repeats.
The third book was Doctor Who and the Zarbi - the adaptation of The Web Planet by its original writer Bill Strutton.
All three volumes had cover art by the late, great Chris Achilleos.
Half a century later, Target is still going strong - slowly releasing adaptations of more recent Doctor Who stories from the revived series.
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