Dr Who Tom Baker's Vintage Style Hat - what is it?

[Seb Lucas]

In the 1970's Tom Baker wore several hats in the show. I'm trying to identify the second hat he wore. It was dark green, wide brimmed and velour like felt. It was a bit like something Oscar Wilde would have worn - or some kind of Victorian poet... He also seemed to be able to fold it up and put it in a pocket. Some sort of Borsalino maybe. Any ideas? Sorry, no photos, but since the series is cultish, maybe some will remember.

 

[Ephraim Tutt]

 

[Kid Mac]

I believe it's a Herbert Johnson "Poet."

Mac

 

[Seb Lucas]

Wow... you guys are quick! :eusa_clap The Poet? Indy's hat? My God! My two favourite characters merge in an evil plot... Maybe one of those hats was the Poet. In those photos above, it's the first hat I mean. Fluffy, furry felt. What's the correct term again? If Indy wore that, he'd be laughed off the soundstage.

 

[Kid Mac]

The Poet came in different brim widths. A series of hats based, I think, on a specific hat block. I do know Ford's hat brim was hand-cut by R. Swales at Hebert Johnson.

Also, I seem to recall that Anthony Hopkins wore a HJ Poet in a movie. I think it was the one in which he portrayed Van Helsing. Was that Coppola's Dracula?

Mac

 

[Kid Mac]

Sorry, missed your comment about the "fluffy" hat -- the one with the plush finish? As you've probably guessed that a fur felt hat that hasn't been pounced. One of the guys at the Indygear.com forum acquired a old stock Herbert Johnson in that finish and cut and sanded the felt to achieve the customary Indy hat pounced finish. A lot of work, but he then had an old stock Herbert Johnson Indy hat. I would have kept the plush finish; it's such a rare beast.

Mac

 

[Ephraim Tutt]

All you ever wanted to know about Tom Baker's (and others) Dr Who costumes - including pictures of Tom's various hats can be found here...

http://www.doctorwhoprops.com/costumes.php


Here's what it says about TB's hats -

Tom Baker's Hat

The most memorable item of Tom's costume has to be his scarf closely followed by his hat, from his very first story "robot" he wore the famous "broad brimmed floppy hat".

His costume was designed by Jim Acherson but it was actually tom's idea to wear the hat.

For the Brain of Morbius, Herbert Johnson were commissioned to make a similar style hat from plush fur felt in a dark bottle green colour again at least three of these would have been made this hat was then used in conjunction with the brown hat up to "Armageddon Factor" from then through to "Horns of Nimon" only the brown hat was used.

This hat was used from Brain of Morbius through to Armageddon Factor story's it appeared in were.

The Brain of Morbius, The Seeds of Doom, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, The Invasion of Time, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara and The Power of Kroll

As with all costumes it is incredibly to difficult to pinpoint an item to a scene but I have been able to do this with this hat to a scene from the androids of tara were the Dr is sleeping by the river, he is approached by a guard and the brim of his hat is burnt with an electrical sword, the burn mark from the explosive squib is still present along with stitching for the charge cable.

What makes this hat so special is that the seller was given the hat by Tom Baker in the late 1970's on a visit to his school when he presented Tom with a scarf that his mother had knitted two weeks prior to the visit, he also had his photo taken with Tom holding his new hat and Tom wearing his new scarf.

This is possibly the only early Tom Baker hat in existence as I have not seen or heard of another in all my years of collecting.

The first hats were bespoke made by the Royal Hatters of Herbert Johnson from fine fur felt in dark brown. There would have been at least three commissioned for his first season and others being made if one was lost or damaged as in "ark in space", this hat was used from robot to brain of morbius.

For season eighteen a new costume was designed by June Hudson which had a more uniform look to it the hat was still made by Herbert Johnson but it had a smaller brim and bow as Tom's hair was thinner than it used to be and the old style hat looked two big, the hat was made from plush fur felt in a dark burgundy to match his costume,again at least three were commissioned one of which was only used on the Tussards Wax Works.

The Provinonce

I came to hear about this hat on a well known Dr Who forum, at first I was skeptical as items pre the John Nathan Turner era are extremely rare.

After emailing the seller I made a three hundred mile journey across the country to Brighton see it. On my arrival I met the seller and could not believe what I was seeing, it was without doubt one of Tom's original hats.

 

[Seb Lucas]

My God, Tutt, you are amazing!

I remember seeing an episode of "Are You Being Served" (circa 1978ish) wherein a bunch of green, fluffy hats featured in the men's wear racks. I thought at the time - borrowed from Baker, maybe? But I also thought that maybe the hat was widely avaiable then...

What about the folding thing? Just Baker's bad habits....

 

[Doctor Wholittle]

This question may have already been answered, but the 'bottle green' hat is a Herbert Johhnson fedora made of a long-shag rabbit fur felt.

I'm trying to locate one of these myself in the bottle green, as well as the Season 18 burgundy (plum) rabbit shag, so if anyone has any advice, please feel free to share.

Thanks --

DWL