The Timelords

After the Timelords, the duo became The KLF. They enjoyed a minor comeback in America as a live attraction in the 1980s, with the resurgence of interest in surf music. The Manual was re-released in 2002 with a new introduction. Their commercial fortunes in the US sharply declined after 1965 due to changing musical trends. The Timelords released one other product, a 1989 book called The Manual or How to Have a Number One the Easy Way, a tongue-in-cheek guide to scamming the music industry written by Drummond, a former music industry manager and A&R man. The Ventures pioneered the use of guitar special effects on such songs as "2000 Pound Bee" (1963), in which guitarist Nokie Edwards employed a fuzz box, and on the landmark Ventures in Space album (1965), which included the hit single "Penetration". A more prosaic explanation for the name comes from the Time Lords, an alien race from the planet Gallifrey in Doctor Who. A few of their more famous tunes are "Walk, Don't Run" (1960), "Perfidia" and "Lullaby of the Leaves" (1961), "Apache" (1962), "Telstar" (1963, "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" (1964) and the "Theme from Hawaii Five-O" (1969).

A photograph of the vehicle appeared on the sleeve of the Doctorin the Tardis single (the car was also credited for the song itself) and was prominently featured in a number of the group's music videos. Other members have included Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor, Leon Taylor (Mel's son) and Nokie Edwards. Cauty and Drummond claimed the car then spoke to them, giving its name as Ford Timelord and advising the duo to adopt the name for themselves. Group membership has been very stable over the years with the core pair being Bob Bogle and Don Wilson. According to group members Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, the Timelords came about after their purchase of an American Ford Galaxie police car (which had allegedly been used in the film Superman IV filmed in the UK). They produced dozens of albums exclusively for the Japanese and European markets and regularly toured Japan throughout the 70's and 80's -- influencing Japanese pop music in Japan far more than they ever had in America. The song is a mix of Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll, The Sweet's Blockbuster and the Doctor Who theme with sparse vocals inspired by Doctor Who and Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney character.Doctorin' the Tardis reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 12 June, and also charted highly in Australia and New Zealand. The Ventures became one of the most popular world-wide groups ever and are still the most popular American rock group in Japan.

The Timelords was the name used by UK sampling outfit The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu for their 1988 novelty pop single Doctorin the Tardis, a No.1 hit in the UK. By the the 1970's the group was nearly unknown in America, they continued to have an enormous influence on pop culture globally. In the US almost 40 Ventures' albums charted, and 17 of their singles made it into the Top 40. With at least 90 million albums sold, the group remains the best selling instrumental rock group both in the US and globally. The Ventures are a surf rock band formed in 1960 and mainly active in the 1960s but they continue to perform and record right up to the present (2004).