i) births and deaths
17 October 1966: birth of Mark Gatiss, author of TV stories The Unquiet Dead (2005), The Idiot's Lantern (2006) and Victory of the Daleks (2010), of four novels and two Big Finish audios, and also plays the eponymous scientist in The Lazarus Experiment (2007).
ii) publication anniversaries
17 October 1979: cover date of first issue of Doctor Who Weekly, now of course Doctor Who Magazine.
17 October 1996: publication of New Adventures novel Damaged Goods, by one Russell T. Davies. I wonder if he kept up his interest in Doctor Who?