London, Feb 28: The inspiration behind Doctor Who - the protagonist of the British Science fiction show of the same name - enemy Dalek has been revealed to be a chimney pot.

BBC designer Raymond Cusick is believed to have dreamt Dalek after taking a look at a school rooftop at the High School for Girls, Gloucester, where the chimney stack sits, the Sun reported.

A spokeswoman for the school said that whoever was working on 'Doctor Who' saw it on top of the school.

Cusick - who died last week aged 84 - is believed to have seen the chimney during a visit to Gloucester in the early 1960s.

Daleks were earlier thought to have been based on the pepper pot after he once said that he pushed one round a table to show how they would move.

Cusick had first planned to build robots to chase the Doctor, but to save money decided to make a monster that could be operated from inside by an actor. (ANI)