Who knew any of this, from the Wikipedia entry for The Howdy Doody Show where it deals with the Canadian programme:

Early in the run, there was a short-lived puppet character called Mr. X (no relation to a puppet of the same name who appeared on the American show) who traveled through time and space in his “Whatsis Box” teaching children about history. However, Mr. X was removed from the show due to parental complaints that he was too scary. It has been suggested that the Mr. X sequence may have inspired the creation of the long-running British science fiction series Doctor Who. In its earliest days, the series was likewise designed to teach children about history and, throughout the series, it has featured an alien known only as the Doctor who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which is permanently in the shape of a police box. The series’ creator, Sydney Newman, oversaw the production of the Canadian version of Howdy Doody while working as head of programming for the CBC.

As interesting is that Charles Schultz was always annoyed that the name of his comic strip was changed against his wishes from “L’il Folks” to “Peanuts”, a change he always lamented.

Might also mention that I was looking at this at all was because I was looking up the Canadian words to the “Howdy Doody Show” song which I cannot find.

MORE RANDOM FACTS: Here is a bit of history on the Peanut Gallery which did not start with Howdy Doody, which itself began as a radio show.

By the mid-20th century, the “peanut gallery” expression was commonly in use, but became even more popular when Buffalo Bob Smith of the Howdy Doody Show began referring to his (radio) studio audience of rambunctious youngsters in 1943 as the “Peanut Gallery”.