It marked a major advance in tractor design, distinguished by light weight, small size, manoeuvrability and versatility.

In many parts of the world the TE20 was the first tractor to be affordable to the average farmer and was small and light enough to replace the draft horse and manual labour.

The model name came from Tractor, England 20 horsepower[1] (not the true power delivered but from a tax formula based on engine size).

[citation needed] The first Ford-Ferguson 9N (for 1939 model N) tractors arrived in the United Kingdom in October, 1939 and thousands would be imported to help with food production during the War.

During the war years, the Ferguson design team developed many improvements to both tractor and implements and started to make arrangements to manufacture in the United Kingdom.

As well as basic implements such as ploughs, harrows and cultivators, the range included a number of trailers and loaders, seed drills, a side-mounted baler, a very rare 'wraparound' combine harvester, a muck spreader, a sickle mower and a powered auger.

With its power take-off, the tractor could also drive stand-alone equipment, such as pumps, milking machinery or circular saws, by belt or driveshaft.

Ferguson became well known for its effective and distinctive advertising, intended to demonstrate the abilities of the TE-20 tractor to farmers who previously had used only draft horses and had little experience with mechanised equipment.

Advertising also emphasised that in the 'Ferguson System' the tractor was not merely a replacement for the horse but, via its linkage and shaft-drive power take-off, it could mechanise dozens of agricultural tasks previously performed either by separate machines, unwieldy drawbar-mounted trailed equipment, or manual labour.

The TE and TO 20 tractors were so revolutionary that Ferguson set up a training school in the grounds of Stoneleigh Abbey, close to the Banner Lane factory.

There, Ferguson dealers, salesmen and engineers were trained on the new machines they would be working on, and courses were also run for farmers to learn how to most effectively operate the tractors and the various implements.

[citation needed] Between 1953 and 1957, over 37,000 TE20 tractors were assembled in Saint-Denis near Paris by a joint venture between the Standard Motor Company and Automobiles Hotchkiss.

[5] Additionally, in 1957 and 1958, Standard-Hotchkiss built nearly 29,000 of the FF30; introduced in January 1957, this version had 100 percent French parts content, a sprung seat, a red-painted engine and chassis, and power was up to 30 hp (22 kW).

Harry Ferguson merged his worldwide companies with Massey-Harris of Toronto in July 1953, three years before TE and TO20 production ended, hence the change of name on the serial plate to 'Massey-Harris-Ferguson'.

Harry Ferguson died on 25 October 1960 at his home (Abbotswood, Stow on the Wold), due to a barbiturate overdose; it was never established if it was deliberate or not.

Some were supplied as half-tracks, with steerable front skis, whilst others of the New Zealand team were fitted with an extra wheel on each side and full caterpillar tracks, developed by the expedition in the Antarctic.

Reports were made at regular intervals to the Ferguson company and these show the tractors to have been reliable and effective – being capable of climbing a 1-in-7 slope of "hard polished ice where a man cannot walk without crampons", as well as operating in conditions of −10 degrees Fahrenheit.

There was a portrait of Sir Edmund Hillary on the obverse (front), with one of the tractors used in his Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition at the bottom-left corner.

A Ferguson tractor was also depicted on a New Zealand $1.50 postage stamp as part of a set of five commemorating the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, issued in 2008.

It then reappears in a more prominent role in the climax of the episode, when Jack Harkness smashes it through a wall in order to break in to a pub and rescue the other team members, who are being held hostage.