40 Fun Facts About Viz

Which fast-food chain was accused of copying Viz's Top Tips in a 1996 advertising campaign?

McDonald's ran adverts whose money-saving tips matched Viz's almost word for word, including one about getting shirts laundered by donating them and buying them back.

In which English city did Chris Donald start Viz from a bedroom in his parents' Jesmond home?

Newcastle gave Viz its Geordie voice, and the comic is still full of in-jokes about people and places around the city. The first issue was a 12-page fanzine sold at a punk gig venue.

Which Spice Girl appeared in the critically panned 2004 film based on Viz's Fat Slags strip?

Geri Halliwell played Paige, assistant to the media billionaire at the centre of the plot. Naomi Campbell and Dolph Lundgren also turned up, and Viz's own staff said they were appalled by the film.

Which position does Billy the Fish, a human head on a fish's body, play in Viz's football strip?

Goalkeeper is an odd job for a player with fins instead of hands, but Billy floats about five feet off the ground and steers with his tail. He also sports a mullet.

RAF Jaguar bombers carried nose art of Viz characters such as Johnny Fartpants during which conflict?

The Gulf War of 1991 saw RAF crews paint Johnny Fartpants and Buster Gonad on the noses of their jets. Viz was then near its sales peak as one of Britain's biggest magazines.

Which fictional town, its name borrowed from the TV drama Crown Court, is home to most Viz characters?

Fulchester was invented for the courtroom drama, and the Viz team simply adopted it. Billy the Fish's football club and Roger Mellie's television employer both carry the name.

Which pop star does Viz regularly portray as a small-time crook running scams such as tobacco smuggling?

Elton John, for all his real wealth, is shown fiddling benefits and cheating fruit machines for petty cash. Each strip ends with fellow stars of his era beating him at his own game.

Viz's MP Baxter Basics takes his name from the Back to Basics campaign of which prime minister?

John Major launched Back to Basics at the 1993 Conservative conference as a call for old values. Viz answered with a Tory MP who preached decency and practised the opposite.

Which British broadcaster aired the early-1990s cartoon series of Viz's Roger Mellie and Billy the Fish?

Channel 4 screened Billy the Fish in 1990 and Roger Mellie in 1991, with video releases alongside. A planned Student Grant series never happened, which pleased Chris Donald.

Which Viz bully is forever being battered by his own parents, Mutha and Fatha?

Biffa Bacon is said to be based on a real family Chris Donald saw in the street, whose parents cheered their son on in a fight instead of stopping it.

Which Viz character, inspired by Chris Donald's brother Steve, takes everything people say to him literally?

Mr Logic speaks in over-elaborate technical language and usually ends up the victim of his own misunderstandings. Steve Donald was much later diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

Which drink did Viz's Fat Slags advertise on British television, in ads mixing cartoon and live actors?

Lucozade's twist was that the pair hate the drink with a passion, while the live actors play the men who do drink it.

Sid the Sexist, Viz's boastful would-be ladies' man, still lives at home with which relative?

His mother is one reason Sid's boasts never ring true: he is a 30-year-old with no success with women at all, and living with her keeps getting in the way of any romance.

Viz schoolboy Finbarr Saunders sniggers at which kind of wordplay in everything his neighbour Mr Gimlet says?

Double entendres complete the strip's full title, and Finbarr hears them in talk about the most everyday things. Creator Simon Thorp called him a cross between a small boy and a Carry On character.

Which Beyond the Fringe star voiced Roger Mellie in the 1991 Viz cartoon?

Peter Cook lent his voice to the foul-mouthed presenter for four animated episodes. Roger was partly inspired by regional TV hosts Chris Donald had watched in the North East.

Which comedian sold Viz the exclusive rights to his 2002 wedding photographs for just one pound?

Johnny Vegas made the one-pound deal as a dig at celebrity couples who sold their wedding pictures to glossy magazines for anything up to a million.

Which newspaper does Major Misunderstanding, Viz's ranting retired officer in a regimental blazer, read?

Daily Mail in hand, the Major sees everything through his own prejudices: he once mistook a blood donor van for a chip van and scolded the nurse inside.

Which comics publisher took legal action against Viz over a parody of its Winker Watson strip?

D. C. Thomson sued after Viz ignored several warnings about its parody strips. The Dandy's own editor, unaware of the case, cooled things down by printing a good-humoured spoof of Viz.

Which bearded football pundit's caricature is hidden in Viz strips for eagle-eyed readers to spot?

Jimmy Hill, complete with beard and glasses, turns up in all shapes and sizes in the background of strips, and readers write in to claim a reward for finding him.

Which comedian voiced Viz's Billy the Fish cartoon when it ran as a four-part television series?

Harry Enfield provided the voices when the football spoof ran as four episodes in 1991. It was the only Viz cartoon tame enough for a U certificate; the others were rated 15 or 18.

Which football strip, whose club once signed members of Spandau Ballet, does Viz's Billy the Fish lampoon?

Roy of the Rovers gave Melchester two pop-star signings in 1985, so Viz had Shakin' Stevens sign for Billy's team. Mick Hucknall of Simply Red later joined him.

Which Auf Wiedersehen, Pet star once explored turning Viz's Sid the Sexist into a live-action sitcom?

Jimmy Nail got as far as a lunch meeting at his home before it became clear that no broadcaster was likely to air a sitcom written in the comic's style.

Which word does Viz's smug undergraduate Student Grant constantly drop into his speech?

Actually is Grant's verbal tic as he poses as a world-wise intellectual while doing little or no work for his degree. Every female student in the strip is called Hilary.

Which Viz pensioner constantly exaggerates her age and complains about the young people of today?

Mrs Brady, billed in full as an Old Lady, fondly recalls doing in her youth exactly what she condemns in others. She is also forever discussing her ailments.

Which household item stars in Viz's parody of Black Bob, the faithful sheepdog from The Dandy?

A bin liner called Black Bag lives the exciting life of a working sheepdog in the strip, and once rescued the pop group Brotherhood of Man from a well.

In which Viz strip do Natasha and Crispin mistake everyday objects such as fire extinguishers for modern art?

The Critics write pretentious reviews for a Sunday paper and admire invented artists modelled on Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. They once won a booby prize for a review that made sense.

Viz renamed a shellsuit-wearing teenage character Tasha after complaints from which sportswear brand?

Kappa objected that the comic had no permission to use its name and that the character insulted its customers. After several strips, Viz gave her the new first name.

Which international body reprimanded Viz over a one-off strip that stereotyped Gypsies as thieves?

The United Nations rebuke followed an uproar from race relations groups. Viz had printed a tiny companion strip alongside, about a scrupulously honest Gypsy who hands back a customer's change.

Viz's spoof news photos are typically captioned with the subject's name, a comma and which single word?

Yesterday turns any stock picture into mock news, so a photo of a train is solemnly labelled as a train on the previous day. The pictures themselves are often crudely doctored.

Viz's out-of-court settlement from an advertiser accused of copying its Top Tips was donated to which charity?

Comic Relief received the undisclosed sum. Many readers assumed Viz had simply sold the idea, and sent in mock tips teasing the editors about it, which the comic happily printed.

Which actor played himself in a 1996 Viz photo-strip about a man posing as his lookalike?

Sean Bean appeared in a one-off story whose hero, unhappy in his relationship, has a makeover so he can pass himself off as the star and name-drop his screen roles.

Which Viz character tells ludicrous lies, such as claiming that the Nolan Sisters live in his fridge?

Aldridge Prior is instantly recognisable by his dated outfit: a tartan jacket with a sheepskin collar and a pair of platform shoes. He also likes to claim famous relatives.

Which publisher's 1985 deal turned Viz from a North East fanzine into a national title sold every two months?

Virgin Books took the comic national from its 13th issue. Two years later the director in charge left to set up his own company, which carried on publishing it.

Which media figure bought Viz in 2001 as part of a £6.4 million deal?

James Brown, the former Loaded editor, bought the comic through his company I Feel Good and raised its frequency to ten issues a year. Two years later the firm was itself bought out by a bigger publisher.

Members of which Swindon band recorded a 1987 novelty single about Viz's Buster Gonad under a joke name?

XTC's Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory played on the record, which was credited to a made-up act and sung by John Otway. It came out on a label named after the comic's fictional town.

Which name did Viz's Modern Parents, Malcolm and Cressida, give one of their sons to defy gender stereotypes?

Guinevere and his brother Tarquin are the down-to-earth members of the family, and Tarquin's attempts to reason with their sanctimonious parents usually fail.

Which Monty Python member wrote the foreword to the 2002 edition of Viz's Profanisaurus dictionary of rude words?

Terry Jones introduced the second edition, by which time the reader-fed dictionary had grown from about 700 entries in a 1997 pull-out to around 4,000.

Roger Mellie's on-screen greeting in Viz began as a copy of which real broadcaster's famous catchphrase?

David Frost's three-part welcome opened Roger's early shows word for word, until the strip swapped its final word for a swear word.

Viz's sinister Bottom Inspectors were based on which uniformed officials in the comic's home city?

Traffic wardens inspired the look, but the strip only exists because the comic's publisher remarked that one issue had too many bottoms in it. The inspectors turned up in the very next one.

What did the winner of Viz's early competition to win a ton of money receive as the prize?

A tonne of copper coins, all one- and two-pence pieces, came to only a few hundred pounds. The stunt mocked tabloid newspapers that promised huge cash prizes to boost their sales.