Politicians 'R' Us : Fiction's Finest Leaders Quiz

Answer: Josiah Bartlett

Martin Sheen played Josiah "Jed" Bartlett in seven seasons of "The West Wing" (September 1999 to May 2006). The show was created by Aaron Sorkin and was initially designed as a star vehicle for Rob Lowe. The President was not even meant to be shown much.

Initially, Sheen signed up for four episodes but was so popular that he, and not the staff, became the main focus. In his fictional past, Jed Bartlett attended Notre Dame University and thought about becoming a priest. He specialised in Economics and was two times Governor of New Hampshire.

He was persuaded by a friend, Leo McGarry (played by the late John Spencer) to run for President. In Season One it was revealed he had Multiple Sclerosis. Barlett had a fund of trivia stories and liked to expound them to his staff. Trivia note: Martin Sheen's son Emilio Estevez played a young Jed Bartlett in one episode. (Note: All the 'wrong' answers in this quiz were also fictional politicians in literature, TV or movies).

Answer: Mayor Quimby

Mayor Quimby, or to give him his full name, Joseph Fitzpatrick Fitzgerald Fitzhenry "Joe" Quimby, was the head of the city administration of Springfield, the home of 'The Simpsons', America's most disfunctional family. Dan Castellaneta voiced the Mayor in the cartoon series that was first broadcast in December 1989. Quimby rarely seemed in control of what was going on, but he did like to look after number one - himself.

Answer: Alan B'Stard

Alan B'Stard was played on TV by the British comedian/actor Rik Mayall in 'The New Statesman', which ran for four seasons between 1987 and 1992. B'Stard epitomised all that many people thought was wrong with Margaret Thatcher's Britain. Self-promotion and greed spurred B'Stard on, and he did not mind who he trampled over in the process.

Answer: Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan was the creation of the author Tom Clancy and featured in a number of novels, before transferring to the big screen where he was played by three actors: Alec Baldwin in 'The Hunt for Red October'(1990); Harrison Ford in
'Patriot Games'(1992) and 'Clear and Present Danger'(1994) and Ben Affleck in
'The Sum of All Fears'(2002).
Ryan was an officer in the US Marines Corps before his military career was cut short at the age of 23 in a helicopter crash. After various adventures, he became a consultant to the CIA, then a reluctant VP and then President after terrorists crashed a Boeing 747 into the Capitol building, thus killing the President and wiping out many of the country's top politicians (this was a plot line that was written before 9/11).

Answer: Flora Blackford

Flora Blackford (nee Hamburger) was a character in Harry Turtledove's alternative history series of novels that dealt with a continued war between Northern and Confederate States of the USA. In his Timeline-191 series, Turtledove envisaged a situation in which the South won the American Civil War, and a 'second' war between the states. Enmities with the North continued and the North won a 'third' civil war (timed in the WWI period).

The south then launched a 'fourth' civil war, timed in the WWII period.

In the latter period, the Southern States were led by a dictator - Jake Featherston - who had launched an initiative to wipe out the black population. The tale drew many parallels with Hitler's treatment of the Jewish people of his captured Europe. Flora Blackford had been married to a President who had not enjoyed much success in a period that reflected the real US depression.

After his death, she remained a congresswoman and was one of the first to spot the genocide.

Answer: Harriet Jones

Harriet Jones was a British MP and later Prime Minister in several episodes of 'Dr Who'. The part was specially written for the actress Penelope Wilton by Russell T. Davies, the man who brought the sci-fi show back from the wilderness and made it one of the most popular dramas on British TV in the early part of the 21st Century (10 million people watched the last episode of the 2008 season - the highest viewing figures for that particular week). Harriet Jones first appeared in an episode called 'Aliens of London', (2005) which featured shape-shifting aliens who took over the British cabinet. With the help of 'The Doctor' and his companion Rose, she defeated the 'Slitheen'.

Afterwards she became Prime Minister. The character further appeared in a Christmas Special (2005) and was killed by the Daleks in the final episode of Season Four (2008).

Answer: Barbara Adams

Barbara Adams was played by Loretta Swit in the 1986 movie 'Whoops Apocalypse'. The movie was a reworking of a British television comedy that had a six-week run from March 14th 1982. The TV series had a male US president, but ex-M*A*S*H star Swit was the movie's president. Herbert Lom and Peter Cook also starred. Tom Bussmann directed.

Answer: David Aceveda

David Aceveda was played by Benito Martinez in the tough and uncompromising cop show 'The Shield'. The show was based in a tough inner city area of Los Angeles, with Aceveda initially the captain in charge of the toughest of all the precincts. He had political ambitions, though, and was elected as a councilman. His main protagonist was tough cop Vic Mackey (played by Michael Chiklis) who knew how to catch the criminals, mainly because he knew them and it was not unknown for him to walk the dark side himself. 'The Shield' was a multi-award winning show.

Answer: Bob Roberts

Tim Robbins played 'Bob Roberts' in the 1992 movie of the same name. Roberts was a right wing folk singer battling the incumbent to become a senator. The movie was presented in the form of a TV documentary and showed Roberts travelling across state performing and expounding an anti-drugs message.

His rival (played by Gore Vidal) seemed to be in the lead until he was immersed in a scandal, and then Roberts was the target for an assassination bid. Apparently unable to move from the waist down as a result, he went on to secure victory in the election.

The movie was, in truth, something of an expose of the seamier side of US politics. It also helped to be a folk music fan and to see the subtle (and sometime very overt) nods that it played to performers such as Bob Dylan.

Some of the songs were pastiches of Dylan's work, but from a right wing perspective. Tim Robbins also wrote and directed the movie, and was nominated for Golden Globe for his performance.

Answer: Jim Hacker

Jim Hacker was played by Paul Eddington in the British TV comedies 'Yes, Minister' (1980 to 1984) and 'Yes, Prime Minister' (1986 to 1988). Jim Hacker was something of an average MP until was elevated to the position of Minister for Administrative Affairs.

There he tried to be a good and crusading Minister, only for his ambitions to be thwarted at every turn by his civil servants, led by Sir Humphrey Appelby (played by Nigel Hawthorne). Each show was a a battle of wits, which the politicians usually lost.

The episodes were taped in front of audiences often made up of civil servants and political insiders who recognised that what was portrayed as fiction was often very near the truth. After the writers, Anthony Jay and Tony Lynn, thought they had gone as far as possible with 'Yes, Minister', the BBC persuaded them to promote Hacker to Prime Minister.

The new series, 'Yes, Prime Minister' opened with the civil servants plotting to have Hacker promoted as the least-worst and most easily manipulated of the candidates.