On Her Majesty's Secret Service Quiz

Answer: Jack Ryan

Tim Donohue is the British Secret Service agent who features in the story "The Constant Gardener". He is put on the trail of the main protagonist, Justin Quayle, to ensure his investigations don't create an embarrassment for the High Commissioner. George Smiley is one of Le Carre's great creations.

He first appears as an "out of favour" operative in John's debut novel "Call For the Dead" (1961) and becomes the central character in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (1974), "The Honourable Schoolboy" (1977) and "Smiley's People" (1979).

It was Le Carre's third novel, "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" in 1963 that introduced us to Alex Leamas and propelled Le Carre toward international recognition. George Smiley also appears in this novel. His role is a small one but it is pivotal to the story. Jack Ryan is a creation of American writer Tom Clancy.

Answer: Callan

"Callan" was aired by the ITV network on British television between 1967 and 1972. Originally created as a one off tele-movie the character struck such a positive chord with its audience that a series was immediately put into development. Callan is described by his superior as "a dead shot with a cold nerve to kill".

His role is to eliminate targets that are likely to cause the government enormous embarrassment or, as his boss puts it "pose a danger to innocents", however, Callan develops a conscience and rather than blindly remove his victims he decides he wants to know more about who they are and why they need to be eliminated.

In the eyes of "The Section" this makes him dangerous and unpredictable and it leads to confrontations between Callan and the bureau. Woodward's performances in this series captured the attention of American television executives and he was soon recruited to play the lead in the series "The Equalizer" where, surprisingly, he plays a former intelligence agent whose conscience drives him to protect people in dire situations.

Answer: Call of Duty

According to Infinity Ward the model for Captain John Price was former SAS soldier and co-host of the 2003 television series "SAS Survival Secrets" John McAleese. Price's distinguishing features are his red beret and Lee Enfield rifle. He is also known to occasionally wear a boonie hat.

He is a skilled marksman and is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat with the ability to speak in Russian, German and Arabic. The ability to speak these languages does not necessarily mean that he can read the language.

In the mission "Persona Non Grata" (Modern Warfare 3) he passes the controls of a UGV over to Yuri, disdainfully commenting "The instructions are in Russian". There is another Captain Price in this series and he appears to be the grandfather of John Price.

He has similar skills and appears in two flashback missions namely "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" and "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare".

Answer: Alex Rider

The Alex Rider series is aimed at the younger market of readers and its main character is recruited by the Secret Service after the assassination of his uncle. Alan Blunt, both ruthless and stand-offish, is his boss. In a similar manner to James Bond's "M" Blunt remains emotionless and unattached to the agents he utilises and the methods he needs to employ.

The ninth book in the series, "Scorpia Rising" (2011) sees Sir Alan forced into retirement. He uses a quote from Nietzsche both as parting advice to his replacement, Mrs Jones and a justification of methods; "he who fights monsters must take care not become one himself".

Answer: Yes

Rowan Atkinson featured in the Bond film "Never Say Never Again" (1983), which saw the return of Sean Connery to the lead role for the first time since "Diamonds Are Forever" in 1971. Rowan, as the British Foreign Office representative, makes contact with Bond when he arrives in the Bahamas. In the film "Johnny English" Atkinson is the titular character who harbours dreams of being "Agent One". Unfortunately his ineptitude leads to the demise of the actual number one agent. English then becomes England's only agent when a bomb wipes out the rest of them at Agent One's funeral. "Johnny English" was co-written by William Davis in partnership with Neil Purvis and Robert Wade.

The latter two authors have both been involved in writing at least five of the James Bond films created since 1999.

Answer: Spooks

The MI5 group within this series is simply called "The Grid". Their main task is counter terrorism and the storylines are created in such a way to ensure that the programme maintains a very high level of action. The series has garnered a lot of positive critical response, however, it's also drawn its fair share of notoriety due to its level of violence, none more so than the second episode of the series which prompted such a savage reaction from the viewers that BBC's switchboards were jammed with calls.

The series has continued to gather good support to the extent that it has attracted a long list of actors wishing to make guest appearances, including Hugh Laurie, Andy Serkis and Anthony Head.

Answer: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is a series of graphic novels written by Alan Moore and the team is a sort of (for want of a better phrase) "Justice League" set in Victorian England. Mina Harker, who'd survived being cursed by Dracula, reverted to her maiden name (Murray) when her husband passed away, was initially recruited by Campion Bond (an ancestor of James Bond), set about putting the League together in 1898.

Her first team was made up of a seventy year old, opium addicted Allan Quatermain, the Indian prince turned pirate Captain Nemo, Dr Henry Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr Hyde) and Hawley Griffin, The Invisible Man.

In the first volume of adventures, published in March, 1999, they are confronted by Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty.

In Volume II (September, 2002), they ward off a Martian invasion. The Hydra can be found in the Marvel Comics universe, F.E.A.R. is from a video game of the same name and United Network Command for Law & Enforcement is U.N.C.L.E from the television series "The Man From UNCLE".

Answer: Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise began life as a comic strip character created by Peter O'Donnell. Little is revealed of her early childhood. In her early she is described as having wandered aimlessly through displacement camps in the Middle East after World War II. She is found by a Jewish scholar who mentors her but passes away before Modesty reaches her teenage years. Blaise would eventually take over a criminal gang in Tangiers that she will then turn into an international network. During this period she would forge an unbreakable, though thoroughly platonic, relationship with Willie Garvin. Willie would accompany her through all her adventures. Modesty marries Englishman James Turner which gives her British citizenship.

She divorces Turner and, with her fortune made, retires to England.

It is not long before she becomes bored with her new found lifestyle and it's at this point that Sir Gerald enters her life.

Answer: April O'Neil

Sir John works for a branch of British Intelligence whose name is never revealed during the course of the two series, "The Avengers", which aired in 1961 and "The New Avengers" (1976). He was born into a privileged family, got expelled from Eton for fighting with the school bully (a certain James Bond) and distinguished himself during World War II before becoming a member of the Intelligence Corps. He was most notably portrayed during both series by Patrick MacNee, who remained the only constant through both programmes.
The show was enhanced by the bevy of attractive women who would partner Steed. All of them would be assertive women blessed with intelligence, gifted in self defence and destined to become trend setters. Honor Blackman, who portrayed Cathy Gale and Diana Rigg (Emma Peel) would gain further fame as Bond Girls in "Goldfinger" (1964) and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) respectively. Purdy (it was never revealed if that was her first name or surname) was deliciously portrayed by Joanna Lumley.
As a sidebar, Patrick MacNee would also feature in a Bond film as the ill fated Sir Godfrey Tibbett in "A View to a Kill" (1985).
April O'Neil is a friend of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Answer: Michael Caine

Harry Palmer would never come to enjoy the glitz and glamour of his cinematic rival James Bond. His home, if not some seedy motel, was a meagre flat set in some back street, he is constantly at war with his own bureaucracy and instead of high class restaurants he sources his food from supermarkets.

He made his first appearance on film in the abovenamed "The IPCRESS File" in which he is called upon to investigate the kidnapping of a top British scientist in what appears to be a concerted effort to "brain drain" Great Britain.

The film received great critical acclaim and won Best Film at that year's BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) Awards. This prompted the sequels "Funeral in Berlin" (1966) and "Billion Dollar Brain" (1967) to follow rapidly. Michael Caine reprised his role in both of these and then followed suit as an aging agent in "Bullet to Beijing" (1995) and "Midnight in St Petersburg" (1996).