Real Life People in "Doonesbury" Quiz

Answer: Deng Xiaoping

Deng, later to oversee China's rise to its much-improved status, was purged and sent to a re-education camp during Duke's tenure; one of the old-time leaders who fell from grace in the Cultural Revolution. In the strip, his name was Romanized according to Wade-Giles as "Teng Hsiao-ping". Duke, hearing that he was in prison, paid a visit to his former diplomatic sparring partner.

Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, was a perpetrator of the afore-mentioned Cultural Revolution, and was also mentioned in the strip - Honey Huan was called to testify at her trial after her own fall from grace. Mao himself died during Duke's time in China, and Zhou Enlai, the second man of China's revolution, was already dead.

Answer: Mike

J.J, needing to put food on the table, reluctantly accepted money to paint a mural of Trump, based on the Sistine Chapel, on the ceiling of Trump's boat, the "Trump Princess". Duke served as Captain on that very boat, recognizing in Trump a kindred spirit. Boopsie was hired as eye candy on Trump's game show about himself (anticipating, by several years, "The Apprentice").

Mike sold his soul a piece at a time doing advertising work for such industries as Big Tobacco and Big Oil. He can still say this though - he never did an ad campaign for Donald Trump.

Answer: Dan Quayle

Possibly, just possibly, trying to imply that Quayle was a lightweight, Garry Trudeau portrayed him as a floating quail feather. This didn't annoy Quayle as much as did a series of strips about his DEA file, which got Trudeau into a certain amount of hot water.

Clinton was portrayed as a waffle (possibly, just possibly to imply that he had trouble taking a firm stand on the issues of the day), Schwarzenegger, struggling with a sexual harassment scandal, as a giant groping hand, and the hot-tempered Gingrich as a bomb with a lit fuse.

Answer: condoms

Duke has indeed trafficked in orphans, stem cells and stolen beanie babies, but it was over one of his more legitimate enterprises - Dr Whoopee condoms - that he got into trouble with the mob. The condoms themselves were above-board; the business deals that financed their manufacture were not.

Answer: Gay Talese

Mark had numerous interesting guests back in his college radio days, including author and journalist Talese, who read from his book "Thy Neighbour's Wife", an exploration of the free love subculture.

Erica Jong's book "Fear of Flying", although a landmark of the sexual revolution, is a novel rather than a nonfiction work. Xaviera Hollander, former madam, is the author of the nonfiction work "The Happy Hooker". I'm not sure if Hefner has ever written a book about his experiences, but if he has, Mark's listeners have yet to hear from him.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

Inspired by Max Headroom, Reagan's team created the virtual "Ron Headrest" to fill in for the President during his lengthy vacations. Headrest, however, proved uncontrollable, escaping into the ether and appearing in America's living rooms to mock his fellow Republicans.

Headrest created further problems for his party in 1988, when he sought to run for President on the Republican ticket in his own right.

Answer: Clint Eastwood

In 1986, Joanie was thrilled when her boss, congresswoman Lacey Davenport, campaigned on behalf of fellow Republican Eastwood when he ran for Mayor of Carmel and she got a chance to meet him. When the moment came, however, Joanie's flirting skills deserted her and she burbled at Eastwood like a starstruck airhead.

Answer: The "Porky's" franchise

Alas, Boopsie's movie career never reached the level of "Rocky", "Friday The 13th" or "Police Academy". Her role in "Porky's IX" (as "Third girl in shower") is more representative of her filmography. But Boopsie doesn't need the movies; in recent years she's shown that there's more to her than the bimbo of yesteryear.

Answer: Henry Kissinger

Like Kissinger, the three red herrings on this list are all associated with Harvard. Schlesinger, an adviser to JFK, and Wilson, author of "Sociobiology" were professors there (as was Kissinger himself). Halberstam, a journalist who once appeared in "Doonesbury" interviewing Rick Redfern, was a graduate.

It was at Georgetown, however, that Honey encountered Kissinger, heading her geopolitics course. They had both recently vacated the corridors of power - he having ended his years in the White House, she her years as translator at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

Answer: Paul Revere

An early feminist, Amy was unimpressed by the Revolution's silence on the question of women's rights. She sought to prove her point by seeking to work outside the home - specifically for Paul Revere as an apprentice silversmith. While she lacked any talent for silverware, Amy succeeded in making her point to her husband, who vowed to henceforth treat her as an equal.

Answer: Jean-Claude Duvalier

Duvalier, known to his unfortunate Haitian subjects as "Baby Doc" in homage to his equally tyrannical father, "Papa Doc" Duvalier, was the patron of the Baby Doc College of Offshore Medicine which specialized, among other things, in the development of new designer drugs. Duvalier then purchased Duke when the latter was transformed into a zombie slave.

Answer: George H.W. Bush

Skippy looked exactly the same as Bush - an easy concept for Trudeau to present, as they were both portrayed as being invisible (possibly, just possibly implying that Bush, during his term as Regan's VP, was a yes-man without any platform of his own). Skippy caused trouble for his brother, by, for example, supporting different Republicans in crucial primary campaigns.

Answer: Elaine Benes

You might be forgiven for seeing the resemblance to Kramer, but Zonker, noting her big hair and bad dancing, identifies with Elaine.

Answer: Yasser Arafat

Roland scored his first interview with Arafat in Beirut, as the PLO Chairman faced Israeli attack. Roland asked Arafat to explain how he managed to grow a beard which always looked like three-day stubble.

Answer: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Duke parachuted into revolutionary Iran on behalf of American oil interests, and was captured by Khomeini's supporters, who tried him and found him guilty of crimes against God. He escaped a roof-top execution by bribing his tormentors, but it was, perhaps, his closest call yet.

Right-winger though he is, Duke has historically enjoyed fairly good relations with the communist world, and has never fallen foul of the Stasi or any comparable organization. The Sandinistas, I imagine, would have loved to kill Duke, but they never got the chance. Duke never tangled with the Khmer Rouge, either - if he had, I doubt they would have arranged anything as civilized as a firing squad.