Simon Donald is a co-founder and was co-editor of the British comic magazine Viz until 2003.

He set up the magazine in 1979 with his brother Chris from a bedroom in Newcastle. His most famous creation for the magazine is probably Sid the Sexist.

When Chris quit as editor in 1999, Simon took up the role of co-editor along with Graham Dury, Simon Thorp, Davey Jones and Alex Collier. He and Alex left the magazine in 2003.

Born Newcastle upon Tyne 1964. Schools: West Jesmond Infant School 1969-1973, West Jesmond Junior School 1973-1975, Heaton School (comprehensive) 1975-1980, Newcastle College of Arts & Technology 1981-1983.

In 1976 Simon joined Newcastle’s People’s Theatre, training in theatre skills. He acted in several of the theatre’s ground breaking Young People’s Theatre productions He worked as assistant stage manager for the RSC on their People's Theatre visit in 1977. He also performed at the Guilbenkian Theatre. He left the People's in 1980.

Between 1981-1983 Simon was singer and lyricist with comedy rock band Johnny Shiloe’s Movement Machine. The band comprised Dave Rose (music writing and drums), Paul Rose (guitar) and Gary Shaw (bass).

Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE (born 17 November 1960) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross began hosting a new chat show on ITV1 starting 3 September 2011. Ross also hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2, and acted as a film critic and presenter of the Film programme. Other regular roles have included being a regular panellist on the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over from 1999 to 2006, and presenting the annual British Comedy Awards from 1991 to 2007, and 2009 onwards.

Ross began his television career as a programme researcher, before débuting as a television presenter for The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross on Channel 4 in 1987. Over the next decade he had several radio and television roles, many through his own production company, Channel X. In 1995 he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC. In 1999, Ross took over presenting the Film programme from Barry Norman, and also began presenting his own radio show, while two years later he began hosting Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. For the chat show, Ross won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. By 2006 Ross was believed to be the BBC's highest paid star. In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting. Ross has been involved in controversies throughout his broadcasting career. As a result, in 2008 he wrote a semi-autobiographical work titled Why Do I Say These Things?, detailing some of his life experiences.

Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was a British comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. He was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles.

Milligan wrote and edited many books, including Puckoon and his seven-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse; much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5, a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Christopher Nicholas Parsons OBE (born 10 October 1923) is a British radio and television presenter and actor.

Parsons was born at 1 Castlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, the middle child, with an older brother and a younger sister. His father was a general practitioner in Vine Street, whose patients included the parents of Margaret Thatcher. It is possible he delivered the future Prime Minister in 1925. His mother, born in Bristol to a founder of local company WB Maggs & Co., was training as a nurse when she met Parsons' father in a hospital.

Parsons was born left-handed but was made to write with his right hand. As a child, Parsons had a stutter, which he overcame by the age of 15, and was slow to learn owing to dyslexia. He also suffered migraines. Educated at St Paul's School in London, he wanted to be an actor. However, his parents considered that a career in engineering would be better, as he had repaired clocks and was good with his hands.

After he had left school, his family contacted relatives in Scotland who arranged a job for him in Clydebank near Glasgow, where he spent five years employed in the shipyards of Clydeside by Drysdales, in the manufacture of pumps. Whilst there he also had two six-month periods studying engineering at the University of Glasgow. Although he never graduated, he gained enough qualifications to become a marine engineer and was given a position in the Merchant Navy during World War II, which he never took up owing to illness.