Springfield

The Simpsons are a cartoon family who live in the fictional town of Springfield, USA. There are in fact Springfields in around 30 American states and the writers of the show say that they chose the name to represent a typical middle-American city. The show started back in 1989 and is the most successful and longest running animated series in the history of American television. So, who is this family so loved by Americans and indeed fans all over the world?

Homer and Marge have three kids - Bart, the oldest child and only son, and Lisa and Maggie. Homer is not the most intelligent man in the city and is famously lazy and somewhat overweight. He likes nothing more than eating donuts and drinking his favourite brand of beer, Duff. He works, if you can call it that, as a safety inspector at the local nuclear power plant although he spends most of his time either asleep or looking to find some way of not working. His lack of intelligence mixed with some rather bad luck means that he often finds himself in trouble or difficult and dangerous situations. This is when you'll hear his most famous phrase, Doh!, which has even found a place in the Oxford English dictionary. He only has two hairs on his head because he pulled the rest out when he found that his wife was pregnant with Lisa.

Bart is a ten year old pest, with no lack of ingenious ways to cause trouble. He is always in trouble at school, indeed the opening sequence of each episode shows him writing lines on the class blackboard as a punishment. The lines he writes gives you some indication as to what he's done, for example, I must not try to burn the school, or something similar. Bart is a huge fan of Krusty the Klown, a kids' TV personality who on screen is a happy clown but off it is a rather dark and depressed person. Bart's favourite cartoon is Itchy and Scratchy. This is similar to the cat and mouse cartoon Tom and Jerry, the difference being that these two manage to maim and mutilate each other in the most shocking and bloody ways. Bart's catchphrases include 'Aye Carumba', 'Eat my shorts' and 'I'm Bart Simpson . . who are you?'

Lisa Simpson, the second child, is just about as different as could be. She's smart, sensitive and extremely well-behaved. She sometimes even manages to persuade Bart to be good (for a while) and her father not to do something stupid (for a change). She's a great saxophone player, and the opening sequence shows her being thrown out of the school orchestra for being too good! The baby of the family is Maggie who crawls around and sucks her dummy but doesn't speak, although just the way she looks at her father can often tell you that even she thinks he's a bit of an idiot!

The show is also famous for the guest appearances by various celebrities, ranging from American presidents to Hollywood stars, musicians and international politicians. It has become a bit of an indication as to your level of success if you have been invited to take part in the show!