Obviously, the impact of the questions which all of you sent in left an impression on the "father" of The Simpsons.

So for the second time in the space of a month, we rubbed our eyes in disbelief ... and asked some questions!

If you want to listen to the interview, click the link in the audio/video box on the left - otherwise you can read what he had to say to us below.

(RG = Richard Greenaway)

RG: You must have hundreds and thousands of requests. Why did you make the decision to come to Bristol?

MG: The secret reason I came to Bristol is, not only is this a great animation festival, but I got to come to Aardman Animation. I love the work being done at Aardman. I'm a huge fan and so I wanted to take a peek and actually get a look at Wallace and Gromit it in real life.

RG: The festival, haven't just asked you to speak about the Simpsons and your work, but to choose your favourite work.

MG: Yeah. I get to talk about my favourite cartoons. So I've got some obscure Betty Boop cartoons with Cap Calloway and a very disturbing Pluto cartoon from Walt Disney that gave me nightmares as a child. And speaking of nightmares, one of my favourite recent pieces of animation, I just discovered on watching on the Internet, Baby Cue by Hazel Grian. It's just and unbelievable cartoon. I picked it to show here and I found out she's a Bristol animator. It's a very spooky, sinister, disturbing cartoon with some really big laughs in it too.

RG: And not only a creator of animation, but a real fan as well?

MG: Yeah, I love animation. As somebody who works with it day and night I have a great deal of sympathy even for the stuff that doesn't work because it's really hard stuff to do and when it works it's magic.

RG: What do you think of what you've seen of Bristol so far?

MG: I love it here. It's absolutely gorgeous. I want to not spend my entire time in a dark theatre looking at cartoons. As much as I love cartoons, I actually want to get out and sniff the air and look at the sights.

RG: How difficult was it to fit a visit like this into your schedule?

MG: One of the great things about the Simpsons we have so many little elves working on the show. I feel like Santa Claus - I'm on vacation. I get to do what I want to do and the show goes on without me.

RG: Do you still have as much control over the show and the way it is heading as you had in the past when it first began?

MG: I don't know if I had every had any control over the show. It's a group effort. It's a collaborative effort as all animation is. One of the fun things about the Simpsons is that everybody who works on the show feels that they have a part in this and everybody contributes, the actors ad-lib, the animators pipe up with new gags and the writers are working until 5pm and then they go home!

RG: You have seen the Aardman Animation set up here and you're due to continue your tour around Bristol. Would you ever consider doing animation like this? Would you like to branch out into different fields and to different techniques?

MG: The difficulty of what the people at Aardman are doing is staggering to me. When we make a mistake in the kind of animation we do, we still have stacks of drawings that we can use and unless I am misunderstanding, I think they have to start over when they do a new shot if they get it wrong. But I admire it because as I said before Wallace and Gromit are real. They really exist. And it's nice to peak at the screen and see what they're up to. You know I love the Simpsons too, but they're just drawings. Wallace and Gromit, they're the real thing.

RG: You're here for a short time, but what would you like to achieve? You have travelled England when you were younger. Is there anything you haven't seen so far?

MG: I'm interested in seeing the sights. I've actually said: "Please let me get away from the radio interviews and autograph hounds and all that stuff and actually get out and see the sights." I know now this is too much of a whirlwind trip - I'm going to be back.