Author Profile: David Leigh

A copy of the screenplay for Kevin McClory’s second proposed Thunderball remake (the first was Never Say Never Again) is being auctioned this evening at Christie’s in London. According to MI6 another copy sold in 2008 for £46,850, although the estimate for this one is just £1,000 to £1,500. Unfortunately it is not clear whether […]

While most Bond fans are aware of James Bond’s paternal Scottish lineage, many who have not read the books are unaware that his mother was actually Swiss; Bond’s (premature) obituary in You Only Live Twice tells us that his mother was Monique Delacroix of the Canton de Vaud. Bond visits Switzerland while engaged on two […]

Ian Fleming Publications has today released Christoher Wood’s two film novelisations, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, in ebook format. Wood was responsible for the scripts of both films, receiving a co-writing credit with Richard Maibaum for The Spy Who Loved Me while getting full credit for Moonraker.  The books are available for the Kindle, […]

Although Italy hardly appeared in the books at all, James Bond has visited the country a number of times in the films, most recently with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. In the short story Risicco, James Bond visits first Rome and then Venice while trying to break up a heroin smuggling operation, meeting Kristatos […]

Although it may not much feel like it at the moment, summer is fast approaching after a long winter that seemed to takeover spring, but finally the weather (at least where I live) has turned. The central heating is off at long last and although the mountains in the distance still have plenty of snow […]

Eleven of John Gardner’s 16 James Bond novels have been published in ebook format in the United States. The books have been released in Amazon’s Kindle store, as well as for Kobo and Sony devices. The 16 books run from Licence Renewed to Goldeneye, with the five remaining books only being released in 2014 when […]

Sam Mendes has reportedly ruled himself out of the running for the top job at the National Theatre, something that has been rumoured for a few months, saying that it would get in the way of his film career. The current top dog at the National Theatre, Sir Nicholas Hytner, steps down in 2015 and […]

Stoke Park, where the famous golf encounter between James Bond and Auric Goldfinger was shot, is to hold a James Bond Golf Day on June 28th. The event is being organised in partnership with Eon Productions with proceeds donated to charity. Source: James Bond Lifestyle

A number of years ago I bought a copy of Gary Giblin’s “James Bond’s London” on Amazon. The book takes a pretty exhaustive look at the London locations from the books and films up until The World Is Not Enough, as well as locations related to Ian Fleming; in fact it was from Giblin that I […]

A few days there was widely reported that Spanish acress Penelope Cruz had been signed for Bond 24, of which we were extremely sceptical, and would thus become the oldest Bond girl to date. Of course, Cruz in the wife of Javier Bardem, so the story was a bit too neat, and anyway it is […]

Several reports have appeared online stating that Penelope Cruz has been signed for Bond 24, with an unnamed source “close to the production” quoted as saying that the producers have tried to sign the Spanish actress before; Cruz is married to Javier Bardem, who played the villain of Skyfall. Source: Yahoo

Sam Mendes has signed for Bond 24 and will most likely return for Bond 25 too, according to Showbiz 411. There may be something to this story as the site had Adele’s Skyfall lyrics weeks before anyone else according to our friends at MI6. That means it is likely that Mendes will see Daniel Craig […]

Following on from yesterday’s reports that Sam Mendes may be back in talks with Eon and Sony about returning to direct Bond 24, MI6 has this morning reported that Norwegian film director Morten Tyldum, responsible for Headhunters, confirmed to comoyo.no by email that he had a meeting with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson. The Bond […]

The Mail has an interesting story by Baz Bamigboye, who was right on a number of things about Skyfall. Earlier we reported that Sam Mendes is in talks with Eon and Sony about returning for Bond 24 but Bamigboye emphatically says that Mendes will direct Bond 24, not Christopher Nolan. However, he backtracks a little […]

Earlier in the year it was finally announced that Sam Mendes, against the hopes of Eon Productions and many fans, would not be returning to direct Bond 24. Although at the time of Skyfall‘s release the British director appeared to be reluctant to return immediately to the series, telling interviewers he had done all he […]

A number of events to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the publication of Casino Royale are currently running at the University of Illinois and the Spurlock Museum. Michael L. VanBlaricum, president of The Ian Fleming Foundation and Illinois alumnus, was asked to curate a “Birth of Bond” exhibition, while the Rare Book & Manuscript Library […]

Recently I watched Octopussy and then The Man With The Golden Gun on successive nights, which was an interesting experience as it allowed me to compare two Roger Moore Bond films from the late and then early part of his reign. The Man With The Golden Gun is frequently ranked by fans towards the bottom […]

Eon Productions bosses Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson are set to executive produce a new film about an outsider living on a remote Scottish island, according to reports, seemingly ending any chance that Bond 24 would be released in 2014. The film, The Silent Storm, will star Andrea Riseborough and Damian Lewis and will […]

The modified Breitling watch worn by Sean Connery in Thunderball will be auctioned at Christie’s in London on June 26th, when it is expected to sell for as much as £60,000. The watch was modified for use in the film, where it supposedly acted as a Geiger counter to detect the presence of the atomic […]

Daniel Craig made a surprise appearance at the Nurburgring at the weekend where he drove the Skyfall Aston Martin DB5 on a lap to celebrate Aston Martin’s centenary. Craig reportedly climbed into the DB5, with licence plate BMT 216A, after arriving by helicopter and joined a parade of 100 Aston Martins for a lap of […]