Features

A look at the new James Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz. There was always a good chance Anthony Horowitz would be invited back for another stab at 007. Trigger Mortis was well received by critics and many fans considered it to be the best continuation novel in the series. Little surprise really, as Horowitz is […]

Today marks the anniversary of the birth Ian Fleming, the author who introduced the world to James Bond in Casino Royale and went on to write a total of fourteen James Bond books. Born in Mayfair on 28 May 1908, during the war Fleming excelled as assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. In this capacity he […]

Edward Biddulph reports from the preview of a new exhibition at Bletchley Park. Hut 12 at Bletchley Park has become home to an exhibition that celebrates the literary James Bond through contemporary art and explores Ian Fleming’s connection with the centre of British World War Two codebreaking. I was present for a preview of the […]

Doctor No once again finds 007 in Jamaica. At the beginning of Doctor No James Bond has just been released from hospital. After nearly dying at the end of his previous mission, Bond’s doctor urges M to send him on an easy assignment. And it turns out that’s exactly what the head of the Secret Service […]

James Bond is sent by M to Jamaica to investigate the sudden disappearance of the local secret service man and his assistant. It’s not much of an assignment though. An investigation by local police has come to nothing and the view of the island’s Governor, with which M agrees, is that the pair have eloped. Before […]

A look at the locations in Ian Fleming’s fifth 007 novel. By the time we finally meet James Bond in From Russia, With Love he’s bored with “the soft life”. He’s at home at his flat off the King’s Road and dreading the thought of another day at headquarters as he finishes his breakfast. But […]

While James Bond is mentioned while Smersh hatches a plot to discredit the British Secret Service, it’s not until chapter 11 of From Russia, With Love that 007 is properly introduced. Waking in his flat off the King’s Road, Bond finds himself bored with the prospect of the day ahead. To try and throw off his […]

Surprised at Goldfinger’s certification in Spain, I compared the ratings of all the James Bond films with those in Britain and the United States. Back in the summer the company that provides my internet, phone line and TV started showing the James Bond films. For a period of a few weeks most of the Bond […]

After being briefed by M on his new mission, James Bond briefly discusses his forthcoming assignment with Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner. Bond then invites him to lunch at Scotts’ for dressed crab and a pint of black velvet. After assuming the identify of diamond smuggler Peter Franks, Bond heads to New York on a BOAC Monarch […]

Friends M Although the head of the Secret Service appears in the first two James Bond novels, Moonraker is the first time the reader encounters him outside his office. Bond joins him for dinner at his private member’s club, Blades,  prior to partnering him against Sir Hugo Drax at bridge. As the result Ian Fleming […]