Features

Last year I wrote a post in which I proposed seven ideal gift ideas for James Bond fans, and with Christmas once again approaching I’ve decided to revisit the idea. While last year’s post focused on gifts costing less than £80, this year’s ideas are not capped and centred upon lifestyle and experiences. Breakfast at the […]

One of the best loved characters from the James Bond films is Miss Moneypenny, whose first flirtatious encounter with 007 we see in Dr No after being called in for a briefing by M during a night on the town. From then on she became a fixture of every Bond film until Die Another Day […]

One thing that disappointed me in Skyfall was the absence of the James Bond theme at the start of the film and I think we can safely say it’s not going to return there any time soon now the precedent has been set. But to me it makes no sense having it at the end of the […]

The women in the Bond universe are too often characterised using two words: Bond Girl. Here we take a look at the most villainous of them.

One of my favourite and most frequently used culinary insights from the James Bond books is the recipe for scrambled eggs from 007 in New York, originally from the US edition of Fleming’s collection of travel writing, Thrilling Cities. Author of the new Bond book Solo, William Boyd, writes his book having been inspired by the […]

Over the summer several newsletter subscribers got in touch to let me know what they were doing over the summer. One of those was Laurent-Jean Gacher, who shared a number of great photos of 007 related locations in Switzerland and Italy. Piz Gloria Greeted by George Lazenby at Piz Gloria   Piz Gloria’s Bond World […]

Ever since I was young the James Bond films have been important to me. I remember a journey with my family in which my cousins and I played at diving like in Thunderball, holding a ballpoint in our mouths like a respirator; although in a wheelchair I was able to relive some of my favourite […]

Fifty years ago today saw the world premiere of From Russia With Love at the Odeon Leicester Square. With a few notable differences, including the substitution of SPECTRE for SMERSH, the film closely followed Ian Fleming’s novel and following on from Dr No, a year earlier, was eagerly awaited by audiences hungry for 007. From […]

William Boyd’s explanation of his decision to give Bond’s age as 45 in 1969 has prompted me to write up some thoughts on the tricky subject of Bond’s age. Boyd offers his contention that as You Only Live Twice was the last Bond novel published in his lifetime, Fleming’s statement, via M’s premature obituary, that Bond […]

Writing a Bond novel must be pretty tough. After all, many have tried to take on the heavy yoke of expectation that surrounds anything even loosely associated with Britain’s cold war master spy, James Bond, 007. In 2012, Sam Mendes’ latest cinematic effort, Skyfall seemed to suggest that Daniel Craig et al were just getting […]