April 21st, 2016
by David Leigh
Today we learnt of the sad news that Guy Hamilton, who directed Goldfinger and three other James Bond films, died yesterday at the age of 93. Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, where his English parents were living. His first exposure to the film industry came in 1938 when he was the clapper […]
>>
read article
April 16th, 2016
by David Leigh
I was sad to read Raymond Benson’s Facebook post that Ian Fleming’s literary agent, Peter Janson-Smith, has died at the age of 93. Janson-Smith became Fleming’s literary agent in 1956 and was tasked with the foreign translation rights of the James Bond books. As well as acting as agent to Fleming, Janson-Smith also represented thriller […]
>>
read article
April 4th, 2016
by David Leigh
Today BAFTA announced that Barbara Broccoli has been appointed Vice President for Film. Following the recent appointment of Greg Dyke as BAFTA’s Vice President for Television, Barbara Broccoli will join Dyke in co-chairing BAFTA’s Council, supporting the Academy’s President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, and assuming an ambassadorial role for the charity. Previous Vice Presidents […]
>>
read article
March 28th, 2016
by David Leigh
MI6 Confidential, the full-colour magazine celebrating the world of James Bond 007, returns with its thirty-fourth issue. The multi-million dollar SPECTRE opened in cinemas late last year to a raft of expectation and a record-breaking first week at the box office. Although, as time would tell, the financial takings did not top its predecessor, the […]
>>
read article
March 23rd, 2016
by David Leigh
Fans of the Young Bond books will be interested to learn more about Steve Cole’s next novel in the series after details emerged on Amazon UK. Buy from Amazon UK | Amazon.com In addition to the title and cover work of Heads You Die being added t the Amazon listing there is also a brief synopsis: James’s Cuban holiday […]
>>
read article
March 22nd, 2016
by David Leigh
This last weekend SPECTRE finally broke the $200 million barrier in North America. While that is well behind Skyfall’s $305 million box office an article in the Wall Street Journal looks at Sony’s decision to keep on playing the latest Bond film to finally break through the physiologically important $200 million ceiling.
>>
read article
March 10th, 2016
by David Leigh
I’ve just seen on the BBC News website the sad news that Ken Adam has died. The legendary production designer worked on a number of the early films, starting with Dr No, and is responsible the distinctive look of the sets. These include the interior of Fort Knox from Goldfinger and Blofeld’s volcano lair in You Only […]
>>
read article
March 9th, 2016
by David Leigh
Today the internet lit up with the sad news that George Martin has died at the age of 90. Sometimes known as “the fifth Beatle”, Martin is best known for signing The Beetles to EMI, and as producer he helped shape their sound. As well as working with The Beatles and many other artists, Martin also […]
>>
read article
March 8th, 2016
by David Leigh
A brand new book on the music of James Bond themes has just kicked off a crowdfunding campaign on Unbound. The Complete James Bond Themes is written by Nick Parkhouse, who wrote a fantastic series on the Bond movie soundtracks for The James Bond Dossier. As well as offering early pledgers a number of rewards, Nick is offering readers £5 off […]
>>
read article
March 8th, 2016
by David Leigh
The cover of the UK paperback edition of the most recent James Bond novel has just been revealed by Amazon UK. Pre-order from Amazon UK | Amazon.com The Orion edition of the book will be published in the UK on 19th May and is available to pre-order online now.The US paperback is due from Harper […]
>>
read article