The Most Obscure Areas of Bondology Needing Illumination?

Silhouette Man

What are the areas of the literary/cinematic/TV/radio/computer game/comic strip/role playing game etc. James Bond that you as James Bond fans would most like to see some articles written on. Your suggestions could help fuel some new The Bondologist Blog articles!

I'd really like to hear your views on where new ink needs to be spilt - is there any virgin territory anywhere. I try to uncover these darker recesses of the James Bond phenomenon on my The Bondologist Blog.

As always, I'd really love to hear your views on this one!

I AM the backwoodsman of AJB - with a special interest in the literary side of things! -{

superado

Hi SILHOUETTE MAN, I have a couple of items I'd like to propose for your research:

(1) Around 2005-06, Christopher Lee said: "In my opinion - and I think I know as much, if not more about James Bond than anyone in the world, particularly about the characters on whom Ian told me Bond was based - Pierce Brosnan was by far the best and the closest to the character." Not to beat the Brosnan endorsement (and AJB board disagreements) to death, I'm curious to know about "the characters on whom Ian told me Bond was based." If I remember right, the golfer Henry Cotton and James Mason were mentioned by CL as "models" IF discussed with him.

(2) I continue to wonder about the literary Bond's cigarette case, if it's possible for it to exist as described, or if it was idealized by IF based on his own cigarette case. In Andrew Lycett's IF bio, ch. 3, "The World'd Worst Stockbroker," there's mention of IF's mistress, Maud Russell, who gave him an oxidized gold cigarette case finished in gun-metal. There's also mention later on how Caspar Fleming, as a rebellious youth, sold off his father's personal effects for spending money; I wonder if the cigarette case was one of these items? I've tried scruitinizing the various photos of Fleming in his office or at Goldeneye, in hope of seeing the cigarette case lying around, but no luck. Anyway, I'd love to see photographic evidence, or even any testimonials from anyone who has seen IF's artifacts, of this cigarette case.

What do you think? Sounds like the TV show "History's Mysteries" with a James Bond twist!

Silhouette Man

superado wrote:

Hi SILHOUETTE MAN, I have a couple of items I'd like to propose for your research:

(1) Around 2005-06, Christopher Lee said: "In my opinion - and I think I know as much, if not more about James Bond than anyone in the world, particularly about the characters on whom Ian told me Bond was based - Pierce Brosnan was by far the best and the closest to the character." Not to beat the Brosnan endorsement (and AJB board disagreements) to death, I'm curious to know about "the characters on whom Ian told me Bond was based." If I remember right, the golfer Henry Cotton and James Mason were mentioned by CL as "models" IF discussed with him.

(2) I continue to wonder about the literary Bond's cigarette case, if it's possible for it to exist as described, or if it was idealized by IF based on his own cigarette case. In Andrew Lycett's IF bio, ch. 3, "The World'd Worst Stockbroker," there's mention of IF's mistress, Maud Russell, who gave him an oxidized gold cigarette case finished in gun-metal. There's also mention later on how Caspar Fleming, as a rebellious youth, sold off his father's personal effects for spending money; I wonder if the cigarette case was one of these items? I've tried scruitinizing the various photos of Fleming in his office or at Goldeneye, in hope of seeing the cigarette case lying around, but no luck. Anyway, I'd love to see photographic evidence, or even any testimonials from anyone who has seen IF's artifacts, of this cigarette case.

What do you think? Sounds like the TV show "History's Mysteries" with a James Bond twist!

Thanks very much for your reply suggestions, superado. I will try to look into these very specific topics, neither of which I'd even considered - any other suggestions from AJB members?

SpectreBlofeld

I think an analysis of real-life world events (especially those in the intelligence community) and how they influenced/intersected with Bond plots and tones throughout the decades would be interesting.

DaltonFan1

SpectreBlofeld wrote:

I think an analysis of real-life world events (especially those in the intelligence community) and how they influenced/intersected with Bond plots and tones throughout the decades would be interesting.

I bet real agents, when captured, never get left in a shark-tank, shuttle bay or other conundrum only to find an exit presents itself, because the villains have learnt from the errors of many bond villains.

Silhouette Man

Any other suggestions on the obscurest areas of Bondology, at all?

minigeff

I'd be interested to know if there was a real life Q Branch, and if there is, what it's actually called.

I recall an interview with Judi Dench years ago where she'd been on a tour of the MI6 building at vauxhall, and when she asked if they had any Q's, the guide said something like 'more than you'd imagine'.

Good luck trying to find out about that though )

Silhouette Man

minigeff wrote:

I'd be interested to know if there was a real life Q Branch, and if there is, what it's actually called.

I recall an interview with Judi Dench years ago where she'd been on a tour of the MI6 building at vauxhall, and when she asked if they had any Q's, the guide said something like 'more than you'd imagine'.

Good luck trying to find out about that though )

No problem at all. I'm seconded to MI6 from the SAS.

No, I tell a lie. I'm doing my work experience there!

Any more suggestions?

minigeff

Silhouette Man wrote:

I'm doing my work experience there!

Any more suggestions?

Yeah, don't become a star on the wall

Sir Miles

minigeff wrote:

I'd be interested to know if there was a real life Q Branch, and if there is, what it's actually called.

I recall an interview with Judi Dench years ago where she'd been on a tour of the MI6 building at vauxhall, and when she asked if they had any Q's, the guide said something like 'more than you'd imagine'.

Good luck trying to find out about that though )

I know that the MOD has an R&D department....I used to know a guy that worked there....obviously he had to sign the Official Secrets Act so couldn't tell me anything....except that he worked on things that "would frighten the life out of you"....

Silhouette Man

minigeff wrote:

Silhouette Man wrote:

I'm doing my work experience there!

Any more suggestions?

Yeah, don't become a star on the wall

Here's my tip: Don't eat yellow snow and don't plant your onions until late spring, otherwise people get hurt.

James Suzuki

Here's a suggestion, silhouette man.
WHat about you compare the well-known cinematic Bond with the Fleming Bond... How Bond had changed from a thinking man in the books, who relied on techniques he learnt from MI6 and the navy to the superhero Bond shown on the screen with the later Connery's, Moore films where he uses gadgets, says witty-one liners and never bleeds, or sweats. Then finishing your article you could bring it a full circle and write about how EON are bringing the franchise back to Fleming using DC.

minigeff

Sir Miles wrote:

minigeff wrote:

I'd be interested to know if there was a real life Q Branch, and if there is, what it's actually called.

I recall an interview with Judi Dench years ago where she'd been on a tour of the MI6 building at vauxhall, and when she asked if they had any Q's, the guide said something like 'more than you'd imagine'.

Good luck trying to find out about that though )

I know that the MOD has an R&D department....I used to know a guy that worked there....obviously he had to sign the Official Secrets Act so couldn't tell me anything....except that he worked on things that "would frighten the life out of you"....

I myself have worked for the MOD, and to be honest, it's a great excuse to use in the pub;

Had a shitty day at work and can't be arsed to talk about it?

Working on something that you can't figure out, but your mate will bore your arse off trying to act clever and solve the issue for you with some 'helpful advice'?

Wanna impress that bird with some mysteriousness?*

Work all day sat at a workbench doing mind numbing menial tasks but wanna 'sex it up' so you don't sound like a boring dick?

Then look no further friend, and utter this simple statement;

"I'd love to go into it, but I can't as it's classified"

or the when asked what it is you do;

"I work for the British government"

*this hardly ever works.


A mate of mine used to work in MOD R&D, and said on one occasion he was given an aerial photo of 'something' in a field in Russia. The ruperts wanted to know what it was, so got my mate to build a model of it from just this photo. It later transpired that it was some attachement the ruski's had made for a field gun to help reload it quicker. He said that was as exciting as it ever got ) or thats what he told me, anyways.

He also told me what was in the Top Secret invention of 'Chobham armour'. That really was quite an eye opener.

Anyhow, back on subject;

As a bit of a gadget and gun nut, I'd like to know how the armourers chose which gun to put in which actor's hands. Do the actors get a say, or a choice, or is it simply 'get what ya given'?

Silhouette Man

Any further suggestions for obscure areas of Bondology in need of some illumination?

I'd really love to hear some more suggestions. -{

JADE66

In the novel GOLDFINGER Fleming states emphatically that Bond hates Koreans and considers Koreans lower on the evolutionary scale than apes. Why is that? Was Fleming trying to introduce a note of ugly bigotry to more humanize the the Bond character? Was he displaying his own prejudice? When Bond decides to put Oddjob "in his place" the novel strikes a very harsh chord and a sour note with me. It lessened my enjoyment of the book and made me question my admiration of the character. This bigotry cheapens Bond. Fleming has made disparaging comments before but never expressed outright hatred. I'd be interested to know what sparked that hatred.

BunsenPPK

JADE66 wrote:

In the novel GOLDFINGER Fleming states emphatically that Bond hates Koreans and considers Koreans lower on the evolutionary scale than apes. Why is that? Was Fleming trying to introduce a note of ugly bigotry to more humanize the the Bond character? Was he displaying his own prejudice? When Bond decides to put Oddjob "in his place" the novel strikes a very harsh chord and a sour note with me. It lessened my enjoyment of the book and made me question my admiration of the character. This bigotry cheapens Bond. Fleming has made disparaging comments before but never expressed outright hatred. I'd be interested to know what sparked that hatred.

I get what you mean, there's a more subtle example of that in Dr. No, when he talks about the "Chigroes". Basically says they're outcasts of both the Chinese and Jamaican populations. Maybe he just had some bad Korean food..

Hmm, I'd like to know more about Bond's past military involvement. In CR he's ex-SAS and in the earlier films he's ex-Royal Navy. I'm not sure if this's been asked before...but it might be something interesting to look in to?

Donald Grant

BunsenPPK wrote:

JADE66 wrote:

In the novel GOLDFINGER Fleming states emphatically that Bond hates Koreans and considers Koreans lower on the evolutionary scale than apes. Why is that? Was Fleming trying to introduce a note of ugly bigotry to more humanize the the Bond character? Was he displaying his own prejudice? When Bond decides to put Oddjob "in his place" the novel strikes a very harsh chord and a sour note with me. It lessened my enjoyment of the book and made me question my admiration of the character. This bigotry cheapens Bond. Fleming has made disparaging comments before but never expressed outright hatred. I'd be interested to know what sparked that hatred.

I get what you mean, there's a more subtle example of that in Dr. No, when he talks about the "Chigroes". Basically says they're outcasts of both the Chinese and Jamaican populations. Maybe he just had some bad Korean food..

Hmm, I'd like to know more about Bond's past military involvement. In CR he's ex-SAS and in the earlier films he's ex-Royal Navy. I'm not sure if this's been asked before...but it might be something interesting to look in to?

Correction, in CR Bond is former SBS not SAS. SBS stands for Special Boat Service. SAS has a higher profile in Great Britain than SBS and are often credited for SBS operations. My personal feeling is that SBS is more elite than SAS because they are smaller, more secretive, require more training and have a lower profile.


DG

minigeff

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

FelixLeiter ♀

minigeff wrote:

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

)

JADE66

In the novel "Live and Let Die" Bond and Felix Leiter walk into a nightclub where Bond sniffs and immediately recognizes the smell of marijuana. In Thunderball when Felix suggests that a traffic accident may have been an attempt on Bond's life 007 tells him, "You've been taking mescaline or something." Of course Bond would probably be trained to recognize the smell of marijuana but it would be interesting to know if Bond had ever used it himself or tried any hard drugs such as mescaline or LSD.
Bond smokes heavily, drinks heavily and has been known to use benzedrine mixed with his champagne (Moonraker). Is Bond or has he ever been, a recreational drug user? It would be hard to imagine he could keep his 00 number if he was. Still, it would be an interesting topic to explore.

SpectreBlofeld

JADE66 wrote:

In the novel "Live and Let Die" Bond and Felix Leiter walk into a nightclub where Bond sniffs and immediately recognizes the smell of marijuana. In Thunderball when Felix suggests that a traffic accident may have been an attempt on Bond's life 007 tells him, "You've been taking mescaline or something." Of course Bond would probably be trained to recognize the smell of marijuana but it would be interesting to know if Bond had ever used it himself or tried any hard drugs such as mescaline or LSD.
Bond smokes heavily, drinks heavily and has been known to use benzedrine mixed with his champagne (Moonraker). Is Bond or has he ever been, a recreational drug user? It would be hard to imagine he could keep his 00 number if he was. Still, it would be an interesting topic to explore.

He also popped a benzedrine tablet before swimming over to Dr. No's island, I believe. They used to be issued to soliders in WWII to keep them active and alert, so it wouldn't have had the stigma it carries today.

Silhouette Man

minigeff wrote:

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

Yeah, bloody comedian.

Though in GE, Jack Wade asks JB just that question.

I'd say that the only garden that Bond is familiar with is the Garden of Death in YOLT.

FelixLeiter ♀

Silhouette Man wrote:

minigeff wrote:

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

Yeah, bloody comedian.

Though in GE, Jack Wade asks JB just that question.

I'd say that the only garden that Bond is familiar with is the Garden of Death in YOLT.

I think it's well established that he's very familiar with "lady gardens" )

Silhouette Man

FelixLeiter007 wrote:

Silhouette Man wrote:

minigeff wrote:

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

Yeah, bloody comedian.

Though in GE, Jack Wade asks JB just that question.

I'd say that the only garden that Bond is familiar with is the Garden of Death in YOLT.

I think it's well established that he's very familiar with "lady gardens" )

Let's get things back on track, shall we?

minigeff

Silhouette Man wrote:

minigeff wrote:

Could you look into whether Bond does any gardening?

Yeah, bloody comedian.

Though in GE, Jack Wade asks JB just that question.

8-) you got the gag then....

Silhouette Man

Yeah, as I say, bloody comedian!