James Bond News - November 2013
Published: Tue, 11/05/13
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5 November 2013 Hi With "Solo" out at the end of September things have quietened down a little with regard to news about James Bond, but at The James Bond Dossier it's business as usual.New content this month includes our review of "Solo", a look at Calvados and the vinaigrette recipe given in the book, and a photographic look at some 007 locations in Switzerland and Italy. 007 Podcast Last month also saw the first episode of what is planned to be a monthly James Bond podcast, which is co-hosted by me. Click here if you haven't yet listened to it, and it is also available for download via iTunes. Thanks to everyone who has already given feedback and if you do like it please give it a rating on iTunes as it helps promote it to a wider audience. The iTunes link is here. Until next month,
David Leigh
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James Bond: The Ultimate Sportsman:
“But now the club head was going back, coming down, the left knee bent correctly in towards the ball, the left arm straight as a ramrod. Crack! The ball sailed off, a beautiful drive, as good as Goldfinger had hit, straight down the fairway. Bond’s heart sang. Got you, you bastard! Got you! Blithely Bond […] Read more...
‘Solo’ sales figures disappoint:
The publication of Solo last week managed to get plenty of press coverage, but figures released by trade publication The Bookseller show that the 8,692 copies of Solo sold in its first week were 48 percent down on the previous Bond novel, Jeffrey Deaver’s Carte Blanche (2011). However, that is still a personal best for William […] Read more...
James Bond Podcast #1:
Show hosts Jake del Toro and David Leigh get together to discuss how they first became interested in 007 in the first episode of a monthly podcast about James Bond. Press the play button above to listen! Read more...
Limited edition Casino Royale Bentley edition to celebrate 60th anniverary:
Vintage Classics and Bentley have combined forced to release a special limited edition version of Casino Royale to celebrate the book’s 60th anniversary. The edition includes a foreword written by British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss, features hand bound beluga leather with hand stitched embroidery and are illustrated by Damian Gascoigne. There is also […] Read more...
Review: ‘Solo’ by William Boyd:
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 […] Read more...
Unopened DB5 six-pack sells for £5.5K:
Six gold coloured Corgi Aston Martins that were recently unearthed in their original packing were sold at auction for £5,500. The cars should have been sold in the 1960s following the release of Goldfinger, but instead the salesman hung into them. The are wrapped together in cellophane, the fact of them being in an unopened […] Read more...
John Gardner Kindle Bond bundle:
All the John Gardner Bond books are now available as a bundle for Kindle. The bundle includes all fourteen of his 007 novels as well as the novelisations of Goldeneye and Licence To Kill. If you want to read most of his first James Bond novel for free then you can select Send Sample Now […] Read more...
‘Solo’ released in the US:
Today sees the publication of Solo in the United States, not quite two weeks after its debut in the UK. Written by William Boyd, the book is published in the US by Harper and available in both hardback and Kindle versions from Amazon. Solo is set in 1969 and introduces 007 as he celebrates his […] Read more...
IFP announces new series of Young Bond novels:
Ian Fleming Publications has this morning announced a new series of Young Bond novels, to be written by Steve Cole. The series will consist of fout books and be published by Random House starting Autumn 2014. The books will continue the life of a young James Bond from where Charlie Higson’s series of five books left […] Read more...
James Bond’s age: a tricky subject:
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 […] Read more...
50th anniversary of ‘From Russia With Love’:
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 […] Read more...
UK sales of ‘Solo’ continue to disappoint:
Following the first week’s disappointing sales, William Boyd’s new James Bond novel has dropped out of the UK’s top ten new publications and sits in 22nd place, according to MI6. This must question whether Ian Fleming Publication’s can afford to continue with their policy of hiring big name authors to pen further continuation novels. Household […] Read more...
Bond moments: from the depths with love:
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 […] Read more...
Charity shop’s Dr No first edition sells for £600:
A first edition copy of Dr No, which was handed into an Oxfam shop earlier in the year, has sold for £600 at auction. The book was in good condition and of the six Bond books on sale at the auction, by Bloomsbury, fetched the largest amount. Two copies of Goldfinger also went under the […] Read more...
‘Spy’ Lotus buyer revealed:
The buyer of the submarine Lotus Esprit used in the filming of The Spy Who Lived Me that was auctioned last month for £550,000 has been revealed to be Elon Musk, who is behind Tesla and SpaceX. The car turned up in a storage locker and after being authenticated as the original vehicle seen on […] Read more...
Ralph Fiennes looking forward to Bond 24:
This isn’t really news; Ralph Fiennes has confirmed he’ll be returning as M in Bond 24, saying he is “looking forward to it very much”, according to an article in Metro quoting Yahoo Movies (which I’ve been unable to source). The Metro piece then goes on to trot out the normal tabloid nonsense about Bond […] Read more...
International bibliography prize goes to work on Ian Fleming:
Jon Gilbert of Adrian Adrian Harrington Rare Books has been awarded the 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography for his Bibliography of Ian Fleming published last year. The prize is awarded every four years by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, with this year’s prize being presented next April at the 41st Congress of the […] Read more...
Switzerland and Italy: Bond location summer snaps:
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 […] Read more...
James Bond’s drinks: Calvados:
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 […] Read more...
Bond producers to receive Producers Guild award:
Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are to be awarded by the Producers Guild of America according to a story posted in Variety. The pair are to receive the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures at a ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hilton in January. Source: Variety Read more...
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