We’ve plunged into the movie world to find some more amazing facts and where better to start than with the most famous spy agent in the world: James Bond.
- In Goldfinger (1964), the five pilots in Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus were actually men wearing blonde wigs.
- The name James Bond was chosen because its author Ian Fleming wanted to choose as mundane a name as possible. He happened to have a birdwatching book by ornithologist Dr James Bond
- Sean Connery wore a toupee in all his movies as James Bond as he began to bald at the age of 21
- Adam West, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds were all offered the role of James Bond but they all declined as they believed that it should be played by a British actor.
- Inspiration for the title of Ian Fleming’s novel ‘You only live twice’ was inspired by Japanese poet Mayuso Basho, who wrote, “You only live twice: once when you’re born and once when you look death in the face.”
- More than 15 BMW 750s were destroyed during the filming of Tomorrow never dies (1997).
- Sophie Marceau became the first female villain in the Bond series in ‘The world is not enough’ as Elektra King
- With product placement and tie-ins, Die another Day (2002) made a record for merchandising.
- 200,000 rounds of ammunition were used during the weapons training while filming Skyfall (2012)
- Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre is the first villain to have been killed by his own men in Casino Royale (2006)
- The only James Bond movie in which Bond does not drive a car is You only live Twice (1967)
- In 1969, George Lazenby became the youngest actor to play James Bond at the age of 30.
- Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale was based on Britain’s first female special agent Christine Granville whom Ian Fleming met in real life
- A view to Kill (1985) was the first Bond movie to be adapted into a video game
- The author Ian Fleming wrote the novels on a gold plated type writer as pictured below