The name is Bond, James Bond!

Since I bought the whole collection of the James Bond films, I have been watching them with Mrs. BB every Saturday night. Sure the special effects are rather rudimentary and Bond is more macho than is politically correct in these newer egalitarian times, but the films do have something. Being a rather curious person I decided to look up the order of the films and that of the books. There is certainly a difference... the first shall be last. So the new James Bond film is which came out recently was the first book written. And even though I must say I was somewhat reticent about a blond Bond (Ian Fleming's description of him makes him 6'2" black hair and blue eyes) I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It was a Bond that we hadn't seen in a long time, cold and ruthless, just as he was in the books. After all Commander Bond is an assassin.

Here are the order of the books as they were published:

1. Casino Royale (1953),
2. Live and Let Die (1954),
3. Moonraker (1955),
4. Diamonds Are Forever (1956),
5. From Russia, With Love (1957),
6. Doctor No (1958),
7. Goldfinger (1959),
8. For Your Eyes Only (1960) (short stories: For Your Eyes Only, A View to a Kill, Quantum of Solace, Risico, The Hildebrand Rarity)
   
9. Thunderball (1961),
10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1962),
11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963),
12. You Only Live Twice (1964),
13. The Man With the Golden Gun (1965),
14. Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966)

Here are the films in order that they appeared:

1. Doctor No* (1962)
2. From Russia With Love* (1963)
3. Goldfinger* (1964)
4. Thunderball* (1965)
5. You Only Live Twice* (1967)
6. On Her Majesties Secret Service** (1969)
7. Diamonds are Forever* (1971)
8. Live and Let Die*** (1973)
9. The Man with the Golden Gun *** (1974)
10. The Spy Who Loved Me *** (1977)
11. Moonraker*** (1979)
12. For Your Eyes Only*** (1981)
13. Octopussy*** (1983)
14. A View to a Kill*** (1985)
15. The Living Daylights**** (1987)
16. Licence to Kill**** (1989)
17. Golden Eye ***** (1995)
18. Tomorrow Never Dies***** (1997)
19. The World is Not Enough ***** (1999)
20. Die Another Day***** (2002)
21. Casino Royale****** (2006)

* Sean Connery **George Lazenby *** Roger Moore **** Timothy Dalton ***** Pierce Brosman ****** Daniel Craig Green = not an Ian Fleming story

Here is some trivia about James Bond.

• In the film "You Only Live Twice" the screen play was written by Roald Dahl the famous author who wrote many children's books.
• In the film "From Russia with Love" Ian Fleming has a cameo appearance.
• Jane Seymour, the actress that plays Solitaire in "Live and Let Die", has eyes of different colour, grey and brown.
• Goldeneye (film 17) was the name of a WWII contingency plan in case the Nazi's invaded Spain that Fleming worked on while in the British Secret Service. It was also the name of his home in Jamaica.
• Ian Fleming had the same rank as Bond, Commander RN
• Ian Fleming chose the name James Bond because he thought it was bland and boring.
• Ian Fleming participated in the great deception before D-Day where a body was placed in the water containing documents that led the Germans to believe that the allies would invade Greece instead of Sicily. (see The Man Who Never Was)
• The Bond family motto is "Non Sufficit Orbis" (The World is not Enough) (film 19)
• Favorite weapon is the Walther PPK but before that weapon he used a Beretta which was judged to not have enough stopping power.
• Bond always took his vodka martini, medium dry, shaken not stirred.

* Some of the trivia borrowed thanks to bondtrivia.netfirms.com/