James Bond: books and films

When I was a schoolboy, in the 1960s, our English teacher used the James Bond novels as an illustration to explain what made a book a "classic" – or, more precisely, as an example of a book that would never become a classic. "No one will be reading James Bond in twenty years' time," he said.

Well, he was right, wasn't he? ... but what he failed to foresee was that fifty years later, never mind twenty, people would be flocking in ever–increasing numbers to see the films. First editions of the books change hands for thousands of pounds; so in their own way they have indeed become classics.

We start with a few questions that refer to Bond (and other characters) in general terms, without reference to any individual book or film.

In the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, a character remarks that Bond looks like (American singer, songwriter and actor)		Hoagy Carmichael
Bond's rank (in the Royal Naval Reserve)		Commander
Make of car that Bond drove in the books		Bentley
Name of Bond's Swiss mother (according to a Times obituary in You Only Live Twice, the penultimate novel)		Monique Delacroix
Bond's favourite drink		Vodka Martini
Miss Moneypenny's first name (revealed in 2005 in The Moneypenny Diaries, written by Samantha Weinberg and officially sanctioned by the Fleming estate)		Jane
Villain named after an Eton school contemporary of Ian Fleming – whose son became a cricket commentator		Blofeld
CIA agent, and Bond's friend: has appeared in eleven films, up to and including No Time to Die – played by eight different actors, including Jack Lord in Dr. No and Jeffrey Wright in three films opposite Daniel Craig		Felix Leiter
Q stands for		Quartermaster
The Bond family motto (in Latin; its English translation was used as the title of one of the films starring Pierce Brosnan as Bond)		Orbis non sufficit
Author of the first series of five Young Bond novels for children (2005–8), featuring James Bond as a teenager at Eton		Charlie Higson
Author of the James Bond novel Trigger Mortis (2015)		Anthony Horowitz

The first actor to play James Bond was arguably Barry Nelson, who played a US agent known as Jimmy Bond in a US TV adaptation of Casino Royale in 1954. It was part of a series entitled Climax Mystery Theater. The villain, Le Chiffre, was played by Peter Lorre.

However ... if you're asked who was the first actor to play Bond, the answer required is usually Bob Holness, who did so in a South African radio adaptation of Moonraker (the second Bond novel) in 1956.  Bob Holness is best known as the avuncular host of the teenagers' television quiz show Blockbusters, on ITV from 1983 to 1993 and on Sky One from 1994 to 1995. He died in 2012, aged 83.

Producers of the early Bond films (from Dr. No to The Man with the Golden Gun)			Harry Saltzman
			Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli

After The Man with the Golden Gun, Saltzman stepped down as co–producer of the Bond films. Broccoli produced the next four alone, after which he was joined by his stepson Michael G. Wilson. Broccoli stepped down after Licence to Kill, and Wilson was joined by Barbara Broccoli (daughter of Albert Broccoli). The first film that Barbara Broccoli was involved with was Goldeneye (1995).

Harry Saltzman died of a heart attack in 1994, while visiting Paris. Albert Broccoli died of heart failure in 1996, at his home in Beverly Hills.

Release and Publication

This section lists the films in order of release, with the dates of publication of the books where appropriate.

The first twelve films (including the 'unofficial' version of Casino Royale) were based on Fleming's twelve novels. Others were based on his short stories; for details, see below.

You can use the following buttons to reveal the actors who played Bond in each film, and test yourself on the titles – or vice versa. Or, if you prefer, you can reveal the answers one by one as normal.

No.	Film	Book	Notes		Bond		Title
1	1962	1958			Sean Connery		Dr. No
2	1963	1957			Sean Connery		From Russia, With Love
3	1964	1959			Sean Connery		Goldfinger
4	1965	1961			Sean Connery		Thunderball
5	1967	1953	'Unofficial'		David Niven		Casino Royale
6	1967	1964			Sean Connery		You Only Live Twice
7	1969	1963			George Lazenby		On Her Majesty's Secret Service
8	1971	1956			Sean Connery		Diamonds are Forever
9	1973	1954			Roger Moore		Live and Let Die
10	1974	1965			Roger Moore		The Man with the Golden Gun
11	1977	1962			Roger Moore		The Spy Who Loved Me
12	1979	1955			Roger Moore		Moonraker
13	1982	1960			Roger Moore		For Your Eyes Only
14	1983	(1966)			Roger Moore		Octopussy
15	1983		'Unofficial'		Sean Connery		Never Say Never Again
16	1985	(1960)			Roger Moore		A View to a Kill
17	1987	(1962)			Timothy Dalton		The Living Daylights
18	1989				Timothy Dalton		Licence to Kill
19	1995				Pierce Brosnan		Goldeneye
20	1997				Pierce Brosnan		Tomorrow Never Dies
21	1999				Pierce Brosnan		The World is Not Enough
22	2002				Pierce Brosnan		Die Another Day
23	2006	1953			Daniel Craig		Casino Royale
24	2008	(1963)			Daniel Craig		Quantum of Solace
25	2012				Daniel Craig		Skyfall
26	2015				Daniel Craig		Spectre
27	2021				Daniel Craig		No Time to Die

Writing

Ian Fleming wrote the Bond novels at his mountain retreat in Jamaica. He completed one in January and February each year (with one exception), from 1953 until his death in August 1964. The exception was 1960, when instead of a novel a collection of five short stories was published.

At the time of his death, Fleming had completed the first draft of a twelfth novel. This was published in April 1965, to polite but poor reviews. According to Wikipedia it was "not as polished as other Bond stories", as Fleming tended to add detail in the second draft.

Fleming had written a number of other short stories featuring Bond, besides the five that were published together in 1960. (For details, see below.) In 1966, the supply of novels having run dry, Fleming's publisher – Jonathan Cape – issued two of these stories in one book. Later editions included either or both of the other two.

The following table lists the nine Bond stories that were written by Ian Fleming, and details the parts they played in films. The titles of the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth of these have not (as yet) been used for films, and are probably too obscure to be used in any but the most specialised of quizzes!

Year	Notes		Title
1960	First story from the 1960 collection: provided the title of the 1985 film, which was the last one to feature Roger Moore as Bond		From a View to a Kill
1960	Story that provided the title of the 1960 collection; filmed in 1981 – Roger Moore's fifth outing as Bond		For Your Eyes Only
1960	Third story from the 1960 collection: gave its title (but nothing else) to the 2008 film – the second one to feature Daniel Craig as Bond		Quantum of Solace
1960	Fourth story in the 1960 collection: the plot was used in the film of the second (providing a part for Chaim Topol)		Risico
1960	Final story in the 1960 collection: plot elements were used in the 1989 film, and an oblique reference was made in the 2008 film (named after the third story, above)		The Hildebrand Rarity
1962	First appeared in the Sunday Times on 4 February 1962; the second of two stories published together by Cape in 1966; filmed in 1987 – Timothy Dalton's first appearance as Bond		The Living Daylights
1963	Commissioned by Sotheby's for the 1963 edition of their house journal; provided the auction sequence for the 1983 film of the first of two stories published by Cape in 1966		The Property of a Lady
1963	First appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in 1963; provided character and plot elements for Daniel Craig's first two outings as Bond (2006 and 2008)		007 in New York
1965	Serialised in the Daily Express in 1965; one of two stories published by Cape in 1966; provided the title, and the family background of the title character, for the 1983 film (the last but one to feature Roger Moore as Bond)		Octopussy

Films: Titles

In this section, each answer is the title of a film (and, in what is still the majority of cases, a book). The years (in the first column) are those in which the film was released.

Sean Connery

Film	Notes		Title
1962	The first Saltzman/Brocolli Bond film		Dr. No
	Title character played by Joseph Wiseman
	The one where the tarantula walks across Bond's chest as he lies in bed
	Peter Burton plays Major Boothroyd (later referred to as Q)
1963	Desmond Llewellyn appears as Q for the first time		From Russia With Love
1964	The title character, played in the film by Gert Frobe, is named after a Hungarian architect and furniture designer		Goldfinger
	Bond drives an Aston Martin DB5 for the first time
1965	The one with the underwater sequences, as SPECTRE agents remove two atomic bombs from an Avro Vulcan bomber which they have sabotaged and ditched off the Bahamas		Thunderball
1967			You Only Live Twice
1971	The one with the moon buggy ride		Diamonds Are Forever
1983	Not an 'official' Bond film (produced by Warner Bros, not by Eon / United Artists); a remake of Thunderball		Never Say Never Again

David Niven

1967	The first Bond book		Casino Royale
	Not an 'official' (Saltzman/Broccoli) production

George Lazenby

1969

Bond marries – but the film ends with him cradling his murdered wife in his arms

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Roger Moore

1973	The one with the bayou boat chase		Live and Let Die
1974			The Man with the Golden Gun
1977	Richard Kiel plays Jaws for the first time		The Spy Who Loved Me
1979	Richard Kiel, as Jaws, speaks his only line: "Well ... here's to us!"		Moonraker
	Bernard Lee (the original M) appears for the last time
1981	Based on two stories from a 1960 short story collection of the same title – the eponymous one, and Risico		For Your Eyes Only
	The only one where there is no M
	Bond commandeers a yellow Citroën 2CV, from Bond girl Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) after his Lotus blows itself up – as part of the strategy to return Bond to reality, after the excesses of the previous outing
1983	Based on a short story published in 1966, after Fleming's death; the plot of the film also comes partly from The Property of a Lady – another story from the same collection		Octopussy
	Much of the action takes place in the Indian state of Rajastan; the plot involves a stolen Fabergé egg
	Robert Brown appears as M for the first time
	The title character is played by Maud Adams (who also appeared in The Man with the Golden Gun and was an extra in the next film after this one)
1985	Title is from one of the stories in the same collection as above (the title of the story starts with the word From)		A View to a Kill
	The last film to feature Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny

Timothy Dalton

1987	Based on a short story of the same title, first published in 1962 in the Sunday Times colour section; the last movie with a Fleming title		The Living Daylights
	The last Bond film that John Barry worked on
1989	Bond resigns from MI6 and pursues a mission of revenge, when an old ally is badly injured by crooked drugs baron Franz Sanchez		Licence to Kill

Pierce Brosnan

1995	Named after Ian Fleming's mountain retreat in Jamaica – where he wrote all the Bond novels in January and February each year		Goldeneye
	Judi Dench plays M for the first time
1997	Title involves a newspaper that features in the plot		Tomorrow Never Dies
1999	Desmond Llewellyn appears as Q for the last time (he lost his life in a car accident, shortly before the Première)		The World is Not Enough
2002	Brosnan's last Bond film		Die Another Day

Daniel Craig

(No questions about these other than the order they came in and the years they were released!)

2006			Casino Royale
2008			Quantum of Solace
2012			Skyfall
2015			Spectre
2021			No Time to Die

Songs

These are commonly referred to as 'title songs' – although some of them (details below) didn't appear over the title sequence.

Dr. No (1962) had no title song, and no other significant song. (Wikipedia notes that "The music for the opening scene is a calypso version of the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, with new lyrics to reflect the intentions of the three assassins hired by Dr. No.")

The first table below lists the films where the song had the same title as the film.

You can use the following buttons to reveal the titles and test yourself on the performers – or vice versa. Or, if you prefer, you can reveal the answers one by one.

	Title	Notes		Performed by
	From Russia with Love			Matt Monro
	Goldfinger			Shirley Bassey
	Thunderball			Tom Jones
	You Only Live Twice			Nancy Sinatra
	Diamonds Are Forever			Shirley Bassey
	Never Say Never Again			Lani Hall
	Live and Let Die	Oscar nominated		Paul McCartney and Wings
	Man with Golden Gun			Lulu
	Moonraker			Shirley Bassey
	For Your Eyes Only	First time the singer appeared in the title sequence		Sheena Easton
	A View to a Kill			Duran Duran
	The Living Daylights			A-ha
	Licence to Kill			Gladys Knight
	Goldeneye	Written by Bono (Paul Hewson) and The Edge (Dave Evans) from U2		Tina Turner
	Tomorrow Never Dies			Sheryl Crow
	The World is Not Enough			Garbage
	Die Another Day			Madonna
	Skyfall	Best Song Oscar winner		Adele
	No Time to Die			Billie Eilish

In the second table, the songs had different titles from the films. This time you can reveal either the title of the film, the title of the song, or the name of the singer or group.

As before, you can (if you wish!) use the following buttons to reveal the film titles, song titles or performers, and test yourself on the other column(s).

	Film	Notes		Song		Performed by
	Casino Royale (1967)	Written by Bacharach & David; Oscar nominated; a hit 6 years later for Gladys Knight & the Pips. Not a title song		The Look of Love		Dusty Springfield
	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	Played over the wedding sequence. The title track was instrumental		We Have All the Time in the World		Louis Armstrong
	The Spy Who Loved Me			Nobody Does it Better		Carly Simon
	Octopussy	Lyrics by Tim Rice		All Time High		Rita Coolidge
	Casino Royale (2006)			You Know My Name		Chris Cornell
	Quantum of Solace			Another Way to Die		Jack White and Alicia Keys
	Spectre	First Bond theme to reach No. 1 in the UK charts		Writing's On the Wall		Sam Smith

Bond Girls

Once again, you can use the following buttons to reveal the film titles, characters' names or actors' names, and test yourself on the other column(s).

	Film	Notes		Character		Played By
	Dr. No	The first Bond girl		Honey Rider		Ursula Andress
	Goldfinger	Leader of an all–female flying circus (in the film)		Pussy Galore		Honor Blackman
		The girl who gets painted gold		Gill Masterson		Shirley Eaton
	Thunderball (1965)	Mistress of the villain, Emilio Largo: played by a French actress but voiced by a German		Dominique 'Domino' Derval		Claudine Auger
	Casino Royale (1967)			Vesper Lynd		Ursula Andress
	Diamonds Are Forever			Plenty O'Toole		Lana Wood
		A diamond smuggler – the first American Bond girl		Tiffany Case		Jill St. John
	Never Say Never Again			Domino Petachi		Kim Basinger
	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	The girl that Bond marries – a part that Brigitte Bardot turned down		Tracy Daco		Diana Rigg
	Live and Let Die	Psychic love interest		Solitaire		Jane Seymour
	The Man with the Golden Gun			Mary Goodnight		Britt Ekland
	The Spy who Loved Me			Anya Amasova		Barbara Bach
	Moonraker			Holly Goodhead		Lois Chiles
	Tomorrow Never Dies	Wife of the principal villain, and one of Bond's former lovers		Paris Carver		Teri Hatch
	The World is Not Enough	Oil heiress		Electra King		Sophie Marceau
	Die Another Day			Jinx (Giacinta Johnson)		Halle Berry
	Quantum of Solace			Strawberry Fields		Gemma Arterton

Villains

Blofeld

Wikipedia lists nine films, up to and including No Time to Die (2021), in which Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE, has appeared. In the first two (From Russia with Love and Thunderball) only his hands and the back of his head are seen, and in some others, for various reasons, his part is not particularly memorable. In yet another (Spectre), Blofeld goes by a different name for most of the film – see spoiler alert in the Other subsection, below. The following table lists the only ones that I've heard asked about in quizzes; Blofeld is played by a different actor in each case.

If you've been scrolling down and reading this page (rather than using links) you will hopefully have got the hang of these buttons by now!

	Film	Notes		Played By
	You Only Live Twice			Donald Pleasence
	On Her Majesty's Secret Service			Telly Savalas
	Diamonds Are Forever			Charles Gray
	Never Say Never Again			Max Von Sydow
	No Time to Die	Double Oscar–winning actor		Christoph Waltz

Other

	Film	Notes		Character		Played By
	From Russia with Love	SPECTRE assassin		Red Grant		Robert Shaw
	Live and Let Die	'Mr. Big'		Dr. Kananga		Yaphet Kotto
	Man with Golden Gun	The eponymous villain		Scaramanga		Christopher Lee
	Moonraker			Hugo Drax		Michael Lonsdale
	Spectre	A mysterious figure within SPECTRE who claims a personal connection to Bond (and – spoiler alert – turns out to be none other than Ernst Stavro Blofeld)		Franz Oberhauser		Christoph Waltz

Henchmen

	Film	Notes		Character
	Goldfinger	Played by American Olympic weightlifter Harold Sakata		Oddjob
	Diamonds are Forever	Blofeld's female bodyguards		Bambi
				Thumper
		Sadistic, gay killers – assumed (implied) to be Blofeld's henchmen		Mr. Wint
				Mr. Kidd
	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	The twelve beautiful women from all over the world, being brainwashed by Blofeld under the guise of allergy or phobia treatment to spread the Virus Omega; including Joanna Lumley, Anouska Hempel, Julie Ege and Jenny Hanley		Angels of Death
	Live and Let Die	Mr. Big's henchman, with a pincer for a hand		Tee Hee Johnson
		Mr. Big's other henchman		Whisper
	The Man with the Golden Gun	Scaramanga's diminutive henchman		Nick Nack
		Played by		Hervé Villechaise
	Goldeneye	Georgian fighter pilot, and Trevelyan's henchwoman		Xenia Onatopp
		Played by		Famke Janssen

M

Years	Films		First Film		Last Film
1962–79	11		Dr. No		Moonraker		Bernard Lee
1967	1		Casino Royale		(same)		John Huston
							David Niven (as Bond)
1983	1		Never Say Never Again		(same)		Edward Fox
1983–9	4		Octopussy		Licence to Kill		Robert Brown
1995–2015	8		GoldenEye		Spectre (cameo)		Judi Dench
2012 to date	3		Skyfall		No Time to Die		Ralph Fiennes

Other

	Film	Q		A
	Goldfinger	First name of the title character		Auric
		Registration number of his car		AU 1
	Never Say Never Again	M was played by		Edward Fox
		Bumbling British agent Nigel Small–Fawcett was played (before he was really famous) by		Rowan Atkinson
	Casino Royale (1967)	Bond's nephew, Jimmy Bond		Woody Allen
		Baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble		Peter Sellers
	For Your Eyes Only	Milos Columbo (a former friend and smuggling partner of Bond's Greek contact and informant, Aris Kristatos, who assists Bond in his mission)		Chaim Topol (Topol)
		Margaret Thatcher		Janet Brown
	A View to a Kill	Bond's sidekick Sir Godfrey Tibbett		Patrick McNee
	Goldeneye	Agent 006 – code name Janus, real name Alex Trevelyan – who turns out to be a double agent		Sean Bean
		Valentin Zukovsky – a former Russian Mafia boss and Baku casino owner		Robbie Coltrane
	The World is Not Enough	Q's assistant (nicknamed R by Bond)		John Cleese
		Renard – a former KGB agent who is impervious to pain because of a bullet lodged in his brain which is killing off his senses		Robert Carlyle
	Die Another Day	Q (promoted following the death of Desmond Llewellyn)		John Cleese
		Makes a cameo appearance as fencing instructor Verity – becoming the first person to appear in a Bond movie and sing the theme song		Madonna
	Casino Royale (2006)	Makes a cameo appearance as a passenger being frisked at Miami Airport		Richard Branson
	Quantum of Solace	Country that Bond saves from a coup staged by an organisation posing as environmentalists		Bolivia
	Skyfall	Appears as Q for the first time		Ben Whishaw
		Kincade – the gamekeeper of Skyfall, which is Bond's ancestral and childhood home		Albert Finney
		Gareth Mallory, who takes over as M after the death of Judi Dench's character		Ralph Fiennes
		The new Miss Moneypenny – a failed agent who is not named until the end of the film		Naomie Harris
	No Time to Die	Appointed to direct and co–write, but left due to "creative differences", four months before filming was scheduled to begin		Danny Boyle

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23