James Bond facts – Ursula Andress bikini’s huge value to Roger Moore’s gun fear

Ahead of Daniel Craig’s final outing as the infamous James Bond, Central Recorder has compiled a list of all the top facts and trivia that you didn’t know about the 007 hero, but you ought to know them.

Creator Ian Fleming deliberately came up with a plain, boring moniker for his spy so that Bond would stay a neutral character while all around him dramatic, exotic, and exciting things were happening to colour the picture.

At 53 Daniel says he’s too old to continue playing Bond because it’s so physically demanding. However, Sir Roger Moore was the oldest actor to play the role when he was 58 in A View To A Kill. George Lazenby was the youngest at 29. Daniel was 38 when he slipped behind the Aston Martin wheel for the first time.



Image of Daniel Craig as James Bond for film Spectre
Creator Ian Fleming deliberately came up with a plain, boring moniker for his spy so that Bond would stay a neutral character

While Bond is renowned for having roots deeper in this country than the biggest of Brexiteers, the first actor to play him was actually an American. Californian Barry Nelson did the duties in a one-hour Casino Royale Daniel Craig special.

The idea for Bond was crafted at Fleming’s Goldeneye estate on Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica. After his death it was sold to reggae superstar Bob Marley. But only a year later he flogged it to Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell. It’s now the Goldeneye Hotel and Resort.



Daniel Craig as James Bond for film Spectre
The next James Bond film is out on September 30

Despite music luminaries including Dame Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner, Gladys Knight, and Duran Duran recording Bond theme tunes the movies have only collected two Oscars for Best Original Song – Adele’s Skyfall and Sam Smith’s Writing’s On The Wall.

Collectors of Bond memorabilia are willing to shell out big bucks. Ursula Andress’ Dr No bikini sold for £35,000, while the blue trunks worn by Craig in Casino Royale fetched £44,450 and Oddjob’s Goldfinger steel-rimmed bowler hat sold for £62,000. A silver Aston Martin DB5 used in the early movies sold for £5.2million.

Daniel went through 85 Tom Ford suits for the opening scene of Skyfall while the cast used 200,000 rounds of ammunition.



Pierce Brosnan stars as 007
The iconic film series has won over legions of fans

The boat chase sequence which opens The World Is Not Enough took seven weeks to film.

While he played the character with a licence to kill seven times Roger Moore suffered from hoplophobia – a fear of firearms.

One spy Fleming partly based Bond on was 16th Century John Dee, who signed letters to Queen Elizabeth I with 007, to indicate no-one else should read them.

The new James Bond film No Time To Die is out on 30th September 2021.

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