Over the Hump....Day 112 of Bond 365

Happy Wednesday one and all and welcome back to Spyfi & Superspies. I feel like I've packed a five-day work week into three days and I still have two more days to go..

In my research, I haven't found a Bond alum or event for April 22, which leads me to a "free day" with regards to covering something with links to Bond.

My first post, which if you happened to stop here at the right moment, then you might have noticed that I was continuing my Toby Stephens theme from yesterday by providing links to all of his BBC 4 radio broadcasts of the various James Bond stories. I meticulously built my page with five glorious Youtube links as I listened to James and Tracy meet in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Stephens was doing a splendid job voicing Bond and I found it fun to listen to the story unfold. However, I hit a snag, a big snag -- sadly, all five Youtube links failed to appear on my published post! I tried to figure out the problem and in the end, I whimpered as I had to delete the post.

New books for my collection

Round two on this evening's post, which is lackluster in comparison to my first effort. Instead, I'm going to dazzle you with my tale of going to two bookstores this past weekend and scoring a couple of books.

The first was at Barnes & Noble and I came across William Boyd's Solo (2013) for the bargain bin price of less than $6.00! Yep, not even two years on the shelf and it dropped drastically from the original $26.99 price. I have heard good and bad about the currently released James Bond novel, so I am anxious to read it and give my assessment in an upcoming post.

My second book was found at Bookmans, a treasure trove of used books here in Orange, California. Now, if you know your James Bond writers, then you will recognize John Gardner's name. He wrote 16 Bond novels from 1981 through 1996. The Secret Generations (1985) is not about our British secret agent, but I was drawn to this novel because it involves a story set prior to World War I through 1935. I'm a huge history buff of the 1910s and 1920s, so I was instantly enamored. Anyway, the book sleeve describes a sweeping epic story with the chaotic tension fueled European theatre as an appropriate backdrop to this espionage novel. I'm looking forward to reading it, so again, I'll share my assessment in a later post.

Well, that's it from me this evening. I'll be back tomorrow with historical facts in Bond 365. Hope to see you then!

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

Actors and Writers, Together on a Saturday Night….Day 66 of Bond 365

Richard Vernon and Sean Connery

Richard Vernon

Born this day in 1925

Smithers in Goldfinger

It does come as any surprise that Richard Vernon would have had a stage career since he trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His career on the screen (big and small) began in 1949 when he had an uncredited role in Stop Press Girl. Looking through his IMDB profile, he had some interesting and varied roles: Sir Edgar Hargraves in Village of the Damned, Lord Matterley in The Avengers, Sir John Ripwell in The Saint, Major Cochran-Danby in Upstairs, Downstairs, and as Slartibartfast (what a name!) in The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (TV mini-series).

Vernon often filled military and aristocratic roles and when he worked in television, he was known for stealing scenes. He unfortunately passed away from Parkinson’s Disease two years after he retired from acting.

William Boyd (Photo from Wikipedia)

William Boyd

Born this day in 1952

Author of Solo

In 2012, Ian Fleming Publications announced the selection of British writer/screenwriter William Boyd to write a James Bond novel. The novel, Solo, set in 1969 Africa, was the follow up to Jeffery Deaver’s 2011 Bond novel, Carte Blanche. Boyd read the Bond stories and analyzed Fleming and literary Bond in order to create his own spy book. Because he had been officially chosen, he had to pass his drafts through the Fleming estate. Apparently arguments ensued regarding the characterization of Bond in Solo.

I haven’t read Solo as yet, but I do plan to even though most of what I have heard has been negative. I actually don’t think I know anyone who has read it. It seems as though it came and went, not having any lasting pull in the bookstores that I could see.

Charles Gray

Charles Gray

Passed away this day in 2000

Henderson in You Only Live Twice; Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever

He was born in the southern coastal town of Bournemouth in 1928 as Donald Marshall Gray. He received vocal training at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Old Vic in London. His stage career began in 1952 when he debuted as Charles the Wrestler in “As You Like It” – it was a natural part because Gray was 6’ 2”. He went on to play leading roles and receive critical acclaim. During his theatre days, he changed his name to Charles Gray because there was already an actor by the name of Donald Gray.

Gray got a start on the small screen in 1957 and a year later, reprised his theatrical role as Capt. Cyril Mavors in the movie Expresso Bongo. From there, he did a lot of television and films. He dubbed actor Jack Hawkins’ voice in the Lawrence of Arabia, who had his larynx removed because of throat cancer. Interestingly, Hawkins’ voice had been dubbed by another Bond alum, Robert Rietty.

Gray was of the very few Bond alums to portray both a good character – Henderson – and a bad character – Blofeld. Sadly, the voice that made him famous was also his demise: he died of throat cancer.

© Copyright. Michele Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without written permission.

“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.”  - Opening paragraph of Casino Royale

It might not be “Bond. James Bond” but the opening lines of Casino Royale were Bond’s true birth into polite British society in 1953 and a few days ago on April 13^th marked the 60^th anniversary of Casino Royale’s release in the UK. The book had already seen the first two printings sell out in the UK by the time us Americans finally saw a release of it almost a year later. Even then, the sales were poor stateside. Regardless of our meager interest at the time, Fleming was on his way to writing eleven more novels. And, the book would pave the way for a television show, a spoof movie in 1967, and of course, Daniel Craig’s Bond in 2006.

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois as created a special exhibit commemorating Casino Royale’s 60^th anniversary, going on now through July 12, 2013. They have several events planned that include acclaimed Bond author Raymond Benson, a film festival, and a concert featuring music from Bond films. For more information, check out their official website: http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/Bond/Books.html. Sadly, I do not see a trip to Illinois in my immediate future.

And more book news: British writer William Boyd, who was tapped by the Ian Fleming estate to write the next Bond novel, has announced the forthcoming title: Solo. It will be out September 26, 2013 (UK release date) and will be set in both South Africa and the United States. And, it will be a period novel: 1969, with our suave spy aged 45. Boyd was interviewed yesterday at The London Book Fair: scroll down to see the interview here: http://www.thebookbond.com/. According to Voice of America, an American and Canadian release is expected on October 8^th from HarperCollins. I haven’t read any of Boyd’s other books, but I’ll be sure to pick up this one. I do favor period novels and will be anxious to see the world Boyd creates.

I wonder what else on the horizon for our Mr. Bond? Time will tell. In the meantime, I saw this on Reddit and thought it was rather sweet, in a spy sort of way – enjoy!