James Bond Premier

Blog 8 – JB and me

Here he goes again, self-indulgent and critical and still with a bit of admiration for this folk hero.

I am asking forgiveness for this blog, but once you start a thing, it must be finished. This to be – don’t start that one again! -a shorter epistle carrying on where blog 7 started but in fact where 6 finishes, but although it’s shorter it won’t be the end -that won’t come until a later blog -is that clear?

JB has had many different personas judging by the number of actors having played the part of the owner the license to kill whoever threatens the security of our green and pleasant land. But do you realise that JB isn’t the only licensee regarding dealing in death. In the books and I think in one of the other licensees is mentioned – number 8.

And definitely in one of the films (films are brits -movies are not) Mr. licensee number six is not only mentioned but seen, spoken with, and shot, JB is a bit of a Jonah when it comes to sharing glory. No.6, I am not a number, I am a free man-sorry wrong show, that program is the Prisoner. The Prisoner was 6 DVDs worth of either super intelligent, thought provoking drug induced genius or 12hours of utter claptrap, set in a beautiful Italianate village created in north Wales in Portmeirion. No the number six to whom I refer was played by that legend of a tv and film (British) actor, appears in such entertainment as Sharpe, the Martian, Game of thrones, was he in Lord of the Rings, Yorkshire Tea and O2 – just to keep the money coming in. Yes, it was that never far from a screen near you Sean Bean.

Hold up - hold up. If his name is Sean which rhymes with born -and Bean rhymes with seen, shouldn’t he be addressed phonetically (-good word) as either Shorn Born or Seen Bean????

Getting back to JB and me, thank goodness the links are tenuous, I could be ex-Alan by now, I mentioned that I went to school in east London, Walthamstow in fact at a school named William Morris. Yes that’s the one he’s got his name on a range of flowerpots in most garden centres, some claim to fame. I’m sure he had a part-time job as a designer other things besides pots for the garden.

There are a number of mini-ions associated with JB – Blue Mountain coffee unheard-of until JB drank some denouncing tea as ‘mud’ and as the reason ‘for the downfall of the British empire. Wolfschmidt vodka, dropping in a pinch of pepper (habit he picked up before the war (how old is he??) ) Vodka martini – shaken not stirred (I’ve got Parkinson’s , so all my cocktails are shaken Mr. Bond. But by far the most iconic piece of bond is his cars. In the books the initial star car was a Bentley 3.0 or 3.5litres 1920s model in battleship grey. However the Bentley was wrecked and bond was issued with an Aston martin DB3, which in the film Goldfinger became the Aston Martin DB5 reg: BMT 216A.

All the above waffle is to declare guilty to seeking a day off school to travel into the west end of London to John Lewis’s department store where this dream machine was on display. I queued for ages to get a two-minute maximum look at, but it was enough. I bought almost every conceivable model, kit or toy DB5. Definitely my favourite.

As another memory of going ‘up west’ for a bond excursion. I don’t remember too much detail but somehow I got myself a ticket for the world premier in Leicester square Odean of the James Bond film ‘You only live twice’.

Being a callow youth, when I got my ticket, don’t ask me how but I did, it was stated that the dress code was ‘black tie’. The only tie I had was my purple and navy school tie. And I wasn’t up on the rest of it either. So I attended this soiree in the suit I had made not long prior – the only tan/brown high regency collar, twin breasted, double vent, double buttoned jacket with hipster, 17’’ flared trousers carrying a school satchel teenager attendee amongst the sea of elegant cocktail dresses and proper DJs and ties.

The whole experience was exciting and embarrassing in turn, but who else probably got as much attention besides that other Sean.

All this waffle and I still ain’t finished. This is going into part 3 but not till late October – secret.

Which means new topic but not just now, I’ll start tomorrow.