Bond Sees Fencing Surge

A surge in the interest in the sport of fencing has proved that the character James Bond has some very real world influences.

Bond’s latest cinematic adventure, Die Another Day, sees the British agent fight millionaire Gustav Graves in what promises to become a battle to the death. The scene, which featured in the media heavily since being filmed, is responsible for a surge in the public interest in fencing according to Barry Paul, owner and managing director of Leon Paul, the UK’s only fencing equipment manufacturer.

“Certainly for us there’s a sense that the Bond film has resulted in more people being interested in fencing, ringing up and looking at our website,” Paul commented, also revealing that a lot of e-mails and visitors to his store have mentioned their interest in the sport is thanks to its appearance in Die Another Day.

Leon Paul have reported a 25% increase in turnover over the past three months, and Paul admits that the figure is increasing as Die Another Day plays to more audiences.

Leon Paul supplied various weapons for the Blades sequence in Die Another Day.

If you’d like to discuss this news, please visit this thread of the Die Another Day Forums. Thanks to Luke for the tip-off.

Source: BBC