Wing Commander Ken Wallis: A Career in Aviation

007 Magazine alerts us to an upcoming James Bond-themed event taking place in Bedfordshire this November.

Scheduled for Saturday, 14 November is the Fourth Annual Shuttleworth Aviation Lecture featuring Wing Commander Ken Wallis, known best by 007 fans for flying the ‘Little Nellie’ autogyro in 1967’s You Only Live Twice.

Taking place at the Shuttleworth Collection, past lectures have proved to be very popular events and with Ken Wallis’ career in aviation covering subjects from Lysanders and Wellingtons in World War Two to Canberra bombers, autogyros and of course James Bond after the war; this year’s event is going to be no exception.

Wing Commander Wallis has also agreed to bring along one of his autogyros for static display on the day and so ‘Little Nellie’ will be accompanying him.

Ken Wallis was also a Lysander pilot in the early days of World War 2 with 268 Squadron and it is our intention to give photographers a chance of getting a picture of Ken with his autogyro and The Shuttleworth Collection Lysander.

Please book early as tickets are already selling! Cost is £37 each or £32 for members of the SVAS.

To buy your tickets please call Karen on 01767 627933. For further information, visit the official Shuttleworth Collection website.

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Cocktails & Cosmos: Where Science Meets the Arts on 19 September

Cocktails & Cosmos: Where Science Meets the Arts with Gavin McKinney – James Bond Underwater Cinematographer

Indulge in an intimate view of the deep blue
Saturday, September 19 from 6 to 10 pm
Orlando Science Center

On September 19, join Florida James Bond Club members as they attend the Orlando Science Center for a celebration of art, dance, and the deep blue sea at one of the city’s most socially inclined and scientifically unique events. From 6 to 10 p.m., Cocktails & Cosmos will feature an eclectic display of activities and displays designed to engage the senses. Guests are invited to dress in “tropical island” attire to fully participate in the evening’s festive vibe.

The centerpiece of the event will be a colorful performance of Polynesian style entertainment, plus a film and an exhibit that offers unique perspectives on undersea life, displays of still photography, and much more. As the night begins, guests can enjoy a variety of beverages with “Happy Hour” specials from 6 to 7 p.m. along with an assortment of appetizers available for purchase.

Following Happy Hour, Lanakila -a Polynesian dance troupe – will perform their native dances throughout the evening. Log drums will set the tempo as performers twirl knives and bop to the island beat. Cocktails & Cosmos also serves as the premiere of the giant screen film, Sharks, on the eight-story tall Dr. Philips Cinedome. Screening at 7 and 9 p.m., Sharks offers an astonishing, up-close encounter with nature’s ultimate, yet endangered predator while delivering a compelling conservation message.

Presented by Jean-Michel Cousteau, Sharks features the Great White, Hammerhead, and Whale Shark as they really are: not wicked man-eating creatures, but wild, fascinating and endangered animals that have been in existence since a million years before dinosaurs roamed the earth. The event’s guest of honor is Gavin McKinney, the film’s director of photography. He will be introducing the film before each screening and available for questions and autographs immediately following.

Credited with more than 15,000 hours underwater and a resume that includes several James Bond movies (Gavin has worked on The Spy Who Loved Me, wrangled the python in Moonraker, coordinated the shark sequences in Never Say Never Again and For Your Eyes Only as well as underwater work on Cocoon, Raise the Titanic and other great films) and James Cameron’s The Abyss, McKinney will provide a charming perspective on his undersea adventures. Photographer Miriam Lorenzi creator of Miriphoto, will also be on hand sharing a display of her dazzling images entitled “Ocean Beauty.” A successful Orlando photojournalist, Lorenzi will be sharing her creative work, inspired by music and the natural world. Guests can also venture to the top floor of the Science Center and enjoy stargazing in the Crosby Observatory through one of the largest refractor telescopes in the state.

Another journey underwater awaits guests in the A-Mazing Sea, a new exhibit that premieres earlier that day. A walk-through exploration of sea turtles, sharks, octopi, and whales, A-Mazing Sea is a series of mazes representing the undersea kingdom. A unique display that infuses a layered learning experience with play, this exhibit lets you climb into sea turtle shells, crawl through a whale’s mouth and reach into an octopus cave. These encounters will help guests discover simple solutions for challenges that face inhabitants of the deep blue.

All these activities are included with event general admission, which is $12 per person, and free for Orlando Science Center members. For parents looking for that “rare couple’s night out,” the Science Center will be providing an excellent childcare program that includes dinner and an array of fun activities. Drop off starts at 5 p.m. and pick up is by 10 p.m. Cost is $25 for the first child and $20 for siblings. For more information on the childcare option, please call 407-514-2112. For more info on Cocktails & Cosmos, please call 407-514-2000 or visit www.osc.org.

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A James Bond reunion for Shirley Bassey's new album

Earlier this year, CommanderBond.net reported that Welsh superstar and three-time 007 theme song performer Shirley Bassey had returned to the studio to work on her first full studio album in more than 20 years.

The album, which is now titled The Performance, has been produced by five-time James Bond composer David Arnold and according to a new report from the BBC News, includes contributions from a few other very notable 007 regulars.

David Arnold to produce Shirley Bassey’s The Performance

Of particular notice is the album track Our Time Is Now, written by composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black. As endless 007 fans are well aware, Barry is best known for essentially creating the James Bond sound following his 11 scores for the films, beginning with 1963’s From Russia with Love and concluding in 1987 with The Living Daylights.

Black also has an extensive Bond career, working alongside both Barry and Arnold on songs such as Thunderball, Diamonds are Forever, Surrender and Only Myself to Blame.

This new song for Bassey marks the first time they have all collaborated together since 1971. Says Black: ‘It’s been quite a few years since Diamonds are Forever, but that lyric still applies to Dame Shirley. She lustres on.’

‘Whenever the great Terry Wogan plays a Dame Shirley Bassey record, he says “she doesn’t just sing songs, she bites lumps out of them”,’ he continued. I thought of Terry’s words as I sat down to write these new songs for her. In other words, you have to give her some meaty emotions to sing about.’

Other songs on The Performance come courtesy of the Manic Street Preachers, the Pet Shop Boys, Gary Barlow, KT Tunstall and Richard Hawley.

Talking about the new album, Arnold said: ‘All these songs were just songs, until Dame Shirley Bassey sang them.’

‘There’s something about a Bassey performance that can knock the wind out of your sails, make you laugh, make you cry, let you in on the joke or be led to a more exotic place.’

The Performance is due for release this November. It follows her 2007 covers and remix album Get The Party Started.

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our Twitter feed—for more news on this exciting album.

Motionless 007 takes top award in World Statue Championships

An actor posing as James Bond has taken the top award at the World Statue Championships in Amsterdam.

The BBC News reports that Chris Clarkson was named the public’s favourite human statue after posing as secret agent 007 along with his personal Walther PPK-inspired watergun. Clarskson had managed to stand nearly motionless for four hours at the event attended by about 300,000 people.

‘It’s hard work,’ said Clarkson, ‘my whole body had to be tense, but it’s great fun.’

‘My James Bond statue took nine months to create. The plinth I was stood on held all my water and I had pipes down my trouser leg to ensure the water fired out of the BB gun.’

He continued: ‘I made my own weapon by hollowing out the gun and creating a special circuit so the water would be pushed out when I pulled the trigger.’

‘People might think it’s boring, but it’s actually great fun. I was a little bit annoyed a couple of weeks ago when I was a tennis player in Leeds. Someone came and stubbed out a cigarette on me. That wasn’t too funny, but on the whole I get a really good reception from people.’

To view a photograph of Clarkson as James Bond, click here.

Keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—as well as our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest James Bond news and coverage.

Daniel Craig's torso has a licence to thrill

Casino Royale

After all the endless quips and comments regarding that swimsuit sequence in 2006’s Casino Royale, it should come as no surprise that Daniel Craig has been voted number one in a new poll of top movie star torsos.

According to The Guardian, the 007 star captured over a third of the vote in a recent Lovefilm online poll.

Rounding out the top three were Gerard Butler in 300 with 21% and Brad Pitt in Troy with 14%.

Craig was also joined by another fellow Bond star on the list as Sean Connery’s appearance in Thunderball placed him in fifth place overall with 6% of the vote.

The top ten follows below:

1. Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006) – 34%
2. Gerard Butler in 300 (2006) – 21%
3. Brad Pitt in Troy (2004) – 14%
4. Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) – 7%
5. Sean Connery in Thunderball (1965) – 6%
6. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach (2000) – 5%
7. Hank Azaria in Along Came Polly (2004) – 4%
8. Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii (1961) – 3%
9. Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) – 2%
10. Jan-Michael Vincent in Big Wednesday (1978)

Keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—as well as our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest James Bond news and coverage.

Charlie Higson to take the stage at Cheltenham Literature Festival

Young Bond author Charlie Higson will be taking the stage next month at the 60th Cheltenham Literature Festival alongside fellow spy writer Anthony Horowitz.

The Young Bond Dossier reports that fans will be able to hear the two authors discuss their recent works, including Higson’s non-Bond horror thriller The Enemy.

The hour-long event kicks off at 5:00pm on Friday, 16 October at the Town Hall. Admission is £7 for adults and £6 for children.

For further details about directions or attending, visit the official Cheltenham Literature Festival website.

Be sure to keep checking the CommanderBond.net main page and our Discussion Forums for all the latest Young Bond-related news.

Discuss this Young Bond news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond 007 forum in the world.

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The Charlie Higson CBn Interview II

CBn Reviews Young Bond #1: SilverFin

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CBn Reviews SilverFin: The Graphic Novel

007 composer David Arnold to attend Dublin's Music Show

According to a recent news release courtesy of Hot Press, current James Bond film composer David Anold has been lined up to appear at the Music Show next month in Ireland.

The event, which is scheduled at the RDS Irish International Convention and Exhibition Centre, will be taking place on 3-4 October. Full details follow in the news release below:

David Arnold

Award-winning composer David Arnold has been added to the line-up for the Music Show, which is RDS-bound on October 3 and 4.

Arnold has scored five consecutive James Bond movies starting with 1999’s The World Is Not Enough; won a ‘Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture’ Grammy for Independence Day; collaborated with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Pulp and Bjork; and is currently working on 2010’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.

He also happens to be Damien Rice’s second cousin, giving Damo copious amounts of equipment and advice whilst he was assembling his O album.

Add in his involvement with Little Britain and ambassadorial role for the CARE International aid agency, and there’ll be plenty to talk to David about!

Also newly confirmed for one of the Music Show’s panel discussions is Fight Like Apes’ MayKay.

The Music Show, presented by Hot Press in association with RTE 2FM, The Irish Independent & The Sunday Independent, runs from October 3-4th in The RDS, Dublin. Saturday 3rd October 10 am – 6.30 pm, Sunday 4th October 11 am – 6 pm.

Tickets available on Ticketmaster.

Keep your browsers locked on the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest news on James Bond-related events occurring around the world.

Sebastian Faulks' A Week In December published in UK

This week marks the release of A Week in December, the newest novel from Sebastian Faulks, who wrote last year’s Ian Fleming centenary novel, Devil May Care.

This new (non-Bond) title is the first contemporary novel written by Faulks. A Week in December is published in hardback by Hutchinson on 3 September in the UK and is currently available to order from Amazon.co.uk. A release in the US will follow on 27 October.

For those interested in this latest novel from Faulks, The Guardian newspaper has a review up now.

The publication blurb follows:

Sebastian Faulks

A Week in December is Sebastian Faulks’ first wholly contemporary novel. Set in London, it’s a brilliant social satire, structured like a thriller, that takes place over the course of a single week at the end of 2007.

It brings together an intriguing cast of characters, each apparently in his or her own world but – as gradually becomes clear – ultimately intricately related. The anti-hero, John Veals, is a shadily successful and boundlessly ambitious Dickensian figure who is trading billions and other characters include a teenage Muslim fanatic, a Polish footballer, a female tube driver, a literary critic, a care worker and a chutney tycoon. As the story builds to its climax, Faulks pulls together powerful ideas about family, money, religion, and the way we live now.

• Order the UK hardback edition of A Week in December from Amazon.co.uk
• Order the UK audiobook edition of A Week in December from Amazon.co.uk
• Order the US hardback edition of A Week in December from Amazon.com

Keep watching the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date literary 007 coverage on the web.

The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader delayed to November '09

Despite being originally scheduled for an August 2009 release in the US, the second edition of Christoph Lindner’s The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader has now been delayed to this upcoming November.

Originally published in the UK and US at the end of 2003, The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader features various essays examining from different perspectives the cultural icon that 007 has become.

This new edition of The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader is published in paperback by Manchester University Press. At 272 pages in length, it retails for $24.95 and is scheduled for publication on 24 November. A pre-order link follows at the end of this article.

The book’s original blurb follows:

The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader (2nd ed.)

Sean Connery’s tuxedo, Ursula Andress’ bikini, Oddjob’s bowler hat, and Q’s gadgets are just a few defining features of the 007 world examined in this text. Drawn from the fields of literary, film, music and cultural studies, the essays in this collection range from revitalized readings of Ian Fleming’s spy novels to the analysis of Pussy Galore’s lesbianism, Miss Monneypenny’s filmic feminism and Pierce Brosnan’s techno-fetishism.

Together the essays not only consider the James Bond novels and films in relation to their historical, political and social contexts, from the Cold-War period onwards, but also examine the classic bond canon from an array of theoretical perspectives. What the text aims to show is that there is much more to the 007 series than cheap thrills, fast cars and beautiful women.

With essays by Umberto Eco, Tony Bennett, Tara Brabazon, Toby Miller and Jim Leach, among others, Lindner illustrates not only how the Bond character has conquered the globe, but has sustained its pre-eminence across six decades. Starting with the original books and moving through the films, the music and the marketing, this study should be of use to students of film, media, popular literature, marketing and cultural studies.

• Order the paperback edition of The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader (2nd ed.) from Amazon.com

Keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—and our brand new Twitter feed—for the most up-to-date literary James Bond coverage on the web.

No bonding for Gerard Butler

His name has come up more than once as a possible future James Bond, but according to a new interview, Scottish actor Gerard Butler isn’t quite sure he’d want to be known as the latest 007.

Digital Spy reports that Butler told ShortList that actors risk being typecast if they take on such an iconic role.

‘I enjoy doing an array of films,’ he said. ‘If I was to play Bond, that would quickly stop. How likely would I be accepted doing those roles after having played Bond?’

‘You do a lot of movies as Bond and you’d become even more synonymous with the role. I think Daniel Craig is a great Bond and good for him, but I would much rather create a role from nothing.’

He further added: ‘I feel blessed to have done 300 because I think it will go down as a seminal movie and a classic. And it came out of nowhere.’

As many Bond fans are aware, Butler made a tiny appearance in the opening sequence of 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies. When asked about the small role, he revealed that director Roger Spottiswoode took away his only line because he could not understand his accent.

‘They gave it to a really effeminate chap,’ he said. ‘He was a good bloke, but he delivered the line like it was a piece of gossip. I was gutted.’

Keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page—as well as our brand new Twitter feed—for all the latest James Bond news and coverage.