› ›

The Great Bond Geoguesser Game

12357…25

Comments

  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    edited November 2022 Posts: 534
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    CharmianBond wrote: »
    New day, new clue: Watch the shadows.
    OK, getting back to this: It is early morning or early evening. Relatively long shadows. Fine, but not really pointing towards a geographical area. Even places near the equator have something like that shortly after the sun rises or before it sets. I'm still lost (apart from probably not knowing the novel, be it "continuation" or not).

    I was thinking more about the shape itself, which I realise I've been looking at wrong for the past couple days so if anyone manages to get it at this point well done. But it's something that supports these objects but also crucially detaches from them.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,951
    Something to do with rockets? From Double or Nothing?
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 534
    mtm wrote: »
    Something to do with rockets? From Double or Nothing?

    Yes and yes. Can you be more specific?
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 14,951
    I haven't read it I'm afraid! Is it set in Afganistan?
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 534
    mtm wrote: »
    I haven't read it I'm afraid! Is it set in Afganistan?

    It's not but it's a very good guess, we're getting closer geographically speaking.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    Without having read the book, is this supposed to be in Kazakhstan, maybe a spaceport?
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 534
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Without having read the book, is this supposed to be in Kazakhstan, maybe a spaceport?

    'The spaceport crawled over the one hundred kilometres of steppe, laddered with dry streams and baked gullies and collapsed fences, over which Kazakh herders drove their cattle at will, only retreating across the scrubland when a rocket was due to fire.'

    It is a spaceport or as it's otherwise known a cosmodrome. Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, formerly part of the Soviet Union. I intentionally picked a location that could be guessed even if you hadn't read the novel, being the launchpad for many historic firsts for mankind.

    'The past was glorious: Sputnik I; Yuri Gagarin; Valentina Tershkova.'

    It's referred to as "Tyuratam" in Trigger Mortis because the Soviets were a bit cagey about revealing its true location, but the space race and its role in the East vs West rivalry is a major theme in that novel.

    And with the Artemis I spacecraft coming back from it's lunar flyby as we speak, it seemed rather timely as well.

    I'll leave it up to you folks to decide whether this non-Fleming round was a success or not. With that, over to you @zebrafish
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    Nice, it was hard to find information on the locations used in Double or Nothing. When I found that a Kazach spaceport features among Syria, it was that or the latter.

    Anyway, here is my next entry, taken from Google Earth. I bet this could be difficult and I may have to give a few hints on the way... good luck!

    pv5FhNB.jpg
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    edited November 2022 Posts: 8,688
    I apologize, @zebrafish, but I picked out the very same location (though not the identical view, but a Google Earth satellite view) for my selection of what to present here. So I'll just stay mum about it and let the others do the guessing. And scrap my own picture.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    Ha! A case of "great minds think alike" maybe? If you had the same idea, then it is not too way out there, I guess.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    I guess not. I'm just not sure it is mentioned in the novel...at least I didn't find it there.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Good round @CharmianBond and great job @zebrafish! I think it’s fine to use locations from Continuations and Spin-Offs; maybe we can label them as such when the round starts? Fleming, Continuation, or Spin Off. Just a thought.
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 534
    My first thought was that was Kitzbühel, but if it is I've not found the right street besides it's a bit obvious, it's mentioned in at least three books. It definitely looks like some alpine skiing town though.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    No, it is not Kitzbühel. And I should say, as @j_w_pepper noted, it is from a film, not a book.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    Well, if I may add to avoid confusion arising from my original remark, it's just the concrete location pictured that's mentioned only in the film. The municipality (that @CharmianBond thinks looks like an alpine skiing town) is referenced in the literary piece as well.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited November 2022 Posts: 4,312
    Let me add a hint that should get your Bond brain cells firing:


    pv5FhNB.jpg


    The people hurrying past that church would speak German.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    edited November 2022 Posts: 8,688
    Well...sort of :-)
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    And to keep this from ending up on the third page of the thread list (which is on the edge of oblivion) I would add that said municipality is roughly thirty-five times as big (by population) as Kitzbühel, hoping that @zebrafish doesn't mind my mingling too much.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    I started this game knowing I'd be terrible at it :)) but I'll put some work in and see what I can come up with!
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    NickTwentyTwo wrote: »
    I started this game knowing I'd be terrible at it :)) but I'll put some work in and see what I can come up with!
    Right, @NickTwentyTwo...your responsibility as a parent :-).
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 7,969
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Let me add a hint that should get your Bond brain cells firing:


    pv5FhNB.jpg


    The people hurrying past that church would speak German.

    Hamburg?
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,929
    Augsburg, where the Bleauchamps are from but not buried!
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited November 2022 Posts: 4,312
    Voila! @QBranch got it right, because as we know: "The Bleuchamps tombs are not in the Augsburg cathedral, as you say, but in the St. Anna Kirche. Sir Hilary Bray would have known..."

    Well done, on to you my friend!
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    I think I wrote it before somewhere, but the irony is that there was not a single mention of the Bleuchamps being buried in a specific church before that quote in the movie, so this "revelation" comes out of the blue (or le bleu).

    It makes sense, however, that they would be buried in St. Anna Kirche, since judging by the name, the family were likely to be Huguenots (French Calvinist protestants fleeing from religious persecution in the 16th century), and St. Anna has been a Lutheran (though not Calvinist) church since 1525, while the Cathedral is still Catholic.

    This is today's history lesson. ;)
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    I am impressed @j_w_pepper , for a Louisiana cop your knowledge of European history is rather intriguing!?
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,688
    zebrafish wrote: »
    I am impressed @j_w_pepper , for a Louisiana cop your knowledge of European history is rather intriguing!?
    Wai-el, they shore learned me good in hah-school...
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,929
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Voila! @QBranch got it right, because as we know: "The Bleuchamps tombs are not in the Augsburg cathedral, as you say, but in the St. Anna Kirche. Sir Hilary Bray would have known..."

    Well done, on to you my friend!
    Thank you mate, it was incredibly easy to figure out because of the sign at bottom centre.

    Here is the next one - no idea if this is easy or difficult. Let's see...

    52531148314_df052c155f_o.png
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    The shop on the left is D. R. Harris, where Ian Fleming bought his cologne?
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,312
    And Fleming based the fictitious Blades Club on the Boodles club, situated in the house in the middle.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,929
    Yep, it's Boodle's gentlemen's club London, the model (architecturally) for 'Blades' as featured in Moonraker (and other novels).

    Notable members:

    Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908–1964)
    David Niven (1910–1983)
    Thomas Blofeld (1903–1986)
    Sir John Blofeld (born 1932)
    Henry Blofeld, OBE (born 1939)

    Blades_(Daily_Express).png
    ^Blades, as seen in the Daily Express comic strip
Sign In or Register to comment.