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• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  May 12 Posts: 14,400

  May 13th
  
  1946: Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith is born--Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
  (He dies 7 April 2017 at age 70--Northampton, England.)

  

  Tim Pigott-Smith obituary

  See the complete article here:
  
  

  https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/apr/09/tim-pigott-smith-obituary

  Stage and screen actor best known for his role in the TV series The Jewel in the Crown
  Michael Coveney | Sun 9 Apr 2017 13.34 EDT

  
  Tim Pigott-Smith as Ronald Merrick, with Siddharth Kak (right),
  in The Jewel in the Crown, Granada TV’s adaptation of Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet novels.
  Photograph: ITV/Rex

  The only unexpected thing about the wonderful actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who has died aged 70, was that he never played Iago or, indeed, Richard III. Having marked out a special line in sadistic villainy as Ronald Merrick in his career-defining, Bafta award-winning performance in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Granada TV’s adaptation for ITV of Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet novels, he built a portfolio of characters both good and bad who were invariably presented with layers of technical accomplishment and emotional complexity.

  
  Tim Pigott-Smith in the title role of
  Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III at the
  Almeida theatre in 2014. Photograph:
  Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

  He emerged as a genuine leading actor in Shakespeare, contemporary plays by Michael Frayn – in Frayn’s Benefactors (1984) he was a malicious, Iago-like journalist undermining a neighbouring college chum’s ambitions as an architect – and Stephen Poliakoff, American classics by Eugene O’Neill and Edward Albee, and as a go-to screen embodiment of high-ranking police officers and politicians, usually served with a twist of lemon and a side order of menace and sarcasm.
  
  He played a highly respectable King Lear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2011, but that performance was eclipsed, three years later, by his subtle, affecting and principled turn in the title role of Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III (soon to be seen in a television version) at the Almeida, in the West End and on Broadway, for which he received nominations in both the Olivier and Tony awards. The play, written in Shakespearean iambics, was set in a futuristic limbo, before the coronation, when Charles refuses to grant his royal assent to a Labour prime minister’s press regulation bill.
  
  The interregnum cliffhanger quality to the show was ideal for Pigott-Smith’s ability to simultaneously project the spine and the jelly of a character, and he brilliantly suggested an accurate portrait of the future king without cheapening his portrayal of him. Although not primarily a physical actor, like Laurence Olivier, he was aware of his attributes, once saying that the camera “does something to my eyes, particularly on my left side in profile”, something to do with the eye being quite low and “being able to see some white underneath the pupil”. It was this physical accident, not necessarily any skill, he modestly maintained, which gave him a menacing look on film and television, “as if I am thinking more than one thing”.
  
  Tim Pigott-Smith: a man born to play kings
  Born in Rugby, Tim was the only child of Harry Pigott-Smith, a journalist, and his wife Margaret (nee Goodman), a keen amateur actor, and was educated at Wyggeston boys’ school in Leicester and – when his father was appointed to the editorship of the Herald in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1962 – King Edward VI grammar school, where Shakespeare was a pupil. Attending the Royal Shakespeare theatre, he was transfixed by John Barton and Peter Hall’s Wars of the Roses production, and the actors: Peggy Ashcroft, with whom he would one day appear in The Jewel in the Crown, Ian Holm and David Warner. He took a part‑time job in the RSC’s paint shop.
  
  At Bristol University he gained a degree in English, French and drama (1967), and at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school he graduated from the training course (1969) alongside Jeremy Irons and Christopher Biggins as acting stage managers in the Bristol Old Vic company. He joined the Prospect touring company as Balthazar in Much Ado with John Neville and Sylvia Syms and then as the Player King and, later, Laertes to Ian McKellen’s febrile Hamlet. Back with the RSC he played Posthumus in Barton’s fine 1974 production of Cymbeline and Dr Watson in William Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes, opposite John Wood’s definitive detective, at the Aldwych and on Broadway. He further established himself in repertory at Birmingham, Cambridge and Nottingham.

  
  Tim Pigott-Smith as the avuncular businessman Ken Lay in Lucy Prebble’s Enron
  at the Minerva theatre, Chichester, in 2009.
  Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

  He was busy in television from 1970, appearing in two Doctor Who sagas, The Claws of Axos (1971) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976), as well as in the first of the BBC’s adaptations of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1975, as Frederick Hale; in the second, in 2004, he played Hale’s father, Richard). His first films were Jack Gold’s Aces High (1976), adapted by Howard Barker from RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End, and Tony Richardson’s Joseph Andrews (1977). His first Shakespeare leads were in the BBC’s Shakespeare series – Angelo in Measure for Measure and Hotspur in Henry IV Part One (both 1979).
  
  A long association with Hall began at the National Theatre in 1987, when he played a coruscating half-hour interrogation scene with Maggie Smith in Hall’s production of Coming in to Land by Poliakoff; he was a Dostoeyvskyan immigration officer, Smith a desperate, and despairing, Polish immigrant. In Hall’s farewell season of Shakespeare’s late romances in 1988, he led the company alongside Michael Bryant and Eileen Atkins, playing a clenched and possessed Leontes in The Winter’s Tale; an Italianate, jesting Iachimo in Cymbeline; and a gloriously drunken Trinculo in The Tempest (he played Prospero for Adrian Noble at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 2012).
  
  Tim Pigott-Smith: how Ian McKellen made me raise my acting game
  The Falstaff on television when he played Hotspur was Anthony Quayle, and he succeeded this great actor, whom he much admired as director of the touring Compass Theatre in 1989, playing Brutus in Julius Caesar and Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. When the Arts Council cut funding to Compass, he extended his rogue’s gallery with a sulphurous Rochester in Fay Weldon’s adaptation of Jane Eyre, on tour and at the Playhouse, in a phantasmagorical production by Helena Kaut-Howson, with Alexandra Mathie as Jane (1993); and, back at the NT, as a magnificent, treacherous Leicester in Howard Davies’ remarkable revival of Schiller’s Mary Stuart (1996) with Isabelle Huppert as a sensual Mary and Anna Massey a bitterly prim Elizabeth.
  
  In that same National season, he teamed with Simon Callow (as Face) and Josie Lawrence (as Doll Common) in a co-production by Bill Alexander for the Birmingham Rep of Ben Jonson’s trickstering, two-faced masterpiece The Alchemist; he was a comically pious Subtle in sackcloth and sandals. He pulled himself together as a wryly observant Larry Slade in one of the landmark productions of the past 20 years: O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh at the Almeida in 1998, transferring to the Old Vic, and to Broadway, with Kevin Spacey as the salesman Hickey revisiting the last chance saloon where Pigott-Smith propped up the bar with Rupert Graves, Mark Strong and Clarke Peters in Davies’ great production.
  
  He and Davies combined again, with Helen Mirren and Eve Best, in a monumental NT revival (designed by Bob Crowley) of O’Neill’s epic Mourning Becomes Electra in 2003. Pigott-Smith recycled his ersatz “Agamemnon” role of the returning civil war hero, Ezra Mannon, as the real Agamemnon, fiercely sarcastic while measuring a dollop of decency against weasel expediency, in Euripides’ Hecuba at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004. In complete contrast, his controlled but hilarious Bishop of Lax in Douglas Hodge’s 2006 revival of Philip King’s See How They Run at the Duchess suggested he had done far too little outright comedy in his career.

  
  Tim Pigott-Smith as King Lear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2011.
  Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

  Television roles after The Jewel in the Crown included the titular chief constable, John Stafford, in The Chief (1990-93) and the much sleazier chief inspector Frank Vickers in The Vice (2001-03). On film, he showed up in The Remains of the Day (1993); Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday (2002), a harrowing documentary reconstruction of the protest and massacre in Derry in 1972; as Pegasus, head of MI7, in Rowan Atkinson’s Johnny English (2003) and the foreign secretary in the Bond movie Quantum of Solace (2008).

  Tim Pigott-Smith: a life on stage and screen – in pictures
  In the last decade of his life he achieved an amazing roster of stage performances, including a superb Henry Higgins, directed by Hall, in Pygmalion (2008); the avuncular, golf-loving entrepreneur Ken Lay in Lucy Prebble’s extraordinary Enron (2009), a play that proved there was no business like big business; the placatory Tobias, opposite Penelope Wilton, in Albee’s A Delicate Balance at the Almeida in 2011; and the humiliated George, opposite his Hecuba, Clare Higgins, in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, at Bath.
  
  At the start of this year he was appointed OBE. His last television appearance came as Mr Sniggs, the junior dean of Scone College, in Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, starring Jack Whitehall. He had been due to open as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in Northampton prior to a long tour.
  
  Pigott-Smith was a keen sportsman, loved the countryside and wrote four short books, three of them for children.
  
  In 1972 he married the actor Pamela Miles. She survives him, along with their son, Tom, a violinist, and two grandchildren, Imogen and Gabriel.
  
  • Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith, actor, born 13 May 1946; died 7 April 2017
  
  This article was amended on 10 April 2017. Tim Pigott-Smith’s early performance as Balthazar in Much Ado About Nothing was with the Prospect touring company rather than with the Bristol Old Vic.

  

  Tim Pigott-Smith (1946–2017)

  Actor | Miscellaneous Crew
  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0683116/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
  

  
  
  
  

  
  1958: Macmillan publishes Ian Fleming's non-fiction book The Diamond Smugglers in the US.

  THE DIAMOND SMUGGLERS
  With an introduction by ‘John Blaize’,
  formerly of the International Diamond
  Security Organization
  
  A major campaign against the greatest
  smuggling racket of the world - the smug-
  gling of diamonds from Africa, to the tune
  of some ten million pounds a year - has
  just been completed. It took three years,
  Paris was involved and Antwerp, Beirut,
  Freetown, Johannesburg - and Moscow.
  Now this underground battle was waged in
  the greatest spy story since the war.
  
  All the facts have come into the hands
  of Ian Fleming. He has been in Africa with
  the secret agent chiefly responsible for
  penetrating the international smuggling
  network. Ian Fleming has written this
  man’s story: it is a true story, and breath-
  taking.

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  1963: Agente 007 contra el Dr. No (Agent 007 against Dr. No) premieres in Madrid, Spain.

  
  

  1964: Sean Connery practices his golf swing at Northolt Airport, South Ruislip, England.

  

  1967: Title song "You Only Live Twice" charts this date. Also, British weekly Melody Maker declares “Nancy meets James Bond … in the recording studio.”

  https://nancysinatra.com/blog/2017/04/nancy-meets-james-bond-you-only-live-twice-at-50/

  
  1971: Diamonds Are Forever films the craps game with Bond and Plenty O'Toole.

  https://twitter.com/007/status/598517510133182464

  
  

  1974: Bond comic strip The Nevsky Nude begins its run in The Daily Express.
  (Finishes 21 September 1974. 2542–2655) Yaroslav Horak, artist. Jim Lawrence, artist.

  
  ‘The Nevsky Nude’ centres on a rather revealing mystery
  https://www.popoptiq.com/the-nevsky-nude/
  By Edgar Chaput
  
  
  
  
  https://spyguysandgals.com/sgLookupComicStrip.aspx?id=1012
  
  
  Swedish Semic Comic 1982 https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/comics/semic_1982.php3?s=comics&id=02218

  Fallen Från Skyarna ("Fall From Sky" - The Nevsky Nude)
  

  
  Danish 1976 http://www.bond-o-rama.dk/en/jb007-dk-no38-1976/

  James Bond Agent 007 no. 38: “The Nevsky Nude” (1976)

  
  
  

  
  1987: Happy Anniversary, 007 hosted by Roger Moore celebrates Bond's 25th anniversary.

  
  
  Commentary version, Moore looks great
  
  

  
  1993: MGM through Variety announces work on BOND 17 resumes with writer Michael France.
  1999: UNICEF Envoy Roger Moore visits a Stankovac refugee camp to raise funds for Kosovo children.
  
  2008: Thomas Dunne Books publishes the US hardcover version of The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel by Samantha Weinberg (as "Kate Westbrook").

  
  

  
  2014: The Norwegian press says Norwegian actresses compete for Bond Girl roles in BOND 24.

  

  Norwegian actors in race to be next Bond
  girl

  See the complete article here:
  
  

  https://www.thelocal.no/20140513/headhunters-star-in-running-to-be-next-bond-girl

  
  Synnøve Macody Lund (right) and Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (left) Photo: Magnet

  Releasing/Resolve film | The Local | [email protected] | @thelocalnorway
  13 May 2014 | 09:11 CEST+02:00
  Norwegian actresses Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and Synnøve Macody Lund are both among the Scandinavian women competing to become the next 'Bond girl'.
  
  Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, the 34-year-old Norwegian star of the upcoming Hollywood film Hercules, auditioned for the provisionally named "Bond 24" last year, her agent Anne Lindberg told The Local.
  
  According to Norway's Dagbladet newspaper, Synnøve Macody Lund, the 38-year-old star of the film Headhunters, has also recently filmed audition scenes in Copenhagen for the film which, like Skyfall, will star Daniel Craig as James Bond and have Sam Mendes as director.
  
  According to Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper two Swedish actresses have also auditioned: Disa Östrand, a 27-year-old known for her role in Känn Ingen Sång, and Ida Engvoll, a 28-year-old who starred in 2013's Bäst Före.
  
  The film's producers have confirmed they are recruiting a woman with typical Scandinavian features to play "a woman with a difficult history" in the film.
  
  If Lund gets the role and is cast as one of Bond's love interests, the mother of two will become the eldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise. In Ian Fleming's 14 Bond books, Pussy Galore, the eldest of Bond's lovers, is described by Bond as "in her early thirties" .
  
  According to Dagbladet, Lund would only confirm that she had met Sam Mendes at Pinewood Studio outside London.
  
  "It was a great moment for me as a film enthusiast, and I was more than a little nervous," the former TV2 film journalist told the newspaper. "Just to look inside Pinewood Studios, with all its Bond props on display, was amazing."

  Norway has already had one Bond girl, Julie Ege, who played Helen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969). Sweden, on the other hand, has already had no fewer than six Bond girls (click here for a full list https://www.thelocal.se/20121026/44070). Swedish actor Ola Rapace played one of the villains in Skyfall.

  According to Lindberg, the film's producers have over the past year auditioned almost every suitable actress in Denmark, Sweden and Norway without yet giving any indications of who will get the role.
  
  "In Denmark, there was a lot of castings last year and this year for the Bond girl but nobody knows anything yet," she said. "I don’t think anyone knows yet what the outcome is."
  
  According to the film journalist Morten Steingrimsen, who edits James Bond magazine, Lund would fit into the new trend for more psychologically complex Bond girls.
  
  "Synnøve has something Bond-like about her, and it is easy to imagine that she could develop a good dynamic with Craig and create a complex, interesting and different Bond girl," he said.
  
  "In recent years there has been a clear trend towards making Bond's female counterpart something more than a sex symbol."

  Synnøve Macody Lund
  
  
  Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
  
  
  Disa Östrand
  
  
  Ida Engvoll
  

  
  
  
  
• RichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.

  1:01am edited 1:06am Posts: 14,400

  May 14th
  
  1937: Victor Harold Flick is born--Worcester Park, South West London, England.
  (He dies 14 November 2024 at age 87--Los Angeles, California.)

  

  Vic Flick, Guitarist Who Plucked the
  James Bond Theme, Dies at 87

  Emmett Lindner | Nov. 20, 2024
  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/arts/vic-flick-james-bond-dead.html
  A busy session musician, he also recorded music for the Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night” and contributed to several hit songs.

  
  Vic Flick performing in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 2002. Since “Dr. No” was released in 1962, the sound of his “grungy” guitar playing on the James Bond theme made those films instantly recognizable.Credit...Mel Bouzad/Getty Images

  Vic Flick, a British guitarist whose driving riff in the theme for the James Bond movies captured the spy’s suave confidence and tacit danger, died on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles. He was 87.
  
  His death, in a nursing facility, was announced on social media by his son, Kevin, who said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.
  
  The Bond films produced signature catchphrases (“shaken, not stirred,” “Bond, James Bond”) that have been endlessly recited and parodied since “Dr. No,” the first in the series, was released in Britain in 1962. But it was the sound of Mr. Flick’s guitar in the opening credits that helped make those spy thrillers instantly recognizable.
  
  During the title credits of “Dr. No,” when moviegoers were introduced to or reacquainted with the works of the author Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond books, Mr. Flick’s thrumming guitar sounded out through a brass-and-string orchestra.

  

  “The selection of strings available in the late ’50s and early ’60s was abysmal compared to today,” he wrote in his 2008 autobiography, “Vic Flick, Guitarman: From James Bond to The Beatles and Beyond.”
  
  “To get that ‘overplayed sound,’ I simply overplayed the guitar, leaning into those thick low strings,” he continued.
  
  He also placed a pack of Senior Service cigarettes under the bridge of the guitar to help round out the sound.
  
  “He was a musician’s musician,” Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues wrote in the foreword to “Vic Flick, Guitarman.” “He played for all the greats, and on so many treasured records. He was in demand, and he delivered.”
  
  Victor Harold Flick was born on May 14, 1937, in Surrey, England, to Harold Flick, a music teacher, and Mabel (Curry) Flick, a singer. His childhood was marked by the frequent need to find safe havens from bombs that German planes were dropping over the area during World War II.
  
  Once the war ended — and, as Mr. Flick wrote in his book, “a hesitant normality reigned” — his father and brother joined a band to perform at local churches. When Vic was 14, he saw an ad for a Gibson Kalamazoo, a small acoustic guitar.
  
  “A deal was struck,” he wrote in “Guitarman,” adding: “I practiced the instrument until the tips of my fingers bled. I had to catch up to the others who were, compared to me, accomplished musicians.”
  
  In 1953, Vic left school to work in a bank. He later worked as a heating and ventilation technician before pursuing music in earnest. He formed a band with his brother in 1958 and later joined a band led by Bob Cort, a folk musician.
  
  While the group was on tour with Paul Anka, Mr. Flick met John Barry, who would go on to arrange the James Bond theme and later compose the scores for 11 Bond films. (Mr. Barry told The Sunday Times of London in 1997 that he had composed the theme; this was disputed by Monty Norman, the original composer for “Dr. No,” who then successfully sued the newspaper for libel.)
  
  When the original theme was written for “Dr. No,” the music editor told the producers that it didn’t represent the film, Mr. Flick said in a 2021 interview with Guitar Player magazine.
  
  “I said, ‘Take it down an octave, make it grungy,’” he said. “That and the brass punched the Bond films to success.”
  
  The result has been imprinted into the annals of cinema, and Mr. Flick would go on to work on the theme music for several more Bond films, including “Goldfinger” (1964).
  
  He became a successful session musician, playing on tracks for Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield and others and on Peter and Gordon’s album “A World Without Love.” His Fender Stratocaster is heard as Ringo Starr walks the streets to the strains of “Ringo’s Theme,” an instrumental version of the Beatles song “This Boy,” in the 1964 film “A Hard Day’s Night.” And he worked with Paul McCartney on the 1977 album “Thrillington,” a collection of instrumental covers of songs from the 1971 album “Ram” that Mr. McCartney released under the pseudonym Percy “Thrills” Thrillington.
  
  In 2013, Mr. Flick received a lifetime achievement award from the National Guitar Museum.
  
  In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Judith Mary Flick, and a grandson. His daughter, Jayne, died in 2000.
  
  Mr. Flick’s wide sonic range could be boiled down to a focused philosophy. When Guitar Player asked him what he might tell an aspiring musician, he offered this advice: “Don’t forget to make every note music.”
  

  • Emmett Lindner writes about breaking and trending news. He has written about international protests, climate change and social media influencers.

  
  
  Vic Flick interview with Jesse Amoroso at Cowtown Guitars, Las Vegas (26:10)
  
  
  Vic Flick Performs the James Bond Theme (1:58)
  
  
  

  1939: Veruschka von Lehndorff is born--Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  1964: The first two demo recordings of title song "Goldfinger" are completed, vocals by Anthony Newley. John Barry liked the "creepy" performance. (Newley and Leslie Bricusse agreed it was too strange a tune to be the film version.)

  

  
  1993: Domark Software releases James Bond video game The Duel (Japan: 007 Shitō).
  Developed by "The Kremlin".

  James Bond Wiki
  jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/The_Duel
  
  
  
  
  
  

  1997: Tomorrow Never Dies begins filming the motorcycle chase.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  2016: The Bruce Museum's 29th Annual Renaissance Ball at the Greenwich Country Club takes on a James Bond theme. Greenwich, Connecticut. Casino tables, martini bar, and bids for travel packages.

  

  The Bruce Museum's 29th Annual
  Renaissance Ball is May 14th

  https://news.hamlethub.com/coscob/events/3178-the-bruce-museum-s-29th-annual-renaissance-ball-is-may-14th

  The Bruce Museum Board of Trustees Requests the Pleasure of Your Company at The 29th Annual Renaissance Ball. This year's gala will showcase the elegance for which 007 is known.

  Saturday, May 14, 2016
  6:30 pm
  Greenwich Country Club
  19 Doubling Road, Greenwich

  Black Tie * Valet Parking
  Art Silent Auction * Silent Auction * Live Auction

  
  2019: The Sun reports that Aston Martin is working on 25 special edition DB5s to cost £3.3m per.

  

  FULLY LOADED
  Aston Martin remaking its Goldfinger DB5
  with a 25-car limited-edition model costing £3.3m

  See the complete article here:
  

  https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/9085387/aston-martin-goldfinger-db5-25-cars-3-3million

  Bond special-effects wizard Chris Corbould is working with Aston Martin
  Revealed
  Edited by Rob Gill | 16 May 2019, 1:21
  
  THE difference between men and boys is the size of their toys, someone once said.
  
  Well, this side of an Apache gunship, you can’t get much better than a real Goldfinger DB5 loaded with all the original gadgets.

  
  Aston Martin is remaking the Goldfinger DB5 for 25 rich people, at £3.3million a pop —
  but it does come fully loaded. Credit: Max Earey www.maxearey.com

  - - - [More]
  
  

  2019: The Guardian reports on Daniel Craig's recovery from an ankle injury on the set of No Time To Die.

  

  Bond film delayed again after Daniel
  Craig hurt

  See the complete article here:
  

  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/14/bond-film-delayed-daniel-craig-injured-ankle-shooting-suspended

  Shooting suspended after star injured his ankle, adding another
  setback for the spy franchise

  
  Ankles aweigh … L to r, Léa Seydoux, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Naomie Harris and Lashana Lynch
  at a photocall for the Bond franchise’s 25th film.
  Photograph: Gilbert Bellamy/Reuters

  Andrew Pulver | @Andrew_Pulver

  Published on Tue 14 May 2019 06.58 EDT
  
  Production on the latest Bond film has been delayed again, after star Daniel Craig injured his ankle while filming an action sequence in Jamaica.
  
  According to the Sun, Craig slipped and fell while running, and the subsequent ankle injury resulted in him being flown to the US for treatment. Filming scheduled to take place at Pinewood studios in London has been postponed.
  
  This is not Craig’s first injury on a Bond set: in 2006 he had two teeth knocked out while making Casino Royale, lost a fingertip on Quantum of Solace in 2008, and hurt his knee in 2015 during the shoot for Spectre.
  
  The setback is the latest of a string of delays to Craig’s fifth – and reportedly final – outing as Bond. In 2018, director Danny Boyle unexpectedly dropped out due to “creative differences” and was replaced by Cary Fukunaga. A comprehensive script overhaul has seen a string of writers work on the project, including veteran Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Paul Haggis, Scott Z Burns and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
  
  It is not thought that Craig’s injury will affect the film’s opening date. Originally scheduled for release in November 2019, the film is now due to premiere in April 2020. [Later delayed to Fall 2020, April 2021, then Fall 2021.]

  
  2023: Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival presents Bond, The Beatles and the British Psyche
 with John Higgs - Love and Let Die at The Forum, Royal Tunbridge Wells, England.

  

  Bond, The Beatles and the British
  Psyche


  See the complete article here:
  

  https://www.twforum.co.uk/events/2023-05-14-john-higgs-love-and-let-die-the-forum

  Love and Let Die is the story of a clash between working class liberation and establishment control, and how it exploded on the global stage. It explains why James Bond hated the Beatles, why Paul McCartney wanted to be Bond, and why it was Ringo who won the heart of a Bond Girl in the end.
  
  Told over a period of sixty dramatic years, this is an opportunity to hear John Higgs give an account of how two outsized cultural monsters continue to define our aspirations and fantasies and the future we are building. Looking at these touchstones in this new context will forever change how you see the Beatles, the James Bond films and six decades.

  “Entertaining . . . an eccentric jaunt through the interwoven histories [of the Beatles and Bond]” - Sunday Times

  Authors Website https://johnhiggs.com/
  
  TIMES
  VENUE OPENS: 1:30pm
  EVENT STARTS: 2:00pm
  EVENT FINISHES: 3:30pm

  

  
  2023: Brisbane Writer's Festival presents Spies Like Us and the fictionalised escapades of the real-life inspiration for Miss Moneypenny at Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia.

  

  Spies Like Us

  See the complete article here:
  

  https://bwf.org.au/2023/brisbane-writers-festival/spies-like-us

  Sun 14 May 2023
  Christine Wells + Brett Mason + Melanie Myers
  
  Auditorium 2, slq
  Main Festival
  
  BWF098
  #Performances
  Sun 14 May 10AM
  
  Auditorium 2, slq
  2023 Festival event ticket
  $25.00
  2023 Festival Event - concession
  $22.50
  Enter your Gift membership code, discount code, member number or pass number and click Validate.
  Code:
  $5.00$10.00$25.00$50.00$100.00$250.00$500.00$1,000.00Other
  Ticketing by Ferve Tickets
  
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  #About the event
  
  Duration: 60 minutes

  Don your trenchcoat and go undercover for this tense discussion of spy-craft and diplomacy. The fictionalised escapades of the real-life inspiration for Miss Moneypenny and the remarkable true story of two Australians who helped the Allies win World War II both shine some light into the shady corners of subterfuge. Enjoy them shaken, not stirred.

  Christine Wells
  Christine Wells is an internationally bestselling author of fifteen published books. Her recent historical novel, Sisters of the Resistance, featuring Catherine Dior, was published by HarperCollins New York, and received mentions in American Vogue, The Wall Street Journal and The Times. Her most recent release, One Woman’s War, is about the real woman who inspired the character of Miss Moneypenny in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Christine writes about strong, clever women from the past, and as a former lawyer, she often features legal themes in her books. Christine lives in Brisbane and loves sharing her knowledge of the writing craft and the publishing business with other writers through workshops and private mentorships.
  
  Brett Mason
  Brett Mason is Chair of the Council of the National Library of Australia and Adjunct Professor in the School of Justice at QUT. He was formerly a Senator for Queensland , serving in the Ministry, before being appointed Australia's Ambassador to the Hague and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He is currently completing Saving Lieutenant Kennedy: JFK, Reg Evans and the birth of Australian-American Friendship.
  
  Melanie Myers
  Melanie is a writer, editor, playwright and researcher. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and teaches at the University of Queensland. In 2018, she won the Queensland Literary Awards Glendower Award for Emerging Writer. Her debut novel Meet Me at Lennon’s (UQP) was shortlisted for the 2020 QLA Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance and People’s Choice Award. Her writing has been published in Kill Your Darlings, Griffith Review, Arena Magazine, Overland, Hecate, TEXT and other publications. She is a winner of the 2022 Griffith Review Emerging Voices competition.