What’s He Looking At?
How three guys with canes raised a couple of questions.
“How come it’s taken me over 50 years to notice that in Dr. No when Bond arrives at Stangways house and the Police Commissioner looks across the garden he’s looking at the “Three Blind Mice” walking by?!”
While rewatching Dr. No this week for an upcoming podcast show (more on that below) I was suddenly struck by a background detail I hadn’t noticed before. I had to rewind and watch the scene again to make sure I was seeing what I thought I saw. Then I paused the movie and took a screenshot which I posted on Twitter along with the question above.
It turned out to be a pretty popular question, with over 12,000 views, more than 200 likes, and 30 plus comments in just the first three days of it being online. Based on the comments it seems I was not alone in failing to spot the infamous Jamaican assassins in the background.
This minor revelation left me with a couple of questions.
Why were they there, and why was the Police Chief looking at them? - Is this for a plot point from the shooting script that didn’t get followed up or was cut in the edit?
While working on the James Bond Lexicon we conducted multiple close watches of all the movies and took copious notes of things we spotted in the background - but I’m now wondering how many other background details didn’t we catch?
As Pete le Dezma (@Deckard97) noted in the Twitter thread in response to my initial post
“Bond films are fun like that, you discover new details every time.”
We couldn’t agree more - Alan
Bond Briefing
A massive thank you to our first few rounds of subscribers. The reception and uptake of folks registering to receive this newsletter exceeded any expectations we had. It was a very humbling start seeing the names roll in as folks signed on.
Bond People
You have probably never heard the name Julio Vazquez. He wasn’t active on the various Bond community related social media channels, and he never wrote a book about Bond. But Julio was a Bond fan who knew his Fleming source material and liked to share that knowledge and enthusiasm.
Back in 2016, Julio started to do volunteer reading for visually impaired folks in his local area. This eventually led to a gig with a charity organization known as Triangle Radio Reading Services. As part of that gig, Julio decided to read all the Fleming books in chronological order. Doing his bit to help spread awareness of Ian Felming’s James Bond, while also providing entertainment for those who could no longer read the printed word.
As well as being a Bond fan, Julio and Alan were professional colleagues and friends. As we write this it’s just a few hours since we found out that he has passed away unexpectedly.
This edition of The James Bond Lexicon Newsletter is respectfully dedicated to his memory.
Bond Reads
A round-up of thoughts on Bond-related books recently read or announced.
This edition’s Bond read isn’t directly 007 related - but sort of Bond-adjacent you might say
“The Best of Jane Bond” by Mike Hubbard
We always smile when we see some news report with someone suggesting the “radical” idea of a female super-spy named Jane Bond.
It’s been done, and done well. In the pages of sixties British girls comics Princess, and Tina.
The titular heroine has no connection with 007 beyond her last name and profession. She’s a strong independent and capable character in her own right. The multi-skilled top agent of WorldPol is sent out on missions to help keep the world safe.
These are fun stories with a strong sixties-style adventure very reminiscent of The Avengers (Steed and Peel variety).
The artwork here is highly illustrative and flows well adding to the sense of pace needed to keep a story flowing when you only get two to three pages a week.
As an aside, this strip showed just what a concept like Girl From U.N.C.L.E. could have been instead of the embarrassing mess it turned out to be.
Bond Chronology
An extract from our current in-progress project. - A detailed chronology of the James Bond phenomenon from creation until today, one month at a time.
JULY 1952
Ian Fleming eventually sends his friend William Plomer, a copy of the Casino Royale manuscript. After reading it Plomer passes the manuscript on to Daniel George, another reader at the Jonathan Cape publishing company for a second opinion.
The manuscript is sent to publisher Jonathan Cape with a note from Plomer recommending publication. Jonathan Cape Publishers agrees to publish Casino Royale
14
Daniel Goerge writes the first fan letter about James Bond when responding to Plomer :
“I sat up till 1:20 last night. ‘Casino Royale’ made me sit up. It was so exciting that I could persuade myself that I was back at the old baccarat table, and the vodka and caviar were so delicious that I tolerated the abominable condition of the typescript.”.
—------------
Bond Blatherings
As this edition of the newsletter drops we are just a few days away from the scheduled recording of our new podcast show - Bond vs Spy Movies in which we will once more be taking a chronological look at the EON-produced 007 movies, but this time we will do a side by side comparison with another spy movie released the same year.
We will be kicking things off in 1962 with a head-to-head between Dr. No and The Manchurian Candidate.
Bond for Sale
Looking for a few #JamesBond book ideas? - How about checking out our dedicated 007 on-line bookstore?
Of course, there is always our own James Bond Lexicon which you can order from Bookshop.org just be clicking HERE or on the cover below.
If you would like a personalized, signed copy we still have a few copies of both the James Bond Lexicon and James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 in stock. Just drop us a note at alan@jamesbondlexicon.com and we can get that fixed for you. (Sorry US only at the moment due to shipping costs)
Where to Find Us Online
For more information on what else we have going on with writing, podcasting, and general slice-of-life stuff, check out our regular FREE weekly CAN’T SEE THE FOREST newsletter -
We also have our monthly Before They Were Beatles newsletter featuring articles and news related to all things early Beatles
Forest Comics & Books - Our eBay store, which usually has a few Bond items for sale along with all sorts of other pop-culture-related goodies which can be found HERE
You can now find links to all the places you can find Alan online, websites, newsletters, social media, and more in a single LINKS page on his personal website.
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter
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