Bond On Bond by Roger Moore

stunt, known as the Astro Spiral Jump, on 12 January 1972 at the Houston Astrodome. Always keen to hear about anything a bit unusual or daring, Cubby was soon told about the stunt everyone was talking about, and put a call through to Milligan.
    Researchers at Cornell University for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did a computer simulation of the stunt to calculate the exact angles required, speeds to drive and so forth. These details were passed over to the production team, and the bridge was erected.
    The AMC Hornet that performed the amazing 360-degree roll in
The Man With The Golden Gun
.
    With Milligan supervising, the 360-degree spiral was shot in just one take, with British stuntman ‘Bumps’ Williard at the wheel and with eight cameras simultaneously capturing the action. Meanwhile divers, ambulances and cranes were on standby in case of any unforeseen consequences. The jump was over in a second and to achieve greater screen time is shown in slow motion. Williard was given a large bonus for completing it on the first take, by the way.
    When Q retired, he envisaged a life of fishing. So he built himself a fishing boat – albeit with missiles, GPS and other gadgets. Perhaps to help land those big catches?
     
    Though sometimes, when a BMW or Aston is not available, a smaller mode of transport will suffice.
     
    With
Die Another Day
the Aston Martin was back, in the shape of the Vanquish – or Vanish, as 007 dubbed it.
     
    And here is the Vanquish in action!
     
    With Daniel Craig, a new Aston Martin was introduced – the DB9. Something tells me he’ll have to go for the expensive valeting option.

_______________________
    BOND
    ON
    STYLE
    _______________________
    Sharing a glass of bubbly in Chantilly with Tania Roberts.

BOND ON STYLE
    O nce upon a time, heroes wore chainmail and armour, rode around on horses and sat down to an opulent banquet using their bare hands to tear apart their food. That wouldn’t do for Jimmy Bond – the quintessential well-dressed English spy who epitomizes style. Old Jimbo has become something of a style icon and the phrase ‘living the Bond lifestyle’ conjures up images of the very best things life has to offer by way of sharp clothes, expensive champagnes, fast cars, beautiful women, speed boats and fine dining.
    The famous vodka Martini, so often stirred instead of being shaken. Although I never ordered one in any of my seven films, here I am with one – though not, I hasten to add, served in a proper Martini glass.
     
    Mention the ‘Bond lifestyle’ and images of casinos, fast cars, speedboats and beautiful girls all come to mind, as is so brilliantly illustrated in this competition flyer from 1989.
    Bond preferred Polish or Russian vodka at a time when the only brand available in the West would have been Stolichnaya. Besides his famous ‘Martini, shaken, not stirred’, Jim often drank a shot of straight vodka, served with a pinch of black pepper. This was not for the flavour, he explained, ‘but because it caused the impurities in cheap vodka to sink to the bottom’. Though I fear that trick wouldn’t have improved the Siamese vodka he downed in the film
You Only Live Twice
!
    Variation on a theme – Daniel Craig enjoys a Vesper Martini with Eva Green – aka Vesper – in
Casino Royale
. When Vesper asks Bond if he named the drink after her because of the bitter aftertaste, 007 replies that he named it for her, ‘because once you have tasted it, you won’t drink anything else.’
    Bond and vodka have gone hand in hand since
Dr. No
, when the titular villain handed 007 a ‘Martini, shaken not stirred’. This fleeting moment in the film literally changed the way Martini drinkers made their cocktails from then on, shifting from the traditional gin to a vodka-based drink and popularizing the vodka Martini the world over.
    I myself prefer a gin Martini and, in all my years of travelling, believe the best is served in the bar of Maison Pic, in