Your Bond Experiences

TJ

Richard Chopping

I actually knew Richard ‘Dickie’ Chopping growing up as he was a close family friend along with his partner and renowned artist Denis Wirth-Miller who lived in Essex, England. I grew up in Hampshire and we we holidayed a few times with them in France.

Both were bon vivants, Denis a renowned artist in his own right but lived somewhat in the shadow of his great friend Francis Baco. He was the one who suggested a hole in a piece of wood with a card underneath reminiscent of a private club for the cover of ‘For Your Eyes Only’.…

Dave

I owed my brother greatly. He had helped in more than one assignment and always off the books. When our schedules permitted I arranged a dinner for my “off the book” agent.

Arriving at the Del Frisco’s steakhouse in Las Vegas we sat at the bar and enjoyed a cocktail (vodka martini’s with blue cheese stuffed olives.)

While waiting for our strip steaks and wine, we noticed a very interesting table near the front.

It was a James Bond table.

The James Bond table was a simple yet elegant table. We inquired what made it so special and after a few seconds the table “Blossomed” and the James Bond theme music began playing.…

JG

Having spent most of my life in South Florida it was not uncommon for me to see exotic cars on the streets. Unfortunately, of all the vehicles I had seen I had never had the opportunity to see an Aston Martin DB5 up close. This has always been a dream of mine, a dream which was realized just a few weeks ago at the Dezer James Bond Car Collection in Miami.

Walking into the massive exhibit area, I could not help but notice that due to me going on a weekday, I was alone and it was going to be a private tour.…

Nathanael Means

The polar star against which I have measured my life has always been my own notion of a Bond Experience encapsulated in the old-fashioned, but mildly modern, English gentleman. For me it is more than the films; the Bond Experience speaks to the way of living of that older generation of Englishmen and Americans like Ian Fleming who did service in the Second World War.

I look not exclusively to Fleming to find the essence of the James Bond lifestyle.

I see the world that Fleming captured in James Bond similarly revealed in the genteel, English manner of living of Americans like the columnist Joseph Alsop who defined the American Anglophiles of the age as the W.A.S.P Ascendancy.…

Frank Herbert

This may be a bit of a different story for you.

I have been a Bond fan since 1964 (Goldfinger). In Sept 2011, I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. This knocked the winds out of my sails.

The first thing you think of is how far off death is and ill I ever see Bond 23??

I elected to do radiation treatment but before I began the treatment, I started my Bucket List. I took a short trip to London and searched out some filming locations; some from past Bond movies and also from “Skyfall”.

When I returned home, I started my radiation treatment.…

Dan Longoria

Many years ago when I lived in Chicago a friend and I used to go snow skiing. As beginners we both took many pratfalls of a histerical nature. On one trips toward late evening, the temp was dropping and the number of skiers was thinning down.

I had a habit of swinging my right ski pole over the top of the tow rope to facilitate holding on to the tow rope easier. As night was falling I had done just that as usual. As my friend passed me he took a particularly hilarious fall. I started laughing and somehow tripped and fell.…

As a journalist, I have had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing many celebrities. Their star power usually doesn’t faze me. Only one time did I ever become “star struck.” It involved a chance encounter in 1987 with James Bond himself, Sir Sean Connery.

I had been a college senior attending a work-related conference in Vancouver, Canada. The hotel in which I had been booked screwed up and, to make it, right transferred me to the more-upscale Mandarin Oriental. There, a co-worker had been talking to the desk clerk who told him Sean Connery was staying at the hotel. He told me, knowing that I was a huge 007 fan.…

Joseph McNeil

The icon Sean Connery picture.

Growing up in the 60 and 70s, I was always a huge Bond fan and especially aligned with Sean Connery. The iconic picture of Sean Connery holding the long barreled pistol next to his cheek is such a classic photo. However, the photo was so iconic that I never gave it much thought till about a year ago, that the 1950s competition Walther LP53 (LP stands for Luftpistole or “air pistol”) that my dad had let me shoot from time to time when I was growing up and that I now have packed away in a trunk in my closet, could possibly be the same gun.…

Kaleb Kochensparger

Dressed for my Day of Bond

On Thursday November 8th, prepping to see Skyfall at midnight, I decided that I would spend my entire day doing Bond related activities.

I started out the day with a bond style breakfast which consisted of black coffee, and scrambled eggs prepared the way Ian Fleming suggested.

I then pulled out my Bond 50 Blu-ray box set and watched Goldeneye through Quantum Of Solace. Between Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, I followed James Bonds shower routine of hot then cold, shaved with manual razor that bond would approve and so on.

Then I continued my marathon, and when my marathon came to Casino Royale, I contemplated having a vodka martini but decided not to since my 21 year old body can’t handle that much liquor yet so I settled for whiskey, neat and I drank it in a similar style to Bond-s post stairwell fight.…

Sham K

I’m going to take a different twist at the Bond Experience. As David said, it’s about living like Bond, and enjoying the things in life that are taken for granted.

A few years ago, I had a chance to go to London on an all-expense paid business trip for a week. I decided to bring my wife and young daughter with me, as it would be great to share the experience and show them a city I’ve visited since I was a child.

The Ritz

Firstly, I started out by flying by Virgin Atlantic, the current airline of the Bond franchise.…