By Dave Worrall
Photos copyright Mark Mawston. All rights reserved.
The
50th anniversary of the James Bond film series got off the grid yesterday (Sun
15th) with the official launch of 'Bond in Motion: 50 Vehicles, 50 Years', an exhibition
of OO7-related vehicles at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu in Hampshire. To commemorate this historic
turning point in the Bond franchise, Eon Productions (the Bond film-makers) and
the motor museum (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), have put
together the largest official collection of famous James Bond vehicles the
world has ever seen.
Sunday
also saw Eon kick-start the 50th anniversary with many special features in
British newspapers and magazine supplements including The Mail on Sunday and The
Sunday Mirror.
Before
opening to the public on January 17th, the world's press and selected guests
were invited to attend the unveiling of fifty different forms of transport to
celebrate fifty years of the OO7 movies.
Guests
in attendance included Chris Courbold (SFX Casino
Royale-Skyfall), Vic Armstrong (Stunt co-ordinator and 2nd unit director on
many films), actors Colin Salmon (Die
Another Day), Shane Rimmer (You Only
Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me)
and Ken Wallis, the inventor of the autogyro who doubled Sean Connery in the
sequences with 'Little Nellie' in You
Only Live Twice.
American
businessman Michael Dezer, who purchased the entire 'Cars of the Stars' and
'Bond Museums' last year, flew over especially for the occasion. The boat from From Russia With Love was loaned to the
museum by Mr Dezer for the exhibition.
Mr Dezer's car museum, which is anticipated to be the largest in the world, is
due to open this year in Florida.
On
hand to meet and greet the press were the board members of The Ian Fleming
Foundation (who have loaned 16 vehicles from their collection to the
exhibition): Doug Redenius, Michael VanBlaricum, Dave Reinhardt, Brad Frank and
yours truly. It was also good to see Gareth Owen and Andy Boyle of
Bondstars.com there, who had arranged for Bond actresses Britt Ekland, Madeline
Smith, Eunice Gayson and Jenny Hanley to attend and add a bit of glamour to the
event and officially open the event with Ralph Montagu, son of Lord Montagu,
owner of the museum.
Representatives
from the Bond community in attendance included www.mi6confidential.com, Ajay Chowdhury of The James Bond International Fan
Club and Anders Frejdh of the web site 'From Sweden With Love'.
Vehicles
on display include Bond's Aston Martin from Quantum
Of Solace, Goldfinger's Phantom III Rolls-Royce from Goldfinger, the BMW 750iL from Tomorrow
Never Dies, Tracy's Cougar from On
Her Majesty's Secret Service, the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me and the autogyro 'Little Nellie' from You Only Live Twice, to name but a few.
There is also a huge glass wall of various James Bond props and models on
display, as well as interactive video displays.
Open
until the end of the year, this is the first of many special James Bond 50th anniversary
events planned for 2012, and one well worth seeing.
For further information click here