Thunderball

As a tribute to the late John Barry, professional musician Tim Mottershead takes an in-depth look at John Barry’s contribution to the James Bond films.

Fleming had been working with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham on a film project, and when it fell through Fleming turned the material he had into Thunderball. Once published he found himself in court and subsequently lost the case in favour of McClory and Whittington. The result of the case is that all copies of [...]

The Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond – Sean Connery – in Goldfinger and Thunderball to make only U.S. appearance in advance of its October auction sale.

We only have to wait until Ian Fleming’s second James Bond novel, “Live And Let Die”, to find 007 scuba diving, when Bond is on the tail Mr Big. Ian Fleming was fascinated by the underwater world and sea life, probably the season it features prominently in two Bond novels. Fleming had met underwater pioneer [...]

The success of the first three James Bond films in the early 1960s had led to a huge array of copycat spy thrillers. In an attempt to ensure the Bond franchise remained at the forefront of the action genre, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzmann decided to make Thunderball, Fleming’s ninth James Bond book. With a [...]

Kevin McClory could see huge cinematic potential in James Bond and was eager for Ivar Bryce to finance a project to finally bring 007 to the big screen. He had just directed his first feature financed by Bryce, “The Boy And The Bridge” which was Britain’s official entry in the 1959 Venice Film Festival.