{"id":384469,"date":"2025-08-30T06:37:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T06:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384469\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T06:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T06:37:18","slug":"britains-james-bond-trail-explored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384469\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s James Bond trail explored"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katy PrickettBBC News, Buckinghamshire<\/p>\n

\"DanjaqDanjaq LLC\/United Artists\/Columbia Pictures<\/p>\n

Daniel Craig as James Bond on location in the Highlands of Scotland during the filming of Skyfall<\/p>\n

James Bond is associated with exotic locations, underwater adventures and even space travel, but the origins of the fictional spy can be found all across Britain. <\/p>\n

Superfan Edward Biddulph has visited 163 British places with connections to the 007 books, their creator Ian Fleming – or the films they inspired. <\/p>\n

The locations are detailed in his new book, The James Bond Lover’s Guide to Britain, and include the factory where Bond’s favourite jam is still made and a site where Mr Fleming went treasure hunting.<\/p>\n

“Other Bond books focus only on the films, but I wanted to look at the novels as well as the locations with a connection to Bond or Ian Fleming,” said Mr Biddulph. <\/p>\n

“I’m not sure I can remember a time when I wasn’t a fan,” the archaeologist from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire said.<\/p>\n

“I was aware when the films came on and was somehow attracted to this adventurous character.”<\/p>\n

\"OxfordOxford Archaeology East<\/p>\n

Edward Biddulph said all the James Bond actors have contributed different things to the role <\/p>\n

Aged nine or 10, Mr Biddulph, who now works for Oxford Archaeology, began reading the novels, and by his teens “had become a serious fan”.<\/p>\n

Soon, he wanted to know more about the background of the stories, as well as find out how and where the films were made. <\/p>\n

“I suppose this is a link to my job as an archaeologist, as I’m fascinated with finding out the origins of things, the stories behind things I see on the screen or read about so I’m a fan, but also taken a bit of an academic view of James Bond,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I like finding these little nuggets people have missed.”<\/p>\n

It took him a year to visit the sites, using weekends and holidays. Here are a few of the locations he visited. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph has a soft spot for Roger Moore, the James Bond of his childhood. He filmed at the Nene Valley Railway near Peterborough for Octopussy<\/p>\n

A high point of the film Octopussy (1983) sees Bond driving a car on to the railway tracks as he desperately tries to catch up with a train racing through East Germany.<\/p>\n

The baddie, General Orlov, has secretly loaded it with a nuclear bomb, primed to explode at a circus performance at a United States Air Force base in West Germany.<\/p>\n

The scenes were not shot in Europe, but at the Nene Valley Railway, which runs between Peterborough and Yarwell, on the Cambridgeshire-Northamptonshire border. <\/p>\n

\"EdwardEdward Biddulph<\/p>\n

Fans can visit three recognisable locations from the film, including Orton Mere, Overton and Wansford Station (above)<\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph said: “Wansford station is where most of the filming was done and there’s a level crossing there used for the film, as well as one of the carriages – so you can go to the station and pretend you are in the film and walk around pretending to be James Bond.”<\/p>\n

The film starred Roger Moore, for whom Mr Biddulph has “a soft spot”.<\/p>\n

“I grew up with his Bond and I do like that slightly saucy seaside postcard-style of his,” he said. <\/p>\n

The railway line also stood in for Russia in Goldeneye (1995).<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Sean Connery as Bond having an intense conversation with Karin Dor as Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice <\/p>\n

In a dramatic scene in You Only Live Twice (1967), Bond is on a small plane piloted by Spectre villain Helga Brandt travelling from Kobe to Tokyo in Japan. <\/p>\n

He believes she has defected from the criminal organisation, but instead she traps him before leaving by parachute.<\/p>\n

\"EdwardEdward Biddulph<\/p>\n

This airfield in Buckinghamshire doubled up for Japan, for one of Bond’s daring escapes, with a few extra plants scattered around <\/p>\n

Bond (Sean Connery) manages to break free and crash-land the plane, with Finemere Airfield near Buckingham, standing in for Japan.<\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph said: “There is a little bit of set dressing – with some scrubby plants placed around the runway, but that’s it – it doesn’t look too different today.”<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Ian Fleming expressed ideas on race and gender which are seen as horrifying in many aspects, but were of the time he wrote in, said Mr Biddulph<\/p>\n

In the Bond novel Live and Let Die (1954), the spy is on the trail of SMERSH operative Mr. Big, who is smuggling gold coins from Jamaica.<\/p>\n

It is believed to be the long-lost coin hoard of a 17th Century pirate.<\/p>\n

Mr Fleming became inspired by treasure stories after he was sent by the Sunday Times to write a report on an underwater excavation conducted by Jacques Cousteau, the French marine explorer and film maker, said Mr Biddulph.<\/p>\n

On his return, he sent a letter to the Sunday Times appealing for stories about treasure in Britain – and this brought him to Creake Abbey, near Fakenham, Norfolk. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The ruins at Creak Abbey were overgrown in shrubbery when Mr Fleming went there treasure hunting <\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph said: “Using the Royal Engineers, who he somehow knew wanted to test their mine detecting equipment, he ran their detector over the site.<\/p>\n

“When they got a metal signal, they would plant a flag so they could come back and dig up the spot.”<\/p>\n

They only discovered discarded modern pots and pans, but an excavation in the 1990s discovered many medieval artefacts. <\/p>\n

“This was one of the first times a metal detector was used for an archaeological survey, so Fleming was quite a pioneer in archaeology,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Also that letter he sent to the Sunday Times asking for possible treasure sites? Well, it wasn’t signed by Ian Fleming, he signed it James Bond.”<\/p>\n

\"EdwardEdward Biddulph<\/p>\n

Luton Hoo Hotel became a private health clinic, where James Bond is sent to recover, in Never Say Never Again<\/p>\n

Bond (Connery again) has got a little out of shape, so his boss M has sent him to a health farm called Shrublands in Never Say Never Again (1983).<\/p>\n

He witnesses a nurse called Fatima Blush beating up a patient and, as she is a Spectre agent, she sends an assassin to kill him.<\/p>\n

Luton Hoo Hotel, near Luton, Bedfordshire, is the grand house which stands in for the health farm – and it later features in another Bond film. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

The hotel’s interiors were also used during the The World is Not Enough, starring Pierce Brosnan and Sophie Marceau<\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph said: “Its interiors appear in The World is Not Enough (1999), doubling as the luxury Azerbaijan home of the baddy, Elektra King. <\/p>\n

“The very grand spiral staircase is used and today it looks pretty much as it looks in the film.”<\/p>\n

\"EdwardEdward Biddulph<\/p>\n

A leisurely breakfast for Bond in his Chelsea flat included his favourite jam (above)<\/p>\n

There is a rare glimpse of Bond’s home life at his flat in Chelsea in the novel From Russia with Love (1957).<\/p>\n

He is having breakfast – a single soft boiled egg, cooked for three minutes and 25 seconds, while on his toast he puts Tiptree’s Little Scarlet strawberry jam. <\/p>\n

“There’s quite a bit of detail on the food in the novels and while they don’t move the plot on, they very much give a sense of place and atmosphere,” said Mr Biddulph, who visited the Essex village of Tiptree, where the company’s factory is still based. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Mr Fleming drew upon his experiences during the war, as a journalist and from his travels to give his novels a sense of time and place<\/p>\n

Other favourites included Frank Cooper’s vintage marmalade, Norwegian heather honey, while Bond, like Mr Fleming, is a Francophile in the novels, who enjoys French food. <\/p>\n

Mr Biddulph has researched meals listed in the novels, found recipes for them<\/a> and has recreated them all for another project. <\/p>\n

Despite being immersed in all things 007, he has unearthed some surprises during his tour of Bond’s British sites.<\/p>\n

“What I’ve really learnt, though, is all across Britain, you’re never far away from a James Bond connection,” he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katy PrickettBBC News, Buckinghamshire Danjaq LLC\/United Artists\/Columbia Pictures Daniel Craig as James Bond on location in the Highlands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-384469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115116340428276678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}