Jill, Tilly, Paula, Aki, Plenty, Andrea, Corinne, Solange… None of these girls make it to the end credits alive and some of their deaths serve purposes which are dubious at best. Sam Rogers explores how the Bury The Gays trope can be applied to the girls that Bond fails to protect.

In my offline life I teach English so I took an absurd amount of pleasure in writing these questions to accompany a reading of Casino Royale. But don’t worry - they’re more like book club reflections than questions you’d get in an English lesson, although don’t blame me if you end up accidentally learning something. And there are definitely no right or wrong answers (such an English teacher thing to say!).

Appearing in only one scene, The Living Daylights’ Rosika Miklos is nevertheless one of the most memorable characters in any Bond film. So I was overjoyed when the actress who brought her indelibly to life, Julie T. Wallace, shared with me her thoughts on Rosika and the nature of her previous “work” with 007.

Timothy Dalton delivers a 007 in transition. A stark contrast with Roger Moore’s portrayal only two years earlier, his new Bond opens up exciting new possibilities. In a story obsessed with border crossings and double crossings, will Bond be more prepared to cross lines in his personal and professional lives?

A new single has brought together a diverse band of Bond fans, with music by Chris Wood, fashion videography by Spencie d’Entremont and artwork by Billy Robertson. They told me about their creative choices and how connecting with other Bond fans is helping them during lockdown. Their project also inspired me to create a brand new cocktail which you can find the recipe for here.

As you probably know by now, we like a Martini (or two) in our house. In this short video, which I shot in one take, I show how you can make a perfect Casino Royale Vesper Martini in just a couple of minutes (with an unplanned cameo from my husband, Antony).

'In my profession,' said Bond prosily, 'the exact meaning of words is vital.’ As a Bond fan with a degree in linguistics I couldn’t agree more. New readers of Fleming’s Bond novels may be surprised to read words which have shifted in meaning since Ian Fleming used them in the 1950s and early 1960s, particularly words associated with homosexuality: ‘faggot’, ‘gay’ and ‘queer’. Many are quick to dismiss them as relics of an earlier age. But when we look at these words in context, it becomes apparent that Fleming might have been fully aware of what he was doing all along…

Those who subscribe to the ‘codename theory’ - the idea that James Bond is not someone’s real name but an identity passed from one agent to another - can’t deal with the apparent lack of continuity in the character’s appearance and personality over several decades. But for queer people in particular, it gives the character yet another dimension we can relate to: the ability to change while also staying, fundamentally, the same.

Why is Casino Royale’s Vesper Lynd such a queer icon? Perhaps it’s because she does such a good job of keeping a secret, one she gets to reveal to the world on her own terms. But the original script shows that this wasn’t always the case…

James Bond dies! (in more ways that one)
James Bond gets married! (for convenience)
James Bond turns Japanese! (and is actually quite happy until he’s dragged back to ‘normal’ life against his will)
Also: more phallic objects than you can shake a stick at (oh behave!)

When I was interviewed for The A.V. Club’s Why We Love - Pride Edition series, I shared publicly for the first time many of the ideas about Bond that had been going around in my head for years. Here is the full, unedited interview.