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Licence To Queer covers queer aspects of Bond books, video games and more. Search here for your favourite titles and characters or find content related to particular queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc).
Our Month in Bond
There’s no such thing as a quiet month when you’re a James Bond fan. And July was certainly no exception.
Travelling with James Bond
Kim Sherwood and David Lowbridge-Ellis talk with a live audience about all things travel and 007. How much is travel is responsible for the success of the books and films? Why do we have the urge to make pilgrimages to Bond locations? What can we learn from Bond about how to travel (and how not to)?
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
On the drive back from seeing the latest Mission: Impossible in the cinema (not handcuffed together), Antony and David try to not fall out with each other while discussing whether it's helpful (or not) to make comparisons with James Bond. They also talk about the queer elements, the Hitchcock influences and the really really cool bit where *spoilers*.
Our Month in Bond
This month was a busy one! Highlights included plenty of Prides, On The Tracks at the Nene Valley Railway, a visit to Ian Fleming Publications and David receiving an MBE in King Charles's Birthday Honours. Talk about keeping the British end up!
A Wild & True Conversation
Kim Sherwood's 'A Wild & True Relation' is an amazingly queer book. For Pride Month 2023, David Lowbridge-Ellis gets truthful with the Bond author about her 18th Century-set swashbuckler, examining how and why she created such a moving and rollicking tale of self-determination, freedom of sexual orientation, chosen family and defied gender expectations.
On His Majesty’s Secret Service: Declassified
David Lowbridge-Ellis delves deeply into all aspects of On His Majesty’s Secret Service with its author, Charlie Higson. No topic is off limits. David and Charlie get stuck into the core of the thrilling story, exploring the real life inspirations for the villain and his dastardly plot. They also tackle the really important questions, such as: should we trust someone if they have a six pack which is “ridged like a Toblerone”? What was the inspiration for giving Bond a ‘friend with benefits’? What kind of underpants does 007 wear? And, perhaps most pressingly of all, why might eating fermented foods make one ‘woke’?
‘Donate Another Day’: our 2023 UNICEF fundraiser
Last year, more than 90 Bond fans raised over £2700 in a single day for Roger Moore’s beloved UNICEF. This year, we’re raising money for the charity by uniting around our love for the Bond films of another UNICEF ambassador: Pierce Brosnan. Here’s everything you need to know.
“Happy Birthday James!”
Kim Sherwood and David Lowbridge-Ellis celebrate 70 Years of Bond by getting together with an audience to talk all things Fleming.
Book Review: On His Majesty’s Secret Service by Charlie Higson (no spoilers)
Written in haste so it could be released in advance of the Coronation of King Charles, there were concerns that Higson’s ‘fast show’ of a novel might not manage to keep the Bondian end up. But what could be more appropriate for 007 than a race against time?
You only allude twice: Fleming’s associations between Shakespeare and St George
April 23rd is a double celebration in England, with both of those being celebrated – St George and Shakespeare - coming together in the climactic chapters of not one but two Bond novels.
A Japanese musical of Casino Royale!
Takarazuka Revue’s ‘Casino Royale - My name is Bond’ is not only the first stage play of 007; it’s also a musical. And all of the roles - including Bond himself - are played by women. Here is our extensive coverage of this unforgettable one-of-a-kind production.
‘James Bond is what every man would like to be and what every woman would like between her sheets’. Over six decades, this assertion has become received wisdom. But it turns out we’ve been lied to the whole time…