In just three years, Licence to Queer readers have raised more than £9000 for charities, including UNICEF, Papyrus - Prevention of Young Suicide and - for 2025 - Prostate Cancer UK.

When it came to deciding on the films for this year’s epic watchlong (with cocktails and costume changes!), which takes place on Sunday 25th May, we could have gone with the obvious choice: a marathon of Connery’s films. And while we will get around to doing that in 2026, we thought of something more fitting for this year’s chosen charity.

2025’s charity

Last summer, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Whenever I find myself in a situation which I can’t control, I do a deep dive on the topic, desperately learning everything I can about it in the hope that it will give me some kind of edge. It’s silly, I know. But I couldn’t help it.

Last summer, I read EVERYTHING I could get my hands on about prostate cancer, from peer reviewed journals on the latest treatment methods, to the guides on websites such as Prostate Cancer UK written for patients and their families.

While I already knew that prostate cancer was the most common cancer in men, I didn’t realise this meant 1 in 8 will be diagnosed with it in their lifetimes. Knowing this brought a small quantum of solace; I told myself “it’s a common disease so there will likely be a good chance of my dad receiving effective treatment.”

This small quantum was squashed somewhat when we were told my dad had a particularly aggressive form of prostate cancer and the prognosis would not be good if it had spread. For several agonising weeks, we waited to find out whether it had spread or not. We were greatly relieved to be told that the scan indicated it did not appear to have gone very far. Even so, my dad would need intensive treatment, which he duly received and from which he is now recovering.

You can watch a chat with my dad and me about his diagnosis and treatment here…

You can check your own risk of prostate cancer with this quick 3 question quiz: https://prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker

Anyone with a prostate can get prostate cancer, not just cis men. This includes trans women, non-binary people assigned male at birth and some intersex people. Prostate Cancer UK have some useful information: https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate-information-and-support/risk-and-symptoms/trans-women-and-prostate-cancer

The whole experience with my dad would have been much worse if we hadn’t been able to access reliable sources of information, such as those from Prostate Cancer UK. Not only does the charity help men and their families navigate the disease, but they also save lives by raising awareness, campaigning for change and funding lifesaving research.

The Other Fellas

Knowing we wanted to make Prostate Cancer UK our charity for 2025, and knowing how many men the disease affects, led us to the idea of doing a marathon of many Bonds. We didn’t want to repeat any of the films from previous events (Moore, Brosnan, Craig) and we knew we would do Connery at some point in the future. This left the men who have played Bond only once or twice. The men in question:

Barry Nelson (Casino Royale Climax!)

David Niven, Peter Sellers, Terence Cooper (Casino Royale ‘67) [I’m very aware that this story also features no fewer than four women James Bond 007s!)

George Lazenby (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)

Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill)

Here’s how the panned out:

Sunday 25th May 2025 ‘The Other Fellas’

All times in British Summer Time (BST)

10am Casino Royale Climax! (aka Casino Royale ‘54)

Cocktail: Climax! Royale (see video below)

11.30am Casino Royale ‘67

Cocktail: Sir James Bond

2.30pm On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Cocktail: We Have All The Thyme In The World

5.30pm The Living Daylights