007 celebrates b’day amid girls, guns and gadgets

From Odd Job’s deadly bowler hat to Scaramanga’s golden gun, James Bond celebrated his 40th anniversary in the movies on Tuesday w...

From Odd Job’s deadly bowler hat to Scaramanga’s golden gun, James Bond celebrated his 40th anniversary in the movies on Tuesday with an exhibition celebrating the world’s most famous spy.

For Barbara Broccoli, whose late father ‘‘Cubby’’ was the mastermind behind the cinema’s most successful spy films, the exhibition at London’s Science Museum was like a walk down memory lane.

‘‘It is like seeing my whole life,’’ Broccoli said at the press launch of the show which was also attended by Christopher Lee and Honor Blackman who fondly recalled their Bond days as Scaramanga and Pussy Galore.

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‘‘I am 42. This really is like walking through my whole life,’’ Broccoli said of the movies that began in 1962 with Dr No and reach number 20 next month with Die Another Day.

Broccoli said: ‘‘I started on school vacations working on the set making tea and coffee. The first one I had a full-time job on was Octopussy. Now I am a producer with my brother Michael Wilson.’’

Pierce Brosnan has just starred in his fourth Bond movie and Broccoli would dearly love him to stick with the role which he has said is ‘‘like slipping on a comfy pair of old slippers.’’ ‘‘I’d love him to do another Bond,’’ Broccoli said.

‘‘People always ask me who the next Bond is. That is like asking a bride walking down the aisle who her next husband is going to be.’’

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And from Sean Connery to Roger Moore, she refused to be drawn into the old game about who was the definitive Bond.

‘‘It is like asking someone who their favourite sibling is. Each one has meant a lot to me growing up and I have been lucky to be friends with them,’’ she said.

And when it comes to the girls, guns and gadgets, the exhibition does not stint. Signing in with a Bond switch card, you are taken into spymaster M’s plush London office and whisked through to Q’s gadget room. Then pause to admire Rosa Klebb’s infamous flick-knife shoes.

Cling to the Golden Gate Bridge and relive one of Bond’s deadliest fights. Boo the baddies from Blofeld to Goldfinger. Plunge into the villain’s lair as the special effects blast off. The exhibition runs in London until next March when it goes on world tour. (Reuters)