The London Traveler

James Bond is the quintessential Englishman, and unsurprisingly, London figures largely in the James Bond books and films.

For instance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond visits the College of Arms – he intends to impersonate genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, who has been working to secure the villain Blofeld a coat of arms.

In Octopussy, again, the real world appears in the film, with the Fabergé egg being auctioned off at Sotheby’s.

But London turns up in some rather odd ways too, if you actually track the locations through the films, as Tony Reeves does in Movie London.

MI6 starts off location at the Old War Office. Then it moves to Malaysia House, on Trafalgar Square – easily recognisable to any movie audience as a major London landmark. In Tomorrow Never Dies, spy HQ has moved to Somerset House. It’s only in the most recent Bond films that the real MI6 puts in an appearance, at Vauxhall Cross – in The World is Not Enough.

What has been interesting in the latest Bond movies has been that they’ve expanded away from the smoothie agent’s West End heartland. Look at the original Bond books and you’ll see he only ever goes to places that are glamorous and high class – exclusive casinos, skiing resorts, fine hotels, Caribbean islands. There’s a lot of wish fulfilment in the frankly escapist early films.

But recently, 007 has started to visit the East End – and of course now MI6 is in Vauxhall Cross, he’s even had to go south of the river. Obviously, the social status of these parts of London is changing… or perhaps Bond himself is just getting a bit less precious and a bit more real?

Photo credit – MI6 by John Jobby, on Flickr

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