Bond stirred by a Bentley
QUESTION Was James Bond’s original car a Bentley, not an Aston Martin?
The association of James Bond with Aston Martin cars comes from the films rather than the Ian Fleming novels.
The only book in which Bond drives an Aston Martin rather than a Bentley is Goldfinger. The Secret Service pool car was selected to give Bond a rich playboy image. Its only gadget was a ‘beeping’ tracker enabling 007 to follow Goldfinger.
his first Bentley was a 1931 battleship grey 4.5litre Blower. This was a supercharged version of the standard car developed by Sir henry ‘Tim’ Birkin with a view to winning the 24 hours of Le Mans race, but it never did.
Bond’s Bentley was destroyed in a crash caused by Moonraker villain Sir hugo Drax and he got a new one at the novel’s end. however, Fleming was not always consistent about which Bentley Bond owned at a particular time and the model seemed to change during the novels.
T. A. Cox, Malvern, Worcs.
The first car Bond is seen driving in 1962’s film Dr. No is the humble Sunbeam Alpine, when he is chased by a hearse that tries to force him off a cliff. A Bentley makes its only appearance in 1963’s From Russia With Love during a lunchtime dalliance. It has a car phone, the original film gadget, to call Moneypenny at hQ.
The iconic Aston Martin DB5 makes its first appearances in 1964’s Goldfinger and 1965’s Thunderball with its machine guns, revolving number plates, bulletproof shields, tyre slashers and ejector seat. Many will remember with fondness the Corgi model from the mid-Sixties.
Various Aston Martins appeared in On her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), The Living Daylights (1987), Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006), where the car is won in a card game, and Skyfall (2012).
Other notable 007 vehicles include a Moon buggy; in a rare continuity error, a Ford Mustang that swapped sides while driving down a one-way alley on two wheels in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever; a hornet X hatchback that performed a barrel roll over a broken bridge in 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun; a Lotus esprit submarine car in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me; and a series of BMWs during Pierce Brosnan’s time as 007, especially in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies when the car is driven using his mobile phone.
James Finnegan, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
QUESTION Where does the term bellwether, indicating a trend, come from?
BeLLWeTheR refers to a bell placed around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) which leads a flock of sheep. A shepherd could listen for the bell to locate the flock or use the wether to move the flock around.
By the 15th century, it was a contemptuous term for a leader whom only sheep would follow, especially one with a loud mouth, but little judgment. This sense was in use until the 19th century.
The modern usage of bellwether is something that leads or indicates a trend, be it a bellwether stock in finance, a bellwether constituency in politics or a leader in the fashion industry.
A word of caution: most of us are optimists and view bellwether stocks as indicating a rising trend, but don’t forget that the wether could lead its flock to green pastures or to the slaughterhouse.
Sam Wilson, Hexham, Northumberland.
QUESTION Is it impossible for a submarine to stay stationary while submerged?
ThIS depends on whether the intention is to stay undetected. A submarine can
remain stationary, that is to say above a fixed geographic point, without difficulty.
Its depth can be maintained by balancing the ballast in its tanks by taking in or jettisoning water. It can remain fixed in the horizontal plane by using its screw (propeller) to move it forwards or backwards.
To prevent sideways movement, it would have to keep its bow or stern turned towards the current while the propeller was turning.
There used to be a navigational issue in that a submarine commander couldn’t know if the boat was stationary unless he could take sightings from landmarks or the Sun to plot his location. To do that he would have to be at periscope depth.
In modern submarines, a GPS device can be floated on the surface to provide this information. however, using the engine and propeller produces noise that can be detected by ships, which leaves the submarine vulnerable to attack.
For the submarine to remain undetected, it would have to shut down its engines. This would mean it would no longer be able to hold itself in position and would drift with the tide and current, like any other boat, so would no longer be classed as stationary.
Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
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