For Your Eyes Only

A great start to a great decade of James Bond movies! The above podcast episode is very special.

Introduced by Joe Darlington (Being James Bond), I investigate the uniquely British aspects of this 007 film, with 6 special interviews from China thanks to my previous guest Max James Joy (A Brit Abroad... in China - Celebrating a 'British Day' in Guangzhou). 
 
We talk about:

• What makes this film so special?

• British submarines

• British-Greek Relations

• The King's Medal

• Ancient Chinese Sayings

• Elektra

• Saint Cyril

• The Most Famous British Greek

• British Winter Olympics

I draw on a range of books, including but not limited to:

• Bond on Bond, by Roger Moore

• Some Kind of Hero, by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury

• For My Eyes Only, by John Glen

• The Return of Heroic Failures, by Stephen Pile

• The Complete James Bond Short Stories, by Ian Fleming

• Operation Mincemeat, by Ben Macintyre

• Ian Fleming's Commandos, by Nicholas Rankin

• Ian Fleming, by Nicholas Shakespeare

• A Bond Odyssey, by Adam Muckle

• 30 Hot Days, M.A. Birant  

For Greece during the Second World War, I do draw on Winston Churchill's 6 volume account, and recommend the following novel and TV drama:

• Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

• Sword of Honour (2001) starring Daniel Craig

The 1980s really was a great decade for James Bond, with five fantastic outings from EON Productions directed by John Glen.

Since I mention ‘Operation Mincemeat’ in the episode, why not check out my review of the book and the film, above?

I talked about some of the real world issued raised in this film with Donnie Waldron on his podcast, Quantum of History.