50th Anniversary Magazine Published

Bond fans in Britain were given a nice treat when the 'Mail on Sunday' newspaper (15 Jan) made it's 'Live' magazine a special collectors edition to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films. Sean Connery and Ursula Andress (in a photo from the location of the Jamaican swamp scene in 'Dr. No') were featured on the front cover.

In a section called 'The Joy of Bond', readers were able to see some very rare behind-the-scenes photos taken on the sets of the James Bond films over the years, selected by Paul Duncan. The souvenir magazine also contained some edited extracts from the autobiography of Bond producer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, extracts which concentrated on the build-up to the making of 'Dr. No' in 1962. The autobiography is being made available as an e-book from 16 January, and Eon Productions intend to donate all the income from the sales of the e-book to the British charity Cancer Research UK.

For those fans eagerly looking forward to 'Skyfall', the magazine also contained the first official interviews with both Naomie Harris, who plays field agent Eve in the movie, and French actress Berenice Marlohe, who plays the mysterious character of Severine.

Harris said the idea of her playing Moneypenny 'was a good, racy rumour. But Eve is not remotely office-bound. She gets to see plenty of action'. Marlohe, referring to her own character in the movie, described Severine as 'glamourous and enigmatic', but gets to see less action on screen than Naomie Harris. Interestingly, Marlohe also revealed that she personally admires Famke Janssen's character in 'Goldeneye'. Towards the end of the interview, she added: 'As to the question that everyone wanted answered: do I get to kiss Bond? Well, my friends, you'll just have to wait and see'.

The magazine also contained a section on Bond's vehicles, presented by Chris Evans, which was a taster for the special Bond vehicles exhibition which is about to open at the UK's National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.