Fun Facts: Bond, James Bond

If you, like us, are a big James Bond fan, you are probably aware of the most known facts about the movie and its main characters. Seeing as the new Bond movie is about to come out, we've thought of putting together a list of less known facts for you to impress your friends with.

Brief history:

The James Bond film series is a series of spy films based on a fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond (code designation 007), who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming.

Here are a few fun facts about the series:

1. There have been 23 Bond movies so far (including this year's Skyfall)

2. The role of James Bond has been played by 6 actors (Daniel Craig, Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton, George Lazenby, Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore - in no particular order). The first actor to be James Bond on the big screen was Sean Connery in Dr. No (released: October 5, 1962)

Can you identify all actors in the picture below? See the answer here!

3. James Bond was created by Ian Fleming in January 1952. When asked why he picked the name James Bond for his main character, Fleming replied he wanted the plainest sounding name. The inspiration came from a book on his shelf, whose author's name was James Bond (an American  bird expert).

4. Bond's code '007' was inspired by the bus route that runs from Canterbury to London, which was often taken by the author Ian Fleming.

5. Bond's favorite drink is the classic vodka Martini, 'shaken, not stirred'. In the Bond films up to Casino Royale, Bond is seen to consume 114 drinks - the equivalent of one every 24.3 minutes. Interestingly enough, he drinks champagne more than anything (35 glasses) and only tries one beer.

6. Bond's favorite meal is scrambled eggs and coffee, which is the same as Fleming.

7. The latest Bond movie, Skyfall, stars Daniel Craig. Craig, 44 is the first Bond actor to have been born after the Bond series began.

8. Skyfall, movie number 23, coincidentally premiers on Oct 23. If you are a student at Kaplan in London, you have the amazing opportunity to see Daniel Craig at the movie's premier in Leicester Square, right next to our school!

9. Many parts of the movie were filmed in London, including the neighborhoods of Canary Wharf, Herne Hill and Charing Cross.

Bonus: During our research, we also found some pretty terrible jokes. Here are some of the jokes that made us groan the loudest.

Q: What do you call James Bond in the bath?

A: Bubble-O-7

A chicken crossed the road and met James Bond. 'What's your name?' asked the chicken. 

'Bond, James Bond. What’s yours?'

'Ken, Chick Ken.'

Are you going to be seeing the new James Bond film? Have you read any of the books? Which is your favorite?