Quote:
Originally Posted by gunner
A little bit of Bond trivia, a gentleman called Geoffrey Boothroyd, who is an author specialising in books about guns, wrote to Ian Flemming after the first Bond book was published and told him that Bond wouldnt have used a revolver as described by Flemming.
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Actually I need to clear up a couple misconceptions:
In the first 5 novels Bond was carrying a Beretta 418 .25 ACP which was an autopistol NOT a revolver. What Boothroyd originally wrote was:
"I have, by now, got rather fond of Mr. James Bond. I like most of the things about him, with the exception of his rather deplorable taste in firearms. In particular, I dislike a man who comes into contact with all sorts of formidable people using a .25 Beretta. This sort of gun is really a lady's gun, and not a really nice lady at that. If Mr. Bond has to use a light gun he would be better off with a .22 rim fire; the lead bullet would cause more shocking effect than the jacketed type of the .25.
May I suggest that Mr. Bond be armed with a revolver?"
This led to a response from Ian Fleming (see below) and during the back and forth correspondence Bond wound up with a 7.65mm Walther PPK although Boothroyd always maintained Bond should carry a revolver.
The BBC ran a short clip to accompany Goldfinger where the real Boothroyd is introduced by Sean Connery.
It's available as an extra on the Dr. No Ultimate Edition DVD and on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuO34MDezzU