A fantastic The Living Daylights drawing

Some time ago I received the latest drawing by artist Gerald Wadsworth who specialise in drawing pictures from what could have been right out of the Ian Fleming novels.

His latest drawing is The Living Daylights drawn in watercolours and looks absolutely amazing. Just look at the wood details on the gun, must have taken ages to create.

If you head over to Gerald website you can see all his drawings and even purchase one if you want to. This is by no means a sponsored blog post. It is just fun to collaborate with other fans who also use their spare time focusing on the work of Ian Fleming.

But this drawing has a small interesting detail to me since I did my military duty back in the late 90's. The ammunition is red and in Sweden the red ammunition stood for "training ammo". those "bullets" exploded as soon as they left the barrel.

It might be different back in the day or in other countries and that little detail does no harm to a fantastic drawing.

Backstory to the painting:

Taken from the point of view of "Trigger" - the Russian sniper in which Bond’s Russian counterpart, the infamous sniper known as Trigger, prepares to assassinate British Agent 272. The agent is trying to escape East Germany by running the gaunlet of No-Man’s Land, bringing back top secret plans for a new Russian missile project. Trigger, disguised as a member of a Russian women’s orchestra, carries her weapon in a cello case, and uses the background noise of the orchestra playing Prince Igor, by Borodine, to cover up the sound of her machine gun. While Trigger waits for the agent to make his break for freedom, she bides her time in quiet contemplation - and anticipation of a successful assignment. Little does she know that Bond has her in his sights…
 

Full painting by Gerald Wadsworth

This is James Bonds true age

Over the years there have been a lot of talk about the age of James Bond. How old is Agent 007? When was he born? You can almost get the feeling that no one actually knows.

But the thing is that Ian Fleming told us how old James Bond is in one of the novels.
You can find it for yourself in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE page 241.

"By the time he left [Fettes College], at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at an English public school. By Now it was 1941 and, by claiming an age of nineteen and with the help of an old Vickers colleague of his father, he entered a branch of what was subsequently to become the Ministry of Defence"

So to make it short. In 1941 James Bond was seventeen years old. Then he was born in 1924.

If he was born in 1924 he was 29 years old in 1953 when CASINO ROYALE was published. A book that is written in the present.

Then it was one written mission a year and in an interview with Fleming I have heard him say that every book equals a year in Bonds life (asked about the high amount of female lovers that Bond has).

So if James Bond was born in 1924 and 29 years old in 1953 then he was 40 years old in Flemings last novel THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Note that OCTOPUSSY and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS were actually published before Ian Fleming past away as short stories in different publications.

Now just for fun lets look at the age of the actors who have portrayed James Bond on screen from the point of view that James Bond should be around 29 years of age.

Sean Connery was born 1930 and therefore 32 years old when appearing in DR.NO.

George Lazenby was born in 1939 and therefore 30 years old when appearing in ON HER MAJESTYS SECRET SERVICE.

Roger Moore was born in 1927 and therefore 46 years old when appearing in LIVE AND LET DIE.

Timothy Dalton was born in 1946 and therefore 41 years old when appearing in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS.

Pierce Brosnan was born in 1953 and therefore 42 years old when appearing in GOLDENEYE. Note that Brosnan was 34 when first offered the role in 1987.

Daniel Craig was born in 1968 and therefore 38 years old when appearing in CASINO ROYALE.

What is does James Bond have in you world. In mine he has always been 36-38. Feel free to comment below.

A young Sean Connery

I spent $1250 on a Fleming book and then the taxman wanted his share

Since I live in Sweden it seems to me that what Sweden is famous for is most of all its lovely girls and secondly our tax system. 

One would think that used things should be free from VAT since they have already been paid once when they were new. And especially  if one buy something from another country.
But in Sweden there are differences between different countries.
If I order something from the UK there will be no import charges since we both live within the EU.

But if I order something from the US with a non private seller one can be sure to get stuck in customs and if I order, lets say cloths, then the VAT will be +25%. And if I order a book (new or used) the VAT is +6%. After that ther is other cost on top.  Does your country have the same system or is it true that the tax man loves to collect his money only in Sweden?

So what did I bought?

Well a few days back there fas a fantastic sale of James Bond books over at Heritage Auctions in US see full sales list here). I had a few books that I wanted to bid on but as the prices rose to new highs I understood that I would not be able to buy much. But one of the books became mine.

A proof copy of OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS in a fine dust wrapper. For you who do not collect Flemings books these are the true rare ones. This book was only printed in 500 copies by Publisher Jonathan Cape and sent out for reviews and to find miss prints to change for the actual release. On some of them there are also changes to the cover design. 

 

The book cost me $1250 and then postage of $40 on top of that. But then the the Swedish taxman came into play and set me back with another $155. Total cost to get the book from the US to a shelf in Sweden: $1445. It is almost cheaper to fly over to the US , buy the book, and then put it in your luggage on your way back. 

Its not cheap to be a fan of James Bond.