Bond 875

Manufacturer	Bond Cars Ltd
Production	1965-1970 3431 made[1]
Assembly	Preston, UK
Predecessor	Bond Minicar
Class	microcar
Body style	2-door saloon 2-door van
Engine	Hillman Imp, 875 cc
Transmission	4-speed manual
Wheelbase	78 in (1,981 mm)[2]
Length	116 in (2,946 mm)[2]
Width	55 in (1,397 mm)[2]

The Bond 875 adumbrates subsequent Reliant designs

The Bond 875 was a small three-wheeled car designed by Lawrence "Lawrie" Bond and manufactured by Bond Cars Ltd in Preston, United Kingdom from 1965 to 1970. There was also a van version from 1967, known as the Ranger.

The car was announced in August 1965, though volume production got underway only during the summer of 1966.^[3] The 875 used a four-cylinder 875 cc four-stroke engine from the Rootes Group. Crucially for the dynamics of the vehicle, this was rear-mounted, unlike in most other British three-wheelers of the era. It was the same basic layout as used in the Hillman Imp, installed as a complete package along with the Imps' transmission, rear suspension and rear wheels: however, thanks to the fact that the 875 had a fibreglass body along with aluminium doors, and weighed less than 400 kg (882 lb), the performance was good — better than the Imp.^[1] The engine was the low-compression version (compression ratio 8:1) as used in the commercial versions of the Imp – the Commer van and was able to run on "2-star" low-octane petrol, which was cheaper than varieties used by larger and more highly tuned engines.

The car's light weight enabled it to qualify for motorcycle road tax rates, and be driven on a motorcycle licence but in order to keep the weight down the interior trim and fittings were minimal.

Racing driver John Surtees unofficially broke the saloon car lap record at Brands Hatch, managing to attain 100 mph (161 km/h).

Development[link]

A van version, the Ranger, was introduced in April 1967.

Styling changes, revised seats, rectangular headlamps and a larger bonnet opening heralded the "Mark II" announced in April 1968.^[4] Other changes included the fitting of a heater.^[4]

Specification and performance[link]

• Capacity: 875 cc
• Weight: < 400 kg (882 lb)
• 0-60 mph: 16 seconds (car), 14 seconds (van)
• Top speed: 80 mph (129 km/h) (car), 95 mph (153 km/h) (van)
• Fuel economy: 50 mpg_-imp (5.6 L/100 km; 42 mpg_-US) - 55 mpg_-imp (5.1 L/100 km; 46 mpg_-US)
• Tyres: Michelin X radial
• Price new: £500

Road Test[link]

The British "Autocar" magazine tested a Bond 875 in September 1966. The car had a top speed of 82.8 mph (133.3 km/h) and accelerated from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 22.5 seconds. An "overall" fuel consumption of 34.5 miles per imperial gallon (8.19 L/100 km; 28.7 mpg_-US) was recorded. This put it usefully ahead of the contemporary 850 cc Morris Mini on maximum speed and acceleration as well as on fuel economy: the car's superior power-to-weight ratio converted into superior performance outcomes. The Bond's £506 manufacturer's recommended price was significantly higher than the £478 price on the Mini, but less than the recommended retail price of £549 for the comparably sized Imp. The testers commended the Bond's performance and economy, but found the three-wheeler unstable at high speed. They thought the gear box and brakes good but were disappointed by 'poor seats and detail finish'. ^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bond 875 at The Imp Site

Look up bond in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bond, bonds, bonded, and bonding may refer to:

• Peace-bonding, something which makes a weapon unusable as a weapon

Fiduciary[link]

• Bond market
• Bond (finance), in finance, a type of debt security
  • Government bond, a bond issued by a national government
    • War bonds, a type of government bond used to raise funding for a war effort
  • Municipal bond, a bond issued by a city or local government
  • Corporate bond, a bond issued by a corporation
  • Mortgage bond, in South Africa a bond or mortgage bond is the usual term for property mortgage.
• Insurance bond (or investment bond), a life assurance-based single premium investment
• Surety bond, a three party contract, where the surety promises to pay the obligee for non-performance or dishonesty by the principal
  • Performance bond, a surety bond for completion of work under a contract
  • Bail bond agent, or bail bondsman, a person or corporation providing a surety bond for return of a person to a court
• Tenancy bond (or damage deposit), a deposit taken by a landlord in relation to rental of a property
• Catastrophe bond (or cat bond), a form of reinsurance
• Bonded labor (or debt bondage), a system of servitude where someone must work to pay off a debt
• Bond of association, a basic building block of credit unions and co-operative banks
• Bond vigilante, a form of political protest by selling bonds

Judiciary[link]

• Peace bond, a protection order from a Canadian court
• Bond of manrent, a Scottish clan treaty
• Bond of Association, a British legal document from the 16th century
• Bond v. United States (2000), a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the fourth amendment
• Bond v The Queen, a 2000 High Court of Australia case

Physical sciences[link]

• Bond number, in fluid mechanics, a dimensionless number expressing the ratio of gravitational forces to surface tension forces
• Chemical bond, the physical phenomenon of chemical substances being held together by attraction of atoms
  • Covalent bond, between nonmetals
  • Ionic bond, between metal and nonmetals
  • Metallic bond, between metals
• Bond albedo, a measure of the electromagnetic radiation reflected from an astronomical body
• Bond graph, a graphical description of a physical dynamic system
• Bond fluctuation model, a lattice model for simulating the conformation and dynamics of polymer systems
• The Bond (Chinese constellation), both a mansion in the White Tiger constellation and an asterism within that mansion
• Bond Crater, a crater on Mars

Social sciences[link]

• Pair bond, in biology, the strong affinity that develops in some species between the male and female in a breeding pair, or, sometimes, between individuals of the same sex
  • Human bonding
  • Maternal bond
  • Paternal bond
  • Male bonding
  • Female bonding
  • Affectional bond

Anthropology[link]

• Village-bonded society
• Land-bonded society
• Lineage-bonded society

Manufacturing, construction and electronics[link]

• Bond, the manner in which the bricks overlap as they are laid in brickwork
• Bond paper, a high quality durable writing paper
• Bonded leather (or reconstituted leather)
• Bottled in bond, referring to a type of American whiskey
• Bond store, another name for bonded warehouse, where alcohol may be held without tax under strict conditions
• "Bonding" may refer to a method for creating electric interconnects:
  • Chip bonding, method of wiring some chips (also from different manufactures) together on die an integrated circuit
  • Wire bonding, a method of making interconnections between a microchip and the outside world as part of semiconductor device fabrication
  • Ball bonding, a method very similar to wire bondin
• Channel bonding (or modem bonding), an arrangement in which two or more network interfaces on a host computer are combined
  • NIC bonding, an alternate name for link aggregation
• Electrical bonding, practice of connecting all metal objects in a room to protect from electric shock

Company and product names[link]

• Bond (sheep), Australian breed of sheep
• Bond (wine), California cult wine producer
• Bonds (clothing), Australian clothing company
• Bond Clothing Stores, a former New York clothing company
• Bonds, formerly the name of a department store in Norwich, England, now called John Lewis Norwich
• Bonds, formerly the name of a department store in Chelmsford, Essex, now called Debenhams Chelmsford
• Bond Arms, a Texas gun manufacturer
• Bond Aviation Group, a British helicopter operator
  • Bond Offshore Helicopters, a subsidiary of the above
• Bond Cars Ltd, a small scale car manufacturer between 1949 and 1971:
  • Bond 875, three-wheeled motor car
  • Bond Bug, three-wheeled motor car
  • Bond Equipe, their first four-wheeled motor car
  • Bond Minicar, three-wheeled motor car
• BOND, RAD software tool
• Bond Street (cigarette), brand of cigarette
• The Bond Electraglide electric guitar, manufactured by Bond Guitars
• Bond Market Association, the former international trade association for the bond market industry
• Bond Wireless, an Australian wireless company

Organizations[link]

• Afrikaner Bond, a political party in the Cape Colony in the 19th century
• bonding-studenteninitiative e.V., a German student organisation
• Church of the Universal Bond, a British religious group
• Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), created By Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
• Bond (for international development), the membership body for UK-based NGOs working in international development.

Entertainment[link]

• The James Bond series of spy fiction originally created by Ian Fleming
  • James Bond (character), a British secret agent who is the central character in the series
  • James Bond novels, the original literary works by Fleming, plus works by other authors after Fleming's death (usually commissioned by the owner of the Fleming copyrights, a company now known as Ian Fleming Publications)
  • James Bond film series, a popular series of 23 films featuring Fleming's secret agent
  • Bond girl, the 'love' interest in a James Bond film
• Campion Bond, the fictional character from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Bond (band), an Australian/British string quartet
  • Bond: Video Clip Collection, a video collection from the band
• The Bond, a film by Charlie Chaplin supporting Liberty bonds'
• "The Bonding", a third-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Bond Street (film), a 1948 British film

Places[link]

• Bond Street, a major shopping street in the West End of London
  • Bond Street tube station
• Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
  • Bond South Africa, South African campus of Bond University
• Bond Education Group, Toronto, Ontario
• Bond Head, Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario
• Bond Head, Simcoe County, Ontario, part of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario
• Bond Island, Queensland, an island in the Torres Strait
• Bond Inlet, a body of water in Nunavut's Qikiqtaaluk Region in Canada
• Bonds, Lancashire, an English village

United States[link]

• Bond, Colorado
• Bond County, Illinois
  • Bond County Community Unit School District 2
• Bond Township, Lawrence County, Illinois
• Bond, Mississippi
• Bond Hill, Ohio
• Bond Court Building, the former name of a highrise in Cleveland, Ohio
• Bond Falls, a waterfall in the Ontonagon River, Michigan
  • Bond Falls Scenic Site, a state park for the above waterfall
• Mount Bond, a mountain in Grafton County, New Hampshire
• Bond's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, an historic church in Missouri
• Bond House (disambiguation), various National Registered Historic Places in the United States

People[link]

• Alan Bond (businessman) (born 1938), Australian businessman
• Edward Bond (born 1934) English playwright
• Edward A. Bond (1849–1929), NY State Engineer and Surveyor 1899-1904
• Edward August Bond (1813–1898), English scientist
• Francis Bond Head (1792–1875), Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada
• Gerald Bond (1909–1965), South African Test cricketer
• George Phillips Bond (1825–1865), American astronomer, son of William Cranch Bond (below)
• Graham Bond (1937–1974), an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s
• James Bond (ornithologist) (1900–1989), American ornithologist
• Julia Bond (born 1987), American porn star
• Kit Bond (born 1939), senior United States Senator of Missouri and member of the Republican Party
• John Bond (Born 1939), Irish American Business man, proprietor of "BOND45" restaurant, managing director of "Bond NYC" Properties
• Michael Bond (born 1926), English children's author
• Nigel Bond (born 1965), English snooker player
• Oliver Bond (died 1797), Irish revolutionary
• Ruskin Bond, Author
• Samantha Bond (born 1961), English actress, best known for her role of Miss Moneypenny in the fictional James Bond movies
• Shane Bond, Cricketer
• Steve Bond, Actor
• Ward Bond (1903–1960), American actor
• William Cranch Bond (1789–1859), American astronomer, father of George Phillips Bond (above)
• William K. Bond (1792–1864), American politician
• Bond Baronets
  • Sir Thomas Bond, 1st Baronet
  • Sir James Bond, 1st Baronet

See also[link]

• Bonds (disambiguation)
• Bonde (disambiguation)
• Bondage (disambiguation)
• Bond Street (disambiguation)
• James Bond (disambiguation)
• Bond Head (disambiguation)
• Guarantee

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Sebastian Faulks
Faulks in 2008
Born	(1953-04-20) April 20, 1953 (age 59) Donnington, Berkshire
Nationality	British
Occupation	Journalist and Novelist
Known for	The French Trilogy
Spouse	Veronica (m. 1989)

Sebastian Charles Faulks CBE (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong, and Charlotte Gray. He has also published novels with a contemporary setting (most recently A Week In December (2009)), and a James Bond sequel, Devil May Care. He is a team captain on BBC Radio 4 literary quiz The Write Stuff.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela (née Lawless).^[1] His father was a decorated soldier (he won the Military Cross), who later became a solicitor and judge. His brother Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks is a QC.^[2] He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire. He studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he was made an Honorary Fellow in 2007.^[3]

Career[link]

After graduating, Faulks lived in France for a year. When he returned to England he worked as a teacher at a private school in Camden Town, and then as a journalist.^[3] Faulks' first novel, A Trick of the Light, was published in 1984. He continued to work as a journalist, becoming the first literary editor of The Independent in 1986.^[4] He became deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1989; in the same year he published The Girl at the Lion D'or, the first of his historical novels set in France. In 1991 he left The Independent, and wrote for various other papers.^[5]

Following the success of Birdsong (1993), Faulks quit journalism to write full-time.^[6] He has since published seven novels, the most recent being A Week in December (2009). His new novel, A Possible Life, will be published in 2012.^{[citation needed]} Faulks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993 and appointed CBE for services to literature in 2002.^[7]

Faulks appears regularly on British TV and radio. He has been a regular team captain on BBC Radio 4's literary quiz The Write Stuff since 1998.^[8] The quiz involves the panellists each week writing a pastiche of the work of a selected author; Faulks has published a collection of his efforts as a book, Pistache (2006), which was described in The Scotsman as "a little treasure of a book. Faulks can catch, and caricature, another writers' fingerprints and foibles with a delicious precision that only a deep love of writing can teach".^[9] In 2011 Faulks presented a four-part BBC Two series called Faulks on Fiction, looking at the British novel and its characters.^[10] He also wrote a series tie-in book of the same name.

Personal life[link]

Faulks married Veronica (née Youlten) in 1989. They have two sons, William and Arthur, born 1990 and 1996 respectively, and one daughter, Holly, born 1992.^[1] Faulks is a fan of West Ham United football club.^[11] Debrett's lists his recreations as tennis and wine.^[8]

Novels[link]

The Literary Review has said that "Faulks has the rare gift of being popular and literary at the same time"; the Sunday Telegraph called him "One of the most impressive novelists of his generation ... who is growing in authority with every book".^[12] Faulks' 2005 novel, Human Traces, was described by Trevor Nunn as "A masterpiece, one of the great novels of this or any other century."^[4]

Faulks is best known for his three novels set in early twentieth-century France.The first, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, was published in 1989. This was followed by Birdsong (1993), and Charlotte Gray (1998). The latter two were bestsellers, and Charlotte Gray won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.^[4] In April 2003 Birdsong came 13th in the BBC's Big Read initiative which aimed to identify Britain's best loved novels.^[13]

In 2007, Faulks published Engleby. Set in Cambridge in the 1970s, it is narrated by Cambridge University fresher Mike Engleby. Engleby is a loner, and the reader is led to suspect that he may be unreliable, particularly when a fellow student disappears. Faulks says of the novel's genesis, "I woke up one morning with this guy's voice in my head. And he was just talking, dictating, almost. And when I got to work, I wrote it down. I didn't know what the hell was going on; this wasn't an idea for a book".^[12] It was remarked upon as a change of direction for Faulks, both in terms of the near-contemporary setting and in the decision to use a first-person narrator.^[14] The book received a number of unfavourable reviews for its slow pacing and the dislikeable and "wearying" protagonist.^[14][15] However, it received praise from other quarters: the Daily Telegraph said the book was "distinguished by a remarkable intellectual energy: a narrative verve, technical mastery of the possibilities of the novel form and vivid sense of the tragic contingency of human life."^[16]

To mark the 2008 centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, the late author's estate in 2006 commissioned Faulks to write a new James Bond novel. Faulks has said of the commission, "I'd just finished Human Traces and it seemed ridiculous. You've just spent five years in a Victorian lunatic asylum and then you go on to James Bond. But I think their hope is they'll get two markets. The more I think about it, the more I think it was clever of them, because the mismatch is intriguing".^[12] The result, Devil May Care, became an immediate bestseller in the UK, selling 44,093 hardback copies within 4 days of release.^[17] The Observer^{[disambiguation needed ]} review of the novel said that "Faulks has done in some ways an absolutely sterling job. He has resisted pastiche", and blamed the book's weaknesses on the character of Bond as created by Fleming.^[18] The Scotsman review of the novel said, "To his credit, Faulks has imitated the haphazard plotting, sloppy characterisation, Colonel Blimp politics, sexist guff and basic incredulity of Ian Fleming to a tee. It's a Nuremberg Defence of a novel: Faulks was only following orders".^[9] Mark Lawson, writing in The Guardian, praised it as "a smart and enjoyable act of literary resurrection. Among the now 33 post-Fleming Bonds, this must surely compete with Kingsley Amis's for the title of the best".^[19]

Faulks' 2009 novel, A Week in December, takes place, in the seven days leading up to Christmas in December 2007. It focuses on the lives of a varied cast of characters living in London; Faulks himself has described the novel as "Dickensian" and cites Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend as influences, as well as New York novelists such as Tom Wolfe and Jay McInerny. The book was partly a response to the banking crisis. He chose to set it specifically in 2007 because "the whole world had changed: the banks were collapsing, we were facing Armageddon, and I understood then that I couldn't make this book right up to the moment[...] I chose that time because then the writing's on the wall, and it should be clear to anyone half-sensible that the game is up, but they're still going on."^[2] Other plot threads in the novel concern reality television, and Islamic militancy. While publicising the book, Faulks received some criticism for negative remarks he made about the Koran; he was quick to offer "a simple but unqualified apology to my Muslim friends and readers for anything that has come out sounding crude or intolerant. Happily, there is more to the book than that".^[20] Reviews for the novel were mixed. Tibor Fischer, in The Daily Telegraph, praised the novel's "comic élan", but felt it was "uneven" and criticised the character of John Veals as "lifeless".^[21] The London Review of Books was scathing about Faulks' criticisms of aspects of modern life: "This isn’t satire. It’s the background noise of breakfast radio, the endlessly repeated catalogue of modern ills, reassuring the nation’s listeners and confirming them in their view that what gets their goat is – yes – deserving of urgent public notice".^[22] Mark Lawson wrote in The Guardian, "an honest critic must surely conclude that Faulks has correctly identified the novel that needs to be written about these times, but may also have proved that British society is now so various that no single writer can capture all its aspects. However, in honourably failing to depict the entire state of the nation, Faulks has memorably skewered the British literary world."^[23]

Adaptations of novels[link]

In 2001 Charlotte Gray was made into a film starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Gillian Armstrong. In 2010 a stage version of Birdsong, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff (who had previously adapted The Girl at the Lion D'or for radio)^[24] and directed by Trevor Nunn, opened at the Comedy Theatre in London; the production ran for only 4 months. In 2012, Birdsong was made into a two-part BBC TV serial, written by Abi Morgan, directed by Philip Martin and starring Eddie Redmayne.^[25][26] This followed several abortive attempts to film the novel.^[27][28]

Honours and awards[link]

• 1994 British Book Awards Author of the Year.
• 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction (shortlist) for Charlotte Gray.
• 2002 Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), "For services to Literature".^[29]
• 2009 British Book Awards Popular Fiction Award for Devil May Care.

Bibliography[link]

• A Trick of the Light (1984)
• The Girl at the Lion D'or (1989)
• A Fool's Alphabet (1992)
• Birdsong (1993)
• The Fatal Englishman (1996)
• Charlotte Gray (1998)
• On Green Dolphin Street (2001)
• Human Traces (2005)
• Pistache (2006)
• Engleby (2007)
• Devil May Care (2008)
• A Week in December (2009)
• Faulks on Fiction: Great British Characters and the Secret Life of the Novel (2011)
• A Possible Life (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sebastian Faulks

• The Guardian article "All in the Mind" 21 August 2005
• The Official Sebastian Faulks Homepage
• BBC interview (video, 45 mins) 30 August 2001
• Sebastian Faulks at Contemporary Writers
• Guardian profile of Faulks 13 July 2007
• 'Novel People', review of Faulks on Fiction in the Oxonian Review

Daniel Craig
Craig at Quantum of Solace premiere in New York, on 11 November 2008
Born	Daniel Wroughton Craig (1968-03-02) 2 March 1968 (age 44)[1] Chester, Cheshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Fiona Loudon (m. 1992–94, divorced) Rachel Weisz (m. 2011)
Children	Ella Craig

Daniel Wroughton Craig^[2] (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor best known for playing British secret agent James Bond in a 2006 reboot of the film series and its sequels.

Craig is an alumnus of the National Youth Theatre and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began his career on stage. His early on screen appearances were in the films Elizabeth, The Power of One and A Kid in King Arthur's Court, and on Sharpe's Eagle and Zorro in television. His appearances in the British films Love Is the Devil, The Trench and Some Voices attracted the industry's attention, leading to roles in bigger productions such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Road to Perdition, Layer Cake and Munich.

Craig achieved international fame when chosen as the sixth actor to play the role of Bond, replacing Pierce Brosnan. His debut in Casino Royale was highly acclaimed and earnt him a BAFTA award nomination, with the film becoming the highest grossing in the series to date. Quantum of Solace followed two years later, with the third film Skyfall set for release in 2012, having been delayed due to MGM's financial troubles.^[3]

Craig is married to actress Rachel Weisz, his second wife. He has a daughter Ella by his first wife, Fiona Loudon. In 2006 he joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Since taking the role of Bond, Craig has continued to appear in other films, most recently starring in the English language adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Early life[link]

Craig was born in Chester, Cheshire, England.^[4] His mother, Carol Olivia (née Williams), was an art teacher, and his father, Timothy John Wroughton Craig, was the landlord of the pubs "Ring o' Bells" (in Frodsham) and the "Boot Inn" (Willington, Tarporley), and also served as a midshipman in the Merchant Navy.^[5][6][7] Both of Craig's parents were of half-Welsh descent.^[8] He was brought up on the Wirral Peninsula,^[9] and attended a primary school in Frodsham and Hoylake called Holy Trinity Primary School. He attended Hilbre High School in later years.^[10] He began acting in school plays at age six.

Craig moved to London when he was sixteen to join the National Youth Theatre after a stay at Calday.^[7] He and his older sister, Lea, attended Hilbre High School and Calday Grange Grammar School in West Kirby. He played for Hoylake RFC Rugby Union Club.^[11] He attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the Barbican and graduated in 1991 after three years of study under Colin McCormack.

Career[link]

Overview[link]

Craig appeared as Joe in the Royal National Theatre's production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America in November 1993. Also in 1993, Craig appeared in an episode of Yorkshire Television's Heartbeat, which aired on 31 October 1993.^[12] An early starring role was as 'Geordie' in the BBC's 1996 drama Our Friends in the North, with early film roles being as Angelina Jolie's rival and love interest in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), before appearing in Sam Mendes's movie Road to Perdition (2002), with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Other leading film roles include Sword of Honour (2001), The Mother (2003) with Anne Reid, Sylvia (2003) with Gwyneth Paltrow, Layer Cake (2004) with Sienna Miller, Enduring Love (2004) with Rhys Ifans, Steven Spielberg's Munich (2005) with Eric Bana, Infamous and Casino Royale (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), Quantum of Solace, Defiance (2008), and Cowboys & Aliens (2011).

James Bond: 2005–present[link]

In 2005, Craig was contracted by EON Productions to portray James Bond. He stated that he "was aware of the challenges" of the James Bond franchise which he considers "a big machine" that "makes a lot of money". He aimed at bringing more "emotional depth" to the character.^[13] Being born in 1968, Craig is the first actor to portray James Bond to have been born after the Bond series already started, and Ian Fleming, the novels' writer, had died.

Significant controversy followed the decision, as it was doubted if the producers had made the right choice. Throughout the entire production period Internet campaigns expressed their dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest.^[14] Craig, unlike previous actors, was not considered by the protesters to fit the tall, dark, handsome image of Bond to which viewers had been accustomed.^[15] The Daily Mirror ran a front page news story critical of Craig, with the headline, "The Name's Bland – James Bland."^[16] Although the choice of Craig was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support, most notably, four of the five actors who had previously portrayed Bond – Pierce Brosnan,^[17] Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery and Roger Moore – called his casting a good decision. Clive Owen, who had been linked to the role, also spoke in defence of Craig.^[18]

Craig at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in London's Royal Opera House, 11 February 2007.

The first film, Casino Royale, premièred on 14 November 2006 and grossed a total of US$594,239,066 worldwide, which makes the film the highest grossing Bond film to date.^[19] After the film was released, Craig's performance was highly acclaimed.^[20] As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on the 22nd Bond film. After several months of speculation as to the release date, Wilson and Broccoli officially announced on 20 July 2006 that the follow-up film, Quantum of Solace,^[21] was to be released on 7 November 2008 and that Craig plays Bond with an option for a third film.^[22] On 25 October 2007, MGM CEO Harry Sloan revealed at the Forbes Meet II Conference that Craig had signed on for four more Bond films, through to Bond 25.^[23]

In 2006, Craig was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[24] On 12 June 2008, Craig sliced the top of one of his fingers off while filming Quantum of Solace.^[25] The accident was the latest in a string of incidents surrounding the shoot, including a fire at one of the sets in Pinewood Studios, a car crash that left the stunt driver in a serious condition, and an Aston Martin skidding off the roads while being transported to the set in Italy and plunging into Lake Garda.^[26]

Craig at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.

Craig describes his portrayal of Bond as an anti-hero: "The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, 'Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?' Bond's role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone's dark side shouldn't be explored. I don't think it should be confusing by the end of the film, but during the film you should be questioning who he is."^[27] Craig also states that his favourite previous Bond actor was Sean Connery, but says, "I'd never copy somebody else. I would never do an impression of anybody else or try and improve on what they did. That would be a pointless exercise for me".^[28] His favourite Bond film is From Russia with Love.^[29] On a James Bond-centric episode of The South Bank Show, Connery divulged his thoughts on Craig's casting as Bond, whom he described as "fantastic, marvelous in the part." When he was told that Craig had taken particular note of his performances, Connery said that he was "flattered" and that Craig really gets the "danger element" to Bond's character.^[30]

On 19 April 2010, Craig's expected third Bond film (the 23rd overall in the series) was announced to have been suspended indefinitely due to the crippling debt and uncertain future of MGM.^[31] However, both Craig and Sam Mendes hoped to resume work on the film soon. The film has since resumed and Craig will return as Bond once again,^[32] with the film (now called Skyfall) due for release on 9 November 2012. Skyfall is expected to be part of year-long celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Dr. No.^[33] On 19 December 2011, it was announced that Daniel Craig has signed on for five future Bond films, bringing his total to eight films which would break by one film Roger Moore's record of the longest running actor to portray the character.^[34]

Other projects[link]

In 1999, Craig starred as Richard in a TV drama called Shockers: The Visitor. In 2007, he portrayed Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel.^[35] Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, also starred in the film, although she did not appear in any scenes with Craig. In a stage version of the book, Asriel had previously been played by Timothy Dalton, one of Craig's predecessors in the role of James Bond.

In early 2001, Craig expressed an interest in being a part of the Star Trek franchise, professing his love of the series to the World Entertainment News Network and a desire to have a "stint in the TV show or a film. It's been a secret ambition of mine for years."^[36] On 16 March 2007, Craig made a cameo appearance as himself in a sketch with Catherine Tate who appeared in the guise of her character Elaine Figgis from The Catherine Tate Show. The sketch was made for the BBC Red Nose Day 2007 fundraising programme.^[37]

In 2008's Defiance, he played Tuvia Bielski, a Jewish resistance fighter in the forests of Belarus during World War II who saved 1,200 people^[38] The shot in Casino Royale of Craig sporting swimming trunks has often topped many sexiest male celebrity polls,^[39] and in 2009 Del Monte Foods launched an ice pop moulded to resemble Craig emerging from the sea.^[40] He co-starred with Hugh Jackman, in a limited engagement of the play A Steady Rain, on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre, which opened on 10 September 2009 and closed on 6 December 2009.^[41]

Craig lent his voice and likeness as James Bond for both the Wii game GoldenEye 007, an enhanced remake of the 1997 game for the Nintendo 64, and James Bond 007: Blood Stone, an original game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows.^[42] In August 2010, Craig was cast as crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist in David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.^[43] Craig co-starred with Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde in Cowboys & Aliens, an American science fiction Western film, based on Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 graphic novel of the same name.^[44][45]

Personal life[link]

Craig with producer Michael G. Wilson in June 2006.

In 1992, Craig married Scottish actress Fiona Loudon, with whom he has a daughter, Ella. The marriage ended in divorce in 1994.^[46]

After his divorce, he was in a seven-year relationship with German actress Heike Makatsch, ending in 2001.^[47] He subsequently dated film producer Satsuki Mitchell from 2004 until 2010.^[48]

Craig and actress Rachel Weisz began dating in December 2010.^[49] Craig and Weisz married on 22 June 2011^[48][50] in a private New York City ceremony, with only four guests in attendance, including Craig's 18-year-old daughter Ella, and Weisz's four-year-old son Henry.^[51] Craig and Weisz had been friends for many years and had worked together on the movie Dream House shortly before they began dating in late 2010.

In October 2008, Craig paid £4 million for a flat near Regent's Park, London.^[52] He is a Liverpool F.C. supporter.^[53]

Craig is rumoured to have bought a property in the Hertfordshire community of Barkway.^[54]

Filmography[link]

Video games[link]

Further reading[link]

• Marshall, Sarah (2007). Daniel Craig: The Biography. John Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84454-454-7. 
• O'Brien, Daniel (2007). Daniel Craig – Ultimate Professional. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905287-44-4. 
• Ogle, Tina (2009). Daniel Craig: The Illustrated Biography. Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84732-266-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Daniel Craig

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Daniel Craig

James Bond portal

• Daniel Craig at the Internet Movie Database
• Daniel Craig at AllRovi
• Daniel Craig biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• A very detailed biography from Tiscali Film & TV
• Personal interview on "being Bond", Parade Magazine 26 Oct 2008