Surprising facts about James Bond

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/jamesbond/

My comments in groovy italix.

Ian Fleming sold the film rights for Casino Royale for $600.

When the first Bond novel was published in 1953, 007 smoked 60 cigarettes a day. In 1971, when Sean Connery played Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, he'd kicked the habit. (The website fails to mention that Timothy Dalton's Bond rightfully picks up the habit again. Bond's best as a potential loose cannon...)

Bond's favourite drink, the martini, contains 130 calories. This is approximately what he burns during sex.

Since Dr No was released in 1962, Bond has killed over 150 men and slept with 44 women ? three quarters of whom have tried to kill him! Ands yet none of them has gotten preggers and he hasn't gotten VD...

Of course, Bond isn't getting any younger. In fact, he's positively middle-aged - could 007 be getting too old for Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, and treatment from Dr Goodhead? Roger Moore was 56 in his final Bond role, and Pierce Brosnan is now 51. Men reach their sexual peak around their late teens or early twenties. At this point they can orgasm three to six times a day. Later in life they may need 12-24 hours before they've recharged their batteries. Well, I'm 32, I don't get any, and can 'get there' 5 times a day. I suppose I'd better find someone...

Yet Bond's virility is never in doubt. The way he acts towards women, however, has definitely changed over time.

(It's) not only 007's scriptwriters who seem to have been unimpressed by the female intellect. Scientists have long linked head size to intelligence. And because men's bodies and, therefore, their heads and brains tend to be larger, they expected men to be more intelligent than women. What sort of cack is this? Hand size is closer equated to unit size than brain size... :eyes:

Only recently have researchers found that the ability to do well in intelligence tests is linked with the amount of grey matter in the brain, not the brain size. And since women have higher proportions of grey matter than men, the total amount of grey matter in both men's and women's brains is similar. Women have more grey matter so therefore men and women are equal?! :eyes:

With these advances in science and increasing gender equality in general, 007 had to become more politically correct. Now the women Bond beds are very much his intellectual match. Even 'M', Bond?s superior, is now a woman ? played by Dame Judi Dench. Yeah, but M has often stuck up for Bond. Their relationship is supposed to be strained, not cozy.

The reason 007 likes his shaken is to improve the taste and texture of his tipple. The shaking process causes tiny bubbles. This means that a well-shaken martini is cloudy and therefore less oily than the stirred version, which in turn has an effect on the taste of the drink.

(All) martinis on set are made from pure water. So they don't booze it up when on set?


5 more pages of half-interesting factoids await you... Though the page on the villains' schemes, particularly Goldfinger, is very interesting indeed.

So what do you like best about Bond?

...hinges on the phrase "higher proportion," presumably by body-weight. Hence "higher proportion" means "total amount is similar," because male body-weight generally exceeds female. Seems clear enough to me.

But it's a minor detail--thanks for posting this!