In the 1960s, 007 was a glamorous antidote to postwar austerity, but now he’s more laughable than heroic. Can the Bond brand survive, post-Brexit?
These blithering women,” said James Bond, “who thought they could do a man’s work? Why the hell couldn’t they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men’s work to the men?”
Ian Fleming wrote this in his spy’s first adventure, 1953’s Casino Royale, starting as he meant to go on. Dr No, published five years later, sees Bond and Honeychile Rider incarcerated in the eponymous evil genius’s lair. “Honey, get into that bath before I spank you,” Bond says, and Rider obediently does. “She said provocatively: ‘You’ve got to wash me. I don’t know what to do. You’ve got to show me.’”
