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Licence to learn – improve your English with James Bond

James Bond has always been a mainstay of British. With this blog post, you will have to the licence to learn and to improve your English with James Bond. Here is what we’ll be looking at:

  1. Who is James Bond?
  2. Who has played James Bond?
  3. Licence to learn

Who is James Bond?

James Bond is a fictitious character of the British Secret Service MI6. He is based on books written by British authors by Ian Fleming and, later after his death, Sebastian Faulks. In the films between 1962 and 1969 and then later in 1981, Bond faces the fictitious organisation called SPECTRE. SPECTRE then got its own film in 2015. Bond (played by Daniel Craig) faced up to the organisation once again. In the other films, Bond faces other villains including Jaws (a man with steel teeth). Jaws later helps Bond in the film ‘Moonraker‘.

Who has played James Bond?

Since the first James Bond film in 1962, there have been six James Bond actors. Let’s have a look at who they were:

The 1960s

  • Sean Connery. The Scottish actor, who died very recently, played the role in the 1960s, once in the 1970s and once in the 1980s. He is the second longest serving James Bond after Roger Moore, who played the role later.
  • George Lazenby. An Australian actor, he played the role only once in 1969 in the film ‘On Your Majesty’s Secret Service’. Many commentators have called him the worst James Bond actor ever. During the film ‘On Your Majesty’s Secret Service‘, James Bond got married. Unfortunately, she was killed by Bond’s long-time foe Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Longest-serving James Bond

  • Roger Moore. He played the role of James Bond between 1972 and 1985. He is the longest-serving James Bond actor. Under his stewardship, Bond travelled to space in ‘Moonraker‘ and turned a Soviet spy in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me‘. According to one website, Moore’s best film is For Yours Eye Only in 1981.

Chain-smoker

  • Timothy Dalton. Here we see James Bond as a chain-smoking man, who by the end of his tenure in 1989 looked as if he was fed up of the role of James Bond. In actual fact, many have said that Dalton played the role closest to how it was written in the books by Ian Fleming and others.

Irish Bond

  • Pierce Brosnan. Up to now, Brosnan is the only actor outside of the UK and Commonwealth to play the role. It hasn’t been written anywhere that James Bond has to be British. Brosnan was first seen in 1995 in GoldenEye and welcomed in the new Millennium in the film Die Another Day, in 2002. Brosnan’s appearance in ‘The World Is Not Enough‘ in 1999 was probably the closest that Bond has come to death.

The latest James Bond actor

  • Daniel Craig. He is the latest Bond character and is also leaving his role. Craig has played the character five times. The latest film ‘No Time To Die‘ has been delayed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Craig’s adventures have taken him from Venice to the rugged homeland of James Bond in the Scottish Highlands.

The future

  • Unknown. Yes, we don’t know who the next James Bond actor or actress will be. Whether someone has been chosen or not is also unknown. Many actors have had their names said in the press including Idris Elba, the main actor of ‘Luther‘.
James Bond pin 2

Licence to learn – improve your English with James Bond

James Bond’s motto is ‘licence to kill‘. I am using a play on words to give you the licence to learn something new with this fascinating character. You’ll be asking yourself what there is to learn with James Bond. Here are a few things:

Accents

As there have been six different James Bond actors from different parts of the world, they have brought with themselves their different accents. Sean Connery, for example, used his Scottish roots when he played the role of James Bond. When he spoke, it was with his native Scottish accent. Many of the other actors, excluding Pierce Brosnan tried to use an Oxford accent. Lazenby, who is originally from Australia, unfortunately didn’t make a good job of doing this. Brosnan used his Irish accent while playing the role.

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Furthermore, many of Bond’s villains have used different accents during the films. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (the leader of SPECTRE) has been played by numerous different actors. Originally meant to be from Germany, Blofeld’s actors have used different accents while in this role. The latest to play it was Christoph Waltz, a German-Austrian actor, who spoke English with his German accent.

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Simple, catchy phrases

James Bond films would not be the same without a few very simple, catchy phrases. The most common of which is, “The name’s Bond, James Bond”. Ok, this is a very simple phrase. Nevertheless, it helps you, very simply, to introduce in a formal situation. James Bond’s favourite drink is a Martini. And when drinking, Bond likes to tell anyone watching ‘Martini, shaken, not stirred’. The words ‘shaken‘, and ‘stirred‘ are better used to describe how people feel. Nevertheless, we can use these adjectives to describe how we would like to have a drink.

The word ‘Bond’

Many, over the years, have tried to interpret whether the name James Bond has a double meaning. The word bond describes there is a connection between two people, which could be physical or mental. Furthermore, it is also used in financial circles to describe money that has been lent to someone. James Bond likes to play with money. He is often seen in casinos, mainly winning. Bond also likes to have a bond with the women he has. It is possible to interpret his name, however you would like.

Licence to learn in other ways

Act the scenes

It might sound a bit obvious, but what better way to have the licence to learn than to actually play the roles in the James Bond films. This way you can improve your speaking skills. I would recommend that you should act out your favourite scenes from films with your friends.

Watch the films

Yes, probably the second best way to have the licence to learn is to watch the films. Watch the films without subtitles, because this way you can concentrate more on the body language and the actions of those on the screen. If you do have problems with understanding what is said, then you should use subtitles.

Here are all the films on DVD, so you can watch them:


As you can see there are different ways to have the licence to learn. James Bond has been one of the biggest mainstay in British culture. Since he was first projected on our screens in 1962, James Bond has amazed us with his nimbleness and flexibility in all different films.

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