James Bond Special : You Only Live Twice (1967)

In You Only Live Twice, Bond is sent to Japan to investigate the disappearance of American and Soviet spacecraft. As ever, SPECTRE is the culprit behind the incident which was carried out to provoke a war between the superpowers. The screenplay was written by author Roald Dahl and marks the first time that the film is only loosely based on the novel.

The distinctly Asian flavour is reflected in the two Bond girls.

Aki, an agent with the Japanese SIS, was played by Akiko Wakabayashi. Unfortunately, Aki meets her doom ... as she slept with Bond, drops of poison are dripped down a thin cord ... meant for Bond but instead enters Aki's lips.

Naturally, Bond wastes no time in finding a replacement for Aki upon her demise in the form of the equally delectable Kissy Suzuki, an Ama diving girl. Kissy was played by Mie Hama.

It is also notable to mention the appearance of German actress Karin Dor as SPECTRE assassin, Helga Brandt. Unfortunately, after a failed attempt on Bond's life, Helga was fed to the piranhas.

The title song was sung by Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra. The single, too, had an oriental flavour and made No.11 in the UK.

Of course, the year before, Nancy Sinatra had hit the top of the charts with her worldwide smash, These Boots Are Made For Walkin', and she got the gig off the back of her hit single, beating Aretha Franklin to it.

James Bond Special : Goldfinger (1964)

This third Bond film involved a plot by the villain, Auric Goldfinger, to invade Fort Knox and contaminate the US gold reserves in order to boost the value of his own stockpile. It is widely thought to be one of the finest and iconic instalments in the franchise.

The film was responsible for one of the iconic moments in history involving Bond girl Jill Masterson who reached a rather "glittering" end. Jill was played by British actress Shirley Eaton who, although appearing in a number of successful films, will forever be remembered as "the golden girl".

However, the star of the film was, of course, Pussy Galore who was played by Honor Blackman who had, at the time, found fame as the leather-wearing high-kicking Cathy Gale in The Avengers. The name Pussy Galore caused quite a controversy and it was suggested that the name Pussy be changed to Kitty. However, it is said that the name was retained after a photo of Ms. Blackman and Prince Philip was published in the papers under the heading "The Prince & Pussy".

Pussy Galore is considered the second sexiest Bond girl (after Honey Ryder) and many people's favourite despite her being completely clothed throughout the film.












The title theme was sung by Dame Shirley Bassey and is widely considered to be as iconic as the golden girl herself. It was written by John Barry with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Bassey's sexy growl suited the song to a tee.

The song gave Bassey her only American Top 40 hit (reaching no. 8) while in the UK the song reached no. 21.

Incidentally, Honor Blackman also had her moment in pop history when Kinky Boots, a single she recorded with her Avengers co-star, Patrick Macnee, in 1964 charted at No.5 in 1990 after being re-released. As a matter of trivia, Patrick Macnee also had a role in a Bond film (A View To A Kill) as did his co-stars Blackman, Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley.

James Bond Special : From Russia With Love (1963)

The second instalment in the Bond franchise had Sean Connery's Bond in danger of assasination by SPECTRE as revenge for his killing of Dr. No. The delicious assasin sent to despatch Bond was Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova played by Italian actress Daniela Bianchi.

Ms. Bianchi had just emerged as 1st runner-up in Miss Universe 1960 and this was her first major English role (though her voice was dubbed in the film). However, she did not find much international  fame after this film apart from her role in 3 episodes of Dr. Kildare.

 The title track for the film was composed by Lionel Bart (who also did Oliver!) and sung by Matt Monro. However, it was felt that the lyrics of the song, while using the title, did not reflect the storyline (this was to be rectified in the next film, Goldfinger) so for the opening sequence an instrumental was used.

Nevertheless the song is a classic and became a huge hit for Monro (even though the song actually only made it No. 20 in the charts).

Incidentally, Monro represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest the year after and came in second behind Italy with "I Love The Little Things".