Licence To Queer

Is this the most niche Bond podcast of all time? We hope so! And we guarantee you'll find it interesting! Artist Rosie Sherwood and me tackle the topic of tweed in Bond and find there's much more to it than just snazzy looking garments. Rosie is the grandaughter of Bond actor George Baker and costume designer Julia Squire, who worked with John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean and many others....

Antony and David take on the treasure-hunt experience across London with their friend Natasha Stone (aka The Red Vesper). What did they make of it? Join them before, during and after the adventure. (No spoilers)

With a drought on the Bond film front, why is everyone not quenching their thirst with the Bond books? Perhaps it's because, with more than 50 continuation stories published in the sixty years since Fleming's death, it can be hard knowing where to start. Setting each other the mission of proving the case that there's a Bond book for every mood and every taste, Licence to Queer's Da...

Stephen Bourne saw Goldfinger in the cinema in 1964 as an ‘impressionable little gay boy’. Author of one of the first (if not the first) books to see Bond films queerly, Stephen reveals how his thinking about the ‘offensive’ characters in Bond has become more nuanced since he wrote the book - and urges everyone to keep a more open mind. Stephen is the author of Brief Encounters: Lesbians and Gays...

In the last two years, the Licence to Queer community raised almost £4,000 for charity. This year we’re raising money to support the vital work of a charity whose mission is close to our hearts: PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide . Very few people will not have been affected by suicide. One of my motivations for starting Licence to Queer was to do whatever I could to shatter the stigma surroundin...

Antony and David review a fully stocked 2023. Rather than retread things they've already talked about in detail on episodes of Our Month in Bond they instead choose one highlight from each month to elaborate on, sharing hitherto unheard stories. Their selections include book launches, film screenings, events, trips to Bond locations at home and abroad, charity fundraisers, awards and - most th...

In the latest instalment of their popular series uncovering how Bond films developed through the scripting process, Tom Mason and David Lowbridge-Ellis set their gunbarrel sights on The World Is Not Enough. Early versions of the script reveal significantly different locations, different action sequences, different characters and different versions of the infamous gag which brings the film to its m...

Your hosts recount their trip to Buckingham Palace to pick up David's MBE, the climactic 007GB event of 2023 and their experience of David Arnold's intimate live gig. After making a Doctor Who-themed Martini, they run through Christmas gift ideas for Bond fans, the release of Mark Edlitz's new book and finish with a discussion of Bond-tangential media they have enjoyed, including the f...

While Antony and David really enjoyed 007: Road to a Million and are looking forward to the next series, they both choose three things which they think could make the show even better for all audiences, including the hardcore James Bond fans. Contains spoilers for the whole series.

What did David and Antony think of the new game show on Amazon Prime? *Contains spoilers for the first two episodes* #007RoadtoaMillion

Antony and David reflect on another busy month which included David introducing a special screening of Casino Royale and interviewing six Bond authors at Pinewood Studios for Bondstars. They also discuss the Doctor Who connections with Bond (Doctor Who is celebrating its 60th anniversary), Halloween-related articles on the LTQ website, the Roger Moore auction and David receiving a very special ite...

A bumper double episode, bringing you two months in one. We've both been so busy being 'problem eliminators' with our day jobs we didn't have chance to record at the end of August, so we saved it for now. We look back at the brilliant 007GB Club Belfry event in Birmingham, new editions of Bond novels for Global James Bond day, the excellent new Bond video game Cypher 007, our holid...

Benson’s Bond books updated 007's world for their period and were even ahead of their time in key ways. On the eve of the re-release of Zero Minus Ten, Raymond and I chat in detail about not just Bond but also other mutual passions, including Hitchcock, Hong Kong cinema and listening to The Beatles without earmuffs. As well as being a novelist, Raymond has been a theatre director, music composer,...

What's up with Largo ordering champagne as his plot crashes and burns?! What's 'camp' about camp collars? A Dr Who reference?! Red rubber, really James? And are those mermaids in love???

With more girls than ever before, none of whom are in the mood for 'settling down' with anyone, Thunderball takes aim at heteronormativity.

Beginning with a full-on fight with a man in drag, Thunderball has some curiously queer villains, including asexual Vargas, piratical Largo and the fabulous femme fatale Fiona Volpe.

Thunderball features an early example of the ‘found family’ or ‘chosen family’ we typically associate with some of the Pierce Brosnan films and definitely the latter half of the Daniel Craig era. Those in the field include regulars Felix Leiter and Q, plus local contacts Paula and Pinder.

Don't frighten the fish! Of all the fantastical things that happen in Thunderball (and there are a lot of them), the one that strains credulity the most is Bond and Domino having sex under water. Is James Bond - at least metaphorically - a fish? And what might make his feel like a fish OUT of water?

Paul Baker is the author of the bestselling 'CAMP! The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World'. Not only is the book fabulously funny but it also successfully captures what camp is all about (not a mean feat!) using a plethora of brilliant examples. There's only one problem: there's no way Paul could include everyone's favourite examples and only bits of one of the most...

The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the most balanced Bond films, with a finely calibrated blend of all we love about Bond. But the film we ended up with went through dozens of iterations, many containing thoroughly unhinged ideas. Tom Mason and David Lowbridge-Ellis have read every screen treatment and script they can get their hands on - two years' worth! - and are now ready to share what they&#3...

A gala fundraiser aboard HMS Belfast; an online event with Kim Sherwood exploring Bond and travel; the new Double-O novel gets its title and a sneak preview; Bond girls and singers sparkle in the V&A's stunning Divas exhibition; a memorable portrayal of Ian Fleming In the wonderful musical Operation Mincemeat and Antony gives his verdict on Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever after his first read. NB:...

Kim Sherwood and David Lowbridge-Ellis talk with a live audience about all things travel and 007. How much is travel is responsible for the success of the books and films? Why do we have the urge to make pilgrimages to Bond locations? What can we learn from Bond about how to travel (and how not to)? This is a recording of an event held on Zoom on 22nd July 2023.

On the drive back from seeing the latest Mission: Impossible in the cinema (not handcuffed together), Antony and David try to not fall out with each other while discussing whether it's helpful (or not) to make comparisons with James Bond. They also talk about the queer elements, the Hitchcock influences and the really really cool bit where *spoilers*.

Coming in slightly late - a few days into July - because we've had such a busy month... June was Pride Month so we talk about all of the Prides we've been to, including Pride in London where we represented the queer Bond fan community. David talks about the On The Tracks Nene Valley Railway event where he spent lots of time with John Glen, Kristina Wayborn and other Octopussy alumni. Watch...

Kim Sherwood's 'A Wild & True Relation' is an amazingly queer book. For Pride Month 2023, David Lowbridge-Ellis gets truthful with the Bond author about her 18th Century-set swashbuckler, examining how and why she created such a moving and rollicking tale of self-determination, freedom of sexual orientation, chosen family and defied gender expectations.