Mark Burgess (born 1960) is a British playwright and actor who appeared in Brookside as Gordon Collins. Burgess wrote and performed the one-man show The Man with the Golden Pen on the life of Ian Fleming. [1]
The James Bond series focuses on the titular character, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.
Luton is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Bedfordshire, England, with a population at the 2021 census of 225,262.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of its urban area, including Kempston and Biddenham, was 106,940. Bedford is also the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford, a unitary authority that includes a significant rural area.
Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. The story centres on the investigation by the British Secret Service operative James Bond into the gold-smuggling activities of Auric Goldfinger, who is also suspected by MI6 of being connected to SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence organisation. As well as establishing the background to the smuggling operation, Bond uncovers a much larger plot: Goldfinger plans to steal the gold reserves of the United States from Fort Knox.
Toby Stephens is a British actor who has appeared in films in the UK, US and India. He is known for the roles of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, William Gordon in the 2005 Mangal Pandey: The Rising film and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the 2006 BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre. From 2014 to 2017, he starred as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails, followed by one of the lead roles in the Netflix science fiction series Lost in Space from 2018 to 2021. He currently stars as the Greek God Poseidon in Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Roger William Allam is a British actor who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.
Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The town of Bedford was a borough from at least the 12th century until 1974, when the modern district was created. It covers a largely rural surrounding area as well as the town itself. The modern council was initially called Bedford District Council from 1974 to 1975, then North Bedfordshire Borough Council from 1975 until 1992, when the current name was adopted. Until 2009 it was a lower-tier district council, with county-level services provided by Bedfordshire County Council. The county council was abolished in 2009, since when Bedford Borough Council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council.
Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.
Susan Engel is a British actress. She was born in Vienna, Austria.
Jane Elizabeth Marie Lapotaire is an English actress from Suffolk.
Roughton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located 3.7 miles (6.0 km) south of Cromer, 19.6 miles (31.5 km) north of Norwich and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north-west of North Walsham. The village's name means 'Rough farm/settlement', referring to the character of the ground.
Richard James Burgess is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor.
Commander James Bond is a character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)—were published posthumously.
Richard Quentin Fuller is a British politician who has served as the interim Chairman of the Conservative Party since July 2024. He previously served as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury from July to October 2022. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North Bedfordshire, formerly North East Bedfordshire, since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he represented Bedford from 2010 to 2017. He had previously achieved prominence as leader of the Young Conservatives from 1985 to 1987.
Ronald Eaglesham Porter, known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin Rebus detective novels and for his supporting roles in films The Jungle Book (1994), Titanic and television series Doctor Who and Game of Thrones.
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond is a 2014 British television miniseries of four installments detailing the military career of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. The somewhat fictionalised biography spans the period from 1938 to 1952, dwelling on Fleming's romantic adventures as well as his espionage for the Royal Navy. Actor Dominic Cooper stars as Fleming, while Lara Pulver plays his love interest, Ann O'Neill.
Claire Benedict is a British actress known for her work in classical productions on the British stage, but best known for portraying the principal character Mma Ramotswe in the continuing radio adaptations of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She won a Time Out Award for Best Performance for her portrayal of Sophia Adams in Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, directed by Maya Angelou. She lives in Todmorden in the Pennines.
Rosie Fleeshman is an English actress. She has worked as an actress since the age of 10, beginning her career in the Peter Pan stage play at The Lowry Salford. In addition to an extensive stage experience, she has regularly recorded radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7.
Roger Davenport is an English author, actor and screenwriter. He is the son of John Davenport, who was for many years a literary critic writing for The Observer newspaper. Graduating from LAMDA in 1967, Davenport worked extensively in British theatre before becoming a writer. He is married to the actress Joanna McCallum.