Chances Are That Bond Has Been There Before You

Ever since I found out that the makers of Arabesque starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren blew up Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales as part of the plot for that particular film made in 1966, I have been fascinated by the way that locations around Britain have been quite freely used as film settings. What surprises me most is that many of these locations are very well known in their true identity, and yet when see in the context of the film become believable substitutes for the setting that the film director wants to portray.

Some of these places crop up with monotonous regularity. Lacock, the National Trust village in Wiltshire is wheeled out every time that there is a whiff of a costume drama, and the Greenwich Royal Naval College has been used in at least eight films and series since the start of the 21st century, leaving you wondering how they find time to do whatever it is that they do there.

If there is a serial offender as far as films goes, it has to be the James Bond franchise, and with Skyfall already packing them in, what better time to examine where James has already been.

In Die Another Day, he is to be found with the double for Halle Berry who is actually rappelling down the roof of the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The World is Not Enough features the scenic beauty that can only be found in the London Docklands when there is a boat chase involved, starring roles being found for Millwall Inner Dock, Royal Victoria and Tobacco Docks. The start of the boat chase begins at the actual MI6 headquarters, which also appears in Goldeneye, which has Brompton Cemetery doubling as a “Russian” church.

Not satisfied with the appearance of the real MI6 building, The Barbican has to pretend that it is the Secret Service headquarters in A Quantum of Solace. Harking back into the archives and the Sean Connery days, the Saracen's Head at Beaconsfield suffers from a severe case of overacting as the place where Major Derval spends a night in Thunderball.

The College of Arms in London plays itself in On Her Majesty's Secret Service as Bond carries out heraldry research, while Somerset House in London develops a split personality to pretend to be a Russian square in Goldeneye and The Ministry of Defence in Tomorrow Never Dies. This last film makes use of the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, in particular level four of the car park.

One of the most iconic scenes of early Bondery was the time that James and Goldfinger play golf in the film of the same name. This takes place at Stoke Poges Golf Club in Buckinghamshire, and Odd Job, Goldfinger's manservant, decapitates a statue with his reinforced hat, ensuring that the cast and crew are not invited back there in a hurry.

Back to Die Another Day, as well as another appearance for A Quantum of Solace, both of which make use of the Reform Club, which has also wormed itself into other recent films including Sherlock Holmes.

The Old War Office Building in Whitehall earns its spurs three times over, appearing in A View To A Kill, Licence To Kill and Octopussy, while the charms of the Peterborough station on the Nene Valley Railway are displayed as a substitute for a station in Cold War Berlin in the latter of those three.

The architectural masterpiece that is the IBM building in Feltham receives a standing ovation for its sympathetic portrayal as the Hamburg HQ of Elliott Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, while New College Oxford plays to type as Bond sees a language expert in the same film.

Not satisfied with appearing in Eyes Wide Shut and Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Elvedon Hall in Suffolk offers lavish interiors in The Living Daylights, although there are no fond memories for General Pushkin who gets assassinated there. Stonor House in Oxfordshire offers a virtuoso performance as the house that Koskov is abducted from in the same film.

Eilean Donan Castle doubles as Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough, and at the same time RAF Heywood switches nationalities to become the American Air Base Felstadt in Germany in Octopussy.

You will perhaps need to suspend your powers of belief to see Epsom Race Course as St. Petersburg Airport in Goldeneye, but it just about pulls it off, while Penbryn in West Wales gamely recovers from being the setting for a bit of “hows your father” between Bond and Jinx (Halle Berry) in Die Another Day.

Malaysia House in Trafalgar Square becomes Universal Exports in The Living Daylights, and Stowe School is a funeral type setting in The World Is Not Enough. The Langham Hotel in London still has a fit of the vapours after being draped in Russian flags during Goldeneye, and St. Giles Church, Stoke Poges is said to be the resting place of Tracy Di Vicenzo-Bond in For Your Eyes Only. The North Thames Gas Works surpasses itself with a guest appearance in the same film.

Go back in time to see the appearance of the Princess Margaret Hovercraft at Gosport, Hampshire which illuminates Diamonds Are Forever, so far back in time in fact that it now proudly stands in the Hovercraft Museum. “M” would be delighted to know that he/she (Bernard Lee or Judi Dench) lives in a splendid Thames-side mansion at Marlow as seen in Her Majesty's Secret Service, and RAF Northolt which is an airfield, thinly disguises itself as two other airfields in Goldfinger and Octopussy.

By some miracle Ascot Race Course becomes Ascot Race Course in A View To A Kill, while Count Lippe meets his end at Silverstone Race Track in Thunderball. Finally the West Coast of Scotland played host to a motor boat chase in From Russia with Love.

And what about Skyfall I hear you cry. Well I understand that Glencoe in Scotland makes a guest appearance along with several London venues. Have fun trying to spot them.