Talking of Bond, of the plethora of spies that filled TV and movies in the 60s, there were three big names worth mentioning: James Bond of MI6, and Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin from UNCLE. They never met in the 60s, but in 1983, the TV movie The Return of The Man From UNCLE finally allowed Solo and Bond to meet (Kuryakin was elsewhere…). Here’s that magic moment featuring the original actors: Robert Vaughn and… can you guess?
Yes, it’s forgotten Bond George Lazenby from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (the one who got to marry Diana Rigg). Incidentally, Ian Fleming also created Napoleon Solo. Well, the name at least.
I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
