The Name Could Have Been Bond, James Bond Quiz

Answer: Barry Nelson

In 1954, CBS Television paid Ian Fleming $1000 for the rights to produce a television adaptation of his first novel, "Casino Royale", which was to be broadcast as part of their upcoming anthology series "Climax!". When the time came to cast the episode, actor Barry Nelson was chosen to play the lead, while Peter Lorre was cast in the role of the villainous Le Chiffre.

At the time, Nelson was well-known for playing George Cooper in the CBS sitcom "My Favorite Husband". Because of the nature of the episode for an American domestic audience, the role of Bond was switched to being an American working for 'Combined Intelligence' - as a result, at points in the episode the character is referred to as Jimmy. Nelson admitted much later that, due to his unfamiliarity with the character, he was unsure of how precisely to play it. Ian Fleming's novels did not become big in the United States until the publication in 1961 of a list of President Kennedy's ten favourite books, which included the fifth book in the series, "From Russia With Love".

Answer: Bob Holness

Bob Holness was born in the city of Vryheid in Natal in 1928. At the age of seven, his family moved to Kent, where he attended school before going to the Maidstone College of Art. When he was 25, he returned to South Africa, where he initially worked as a printer, before becoming a professional actor with a repertory company in Durban.

In 1955, he began working regularly in radio, joining the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Springbok Radio, where he not only acted in radio drama, but was also given a presenting job on the show "Calling to Youth". One of the radio dramas that he acted in during his time at Springbok Radio was an adaptation of "Moonraker", in which Holness played James Bond.

In later interviews, Holness said that the adaptation was produced and staged by the Durban Repertory Theatre; the actual date of its broadcast is unclear, although it is believed to have been in 1956. Bob Holness returned to the UK in 1961, where he began working for the BBC Light Programme as the presenter of "Late Night Extra", while in 1962 he started working on television as the host of the game show "Take A Letter", while in 1983 he began hosting the show for which he is perhaps best remembered, the children's quiz "Blockbusters".

Answer: Cary Grant

In June 1961, Ian Fleming sold a six-month option on the film rights of his books to producer Harry Saltzman, who subsequently formed a partnership with Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli under the name Eon Productions to produce what was planned as the first of a series of films to feature James Bond. Eon had initially intended to produce "Thunderball" first, but legal issues led to Broccoli and Saltzman instead selecting "Dr No" to be filmed.

The choice of actor to portray Bond was important, and the producers initially wanted to find a major star to be the face of their planned series.

They proceeded to approach Cary Grant with an offer, but he was only prepared to commit to a single film, while the producers had made it clear that "Dr No" was going to be the first of a series. Eventually, the two selected the 31-year old Scottish actor Sean Connery - although he appeared somewhat disheveled upon their first meeting, the producers were impressed by his machismo and attitude, and decided he was perfect. Connery was signed to a five film deal, after which the director of "Dr No", Terence Young, took the actor to his tailor and hairdresser, giving him an "education in the ways of being dapper, witty and cool".

Answer: False

During the post-production of "Dr No", designer Maurice Binder was working on the film's title sequence when he came up with the idea of the so-called "gun barrel sequence" - the series of white dots that morphs into a view down a bun barrel tracking Bond across the screen, before he then turns and shoots his unseen assailant. Binder always planned for the figure to only be seen in silhouette, and so, rather than schedule time with Sean Connery to film the sequence, the film's stunt coordinator, Bob Simmons, was used instead.

The sequence filmed with Simmons was used to open the first three films in Eon's series. For the fourth film, "Thunderball", the aspect ratio was changed from the original to an anamorphic format, which required the gun barrel sequence to be reshot. For "Thunderball", Sean Connery was brought in to film the sequence, the first to feature the actual star of the series. For each subsequent film, the gun barrel sequence featured the then leading man.

Answer: Peter Sellers

Although Ian Fleming had sold the rights to the bulk of his published material featuring James Bond to 'Cubby' Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1961, the rights to "Casino Royale" had been sold separately to producer Gregory Ratoff in 1955. Following his death in 1960, his agent, Charles K. Feldman, had purchased them from Ratoff's widow. Feldman initially attempted to produce a straight adaptation of "Casino Royale" himself, before then suggesting a joint production with Eon. Nothing came of this and, thinking that he would not be able to compete with the "official" series, Feldman instead devised the film as a spy spoof comedy, with Peter Sellers cast as Evelyn Tremble, Orson Welles as Le Chiffre and David Niven as Sir James Bond. Production of the film was fraught, and was not helped by Sellers, who was notoriously difficult to work with - in addition, Sellers took the role of Bond to heart and tried to play it straight. Sellers was eventually let go before production ended (although it is not clear if he was fired or simply walked out), with a number of scenes unshot and new elements having to be added to the screenplay to make up for this.

Answer: Timothy Dalton

Sean Connery's five picture deal with Eon ended on the completion of "You Only Live Twice" in 1967. The actor had already indicated publicly that he would not reprise the role in the next planned film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and so Broccoli and Saltzman began their search for a new leading man.

The search, which was likened to the search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind", ran to as many as 400 different names. One of those that impressed Broccoli was the then 23-year old Timothy Dalton, who had just made his film debut playing King Philip II of France in Anthony Harvey's "The Lion in Winter".

However, Dalton rejected the potential offer, suggesting that he was too young for the role at the time. Broccoli and Saltzman eventually cast Australian model George Lazenby for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which was released in 1969. Dalton was approached again prior to the casting of Roger Moore for "Live and Let Die" in 1973, before he finally accepted the part in 1986, with his first appearance coming in "The Living Daylights".

Answer: John Gavin

Although George Lazenby had been offered a seven picture deal following his casting in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", he was convinced by his agent that there was no future for the character of James Bond, and so departed the role after his one appearance.

As a result, the producers were forced into another search for an actor to play the role. A number were considered, with Broccoli and Saltzman eventually deciding on John Gavin. Gavin had had supporting roles in a number of major pictures during the 1960s, including Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", often as a romantic foil for the leading lady.

Although he was the choice of the producers, Gavin's profile was not big at the time, which led to the head of United Artists, the studio that were Eon's backers in the series, instead insisting that they bring back Sean Connery to the role, with money no object.

As a result, despite having signed a contract, Gavin was replaced as the lead in "Diamonds Are Forever" by Connery.

Answer: Christopher Cazenove

"The British Hero" was an hour long documentary looking at the idea of the hero in a range of different works by British authors, including H. C. McNeile, John Buchan and Ian Fleming. As part of the programme, dramatisations of scenes from various works by these authors were incorporated, all using the same group of actors. Two scenes were selected from novels by Ian Fleming - Bond strapped to the table and being threatened by a circular saw from "Goldfinger", and the climactic fight aboard the ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth from "Diamonds Are Forever", with English actor Christopher Cazenove as Bond.

At the time, Cazenove had just made his name playing Lt Richard Gaunt in the BBC drama series "The Regiment", and would go on to appear in a number of aristocratic roles. Among the other characters played by Cazenove in "The British Hero" were "gentleman adventurer" Bulldog Drummond, and reluctant spy Richard Hannay.

Answer: Toby Stephens

Toby Stephens, the son of actors Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith, made his film debut in the 1992 film "Orlando", and built a significant reputation in film and television over the following decade. In 2002, he was cast as Gustav Graves, the villain of the piece in "Die Another Day", the twentieth film in Eon Productions' series, opposite Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

At the age of 33, Stephens became the youngest actor to play the main villain in a "Bond" film. Six years later in 2008, as part of the commemorations of the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, BBC Radio 4 commissioned an adaptation of "Dr No", with Toby Stephens cast to play James Bond opposite David Suchet as Dr No. Following the success of "Dr No", the BBC commissioned a number of other adaptations featuring Stephens in the lead role.

However, he was not the first actor to appear as James Bond for the BBC - in 1990, Radio 4 produced an adaptation of "You Only Live Twice" starring Michael Jayston as Bond.

Answer: False

Roger Moore and Sean Connery both appeared seven times as James Bond - Connery in the first five of Eon Productions' films, followed by his sixth appearance in "Diamonds Are Forever", and the unofficial film "Never Say Never Again", while Moore was in seven consecutive Eon films from "Live and Let Die" to "A View to a Kill".

However, since 2008, Toby Stephens has appeared in nine BBC Radio adaptations of Fleming's novels alongside Martin Jarvis playing Ian Fleming as the narrator.