Bond's inspiration?

“My father couldn't understand how Dunderdale, in an apparently lowly job, could have a magnificent flat in Paris and gave amazing champagne and caviar parties all on the salary of a postmaster. But Dunderdale was a spy,” said Sir Charles. “Fleming, Fitzroy and Dunderdale. That mix was probably quite close to the Bond character: a writer, a man of action and a spy with a love for the finer things — there were a lot of beautiful émigré Russian ladies in Paris at that moment.”

He was widely thought to be the model for James Bond, and now Sir Fitzroy MacLean's personal collection of James Bond books have gone on sale. His son, Sir Charles told me that there was no sentiment attached to their sale. Read more at the link: Under the hammer.

My prose style is bad enough, but if you bother to read the copy at Timesonline, it has been mildly mangled in subbing, towards the end. The Sean who suddenly walks into the story is in fact Sean Connery.

There's more on the contraversial Caltongate project here: Inspection will not halt development.

I've also updated the Broadcast Sport link, in the column on the right. My pet whippet, Payton, gets a namecheck in this Sunday's offering. Or you can link to the article in Scotland on Sunday here: Wednesday morning, 3am.