Sharing passions with Raymond Benson

Benson’s Bond books updated 007’s world for their period and were even ahead of their time in key ways. On the eve of the re-release of Zero Minus Ten, Raymond and I chat in detail about not just Bond but also other mutual passions, including Hitchcock, Hong Kong cinema and listening to The Beatles without earmuffs.

As well as being a novelist, Raymond has been a theatre director, music composer, computer game creator and film historian. Although he’s now written over 40 books, 1997’s Zero Minus Ten was his first novel to be published.

The cover for the re-release of Zero Minus Ten, published on 5th October 2023

Although we discuss Benson’s Bond books in some detail, none of the twists and turns in the stories are given away.

Here’s an overview of our chat:

00:00 Bond and Bergman 

04:50 Hitchcock and Kubrick 

07:00 Acting, directing and many other careers

09:25 Zero Minus Ten - his first novel (if you don’t count the one starring his nephew)

12:50 A Hitchcockian approach to plotting

20:25 Hong Kong history - a succinct summary of British Colonial History

29:40 Hong Kong cinema and the ‘casting’ of Zero Minus Ten

32:50 Modernising Bond’s world

34:00 Sex scenes: a focus on female pleasure. 

39:40 Getting inside Bond’s head

43:20 “You asked, why do I love Bond…”

46:50 Early Bond obsession: awkward admissions from childhood!

48:20 The peaks and troughs of Bond’s popularity

49:30 Bond films: a history of pop culture

50:00 Nerdy questions about Raymond’s Bond books

57:20 The novelisations

01:02:00 Looking back on seven years of writing Bond novels

01:04:00 Looking ahead: reprints and a rendezvous at Pinewood

Due to a little internet lag, the video is occasionally out of sync and we inadvertently talk over each other here and there early on, but not enough to hamper your enjoyment.