Diamonds Are Forever may be one of the more bizarre Bond films but the early drafts by Richard Maibaum make the finished film look quite sane by comparison! Granted access to the Eon archives, film scholar Tom Mason shared with me the uncut gems he’d uncovered: possible versions of Diamonds Are Forever which are, by turns, ahead of their time AND positively deranged. You're not going to believe what Diamonds might have been!

More than shifting his gender or sexual orientation, surely the boldest way to reinvent Bond would be to make him care for something other than himself. A cat, perhaps? After looking back over 70 years of books and films, I’m convinced the idea has legs (four of them).

There’s much more to Miss Case than meets the eye, regardless of whichever hair piece she happens to be wearing at any given time. Jack Bell takes Tiffany’s own advice and keeps it original, finding fascinating new insights into the character and the actress who brought her to indelible life: Jill St. John.

Charles Gray’s Blofeld is a divisive figure to say the least. But whether you love him or loathe him, there’s one thing we can all agree on: he is shady. Here I unpick Ernst’s most waspish comments to reveal the uncomfortable truths about both him and the man he cannot live without - James Bond.

Credited with writing ‘additional dialogue’ for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and responsible for some of the film’s most memorable and poetic lines, outrageously outspoken queer writer Simon Raven had much in common with Bond, including his snobbery, his far from conventional sexuality and a scandal from his school days.