The Duke

Ken Adam, the famous art and production designer, contacted the National Gallery in in London after the theft (in 1961) of Goya's Potrait of the Duke of Wellington (The Duke) to obtain a slide of the picture. This was so he could paint a copy over the weekend before filming commenced on the Monday for Doctor No (1962) in the scenes where James Bond stops in amazement in spotting the missing painting before he has dinner with Doctor Julius No, the in-joke being that Doctor No stole it. The actual painting was not recovered until 1965, the subject of The Duke movie (2021). A similar idea of a missing painting in a James Bond film is Modigilianis "Woman with a fan" in Skyfall (2012) and reappears briefly in Madeleine's room in Blofeld's hideaway in Spectre (2015), a painting stolen in 2010. Likewise with Picasso's "Le pigeon aux petits pois" seen in Bond's room at Blofeld's hideaway in Spectre (2015). Both these actual painting were stolen with 3 others from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris on 20 May 2010.

When Kempton Bunton is in Parliament Square the black cabs driving past in the distant background have the distinct outlines of 21st century black cabs. There is also a a white car that looks suspiciously like a modern Fiat 500 among them.

Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Adele/Helen Mirren/Jim Broadbent/Golda Rosheuvel/George Ezra (2022)