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The Other Fellas
The Other Fellas

First we watched all of Roger’s Bond films in one epic 17 hour marathon. Then we binged on Brosnan. Most recently, we devoted an entire day to Daniel Craig. Across these three events, Licence to Queer readers raised more than £7000 for UNICEF and Papyrus - Prevention of Young Suicide. For this year’s fundraiser, in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, it’s the turn of The Other Fellas.

“What’s keeping you awake?” James Bond’s battles with sleep
“What’s keeping you awake?” James Bond’s battles with sleep

What if we reframed the whole of the Bond franchise as the story of a man just trying to get a good night’s rest? Lifelong insomniac David Lowbridge-Ellis gets under the covers with 007 to explore when he sleeps, if he’s really the early riser he claims to be and why we should be concerned about his dreams.

Debate over? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service IS a Christmas film
Debate over? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service IS a Christmas film

It’s fun to debate the extent to which action movies like Die Hard and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are ‘Christmas films’. But, in my mind, there is no debate. They are unequivocally Christmas films because they embody the ambivalence of the season: darkness mixed with light; sadness with joy; looking death in the face and, ultimately, choosing to live.

Keeping 007 alive
Keeping 007 alive

Mark Edlitz’s stunning new book contains interviews with every living author who has penned a Bond novel, from Raymond Benson to Kim Sherwood. It also contains special interviews with the son of John Gardner and Ian Fleming Publication Limited's Managing Director Corinne Turner. The cover art is by Sean Longmore, the illustrations are by Pat Carbajal, the foreword is by three time Bond scribe Bruce Feirstein and the afterword is by me.

Licence To Queer covers queer aspects of Bond books, video games and more. Search here for your favourite titles and characters or find content related to particular queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc).

David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

Queer re-view: Dr. No

You would think that a film which opens with three men pretending to be blind would alert us to the need to look at things differently. But six decades of straight-washing has obscured quite how queer Bond’s beginnings were - and still are to this day. It’s high time we took the blinkers off: Bond was born this way.

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David Lowbridge-Ellis David Lowbridge-Ellis

James Bond: Muscle Mary

The lines between ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ fashion are more blurred than ever, in part thanks to James Bond. Nevertheless, stereotypical assumptions about the clothing we choose to wear still persist. Craig’s Bond carries off a classic ‘gay look’ down to a (very tightly fitted) tee.

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