My bond with Bond goes from strength to strength

And this is all meant as a compliment.

It’s a Bond theme – a good Bond theme – and that’s all that matters.

There are those who will buy clothing simply because it carries the right label. I’m the same with James Bond.

I adore James Bond in all its manifestations, and that includes the music.

Just the other day, I spent a happy hour on the M40 listening to a CD of Bond themes, singing along and picking my absolute favourite (which is, by the way, the Carly Simon song from The Spy Who Loved Me. No arguments, please – nobody has done it better.)

In a couple of weeks, the film itself will come out. It’s called Skyfall, it features Daniel Craig returning to the James Bond role and, despite having seen only the trailers, I’m pretty much convinced that I’m going to love it.

After all, why break the habit of a lifetime?

I’ve loved almost all the Bond films.

There have been lulls in the relationship, awkward moments when I, even as a child, realised that Moonraker was a dung-heap of a movie and then again during the difficult Timothy Dalton era.

The rest of the time, though, it has been a succession of delights.

Bond films have been with me throughout my life.

As a boy, we used to watch them on Christmas Day, of course, but I also have a strong memory of the early days of having a video recorder, using it to tape, and then watch back, Diamonds are Forever.

No, before you say it, I’ll agree – DAF, as it’s known in Bond anorak circules, is not one of the best Bonds.

However, it had the great advantage for a youthful me that it was the only one to which I had access, so I watched it over and over again.

In fact, the first three recordings I remember possessing were that film, The Blues Brothers (and I won’t have a word said against that either) and a snooker game that I taped in order to try out the magic of freeze-framing the action just before the ball dropped into the pocket.
It really was a rather less technologically empowered era.

Other recordings came along, taped whenever ITV saw fit to broadcast the films.

Goldfinger, which is the best Bond film of all (again, I tell you, no arguments please), Live and Let Die (second best theme), From Russia With Love (most oft forgotten star-name baddie in Robert Shaw).

You Only Live Twice (first great villainous lair; also worst disguise), Man With The Golden Gun (great stunts but weak finale and bad wardrobe)...they were all studied and loved.

And from there, the affection and fascination spread beyond the Bond films.

By the time I left school, I had read all the Ian Fleming novels and even went as far as collecting early editions of them all. I then read them.

I’ve been to museums to see the cars and props, and nearly fainted with joy when, two decades ago, I got to visit the Goldeneye set at the fledgling Leavesden Film Studios.
Before we had Potter, we had Bond.

I’m no global expert – there are people who can recite the dialogue from every movie – but I’m a big fan, like so many others.

James Bond has come to represent a sort of idealistic Britishness that never existed and, for that matter, never will exist – the suave secret agent who saves the world on behalf of his country.

In the books, he’s a less humorous and more solitary character. His drinking prowess is extraordinary – not Martinis but whisky, bourbon, wine, beer, Champagne and goodness knows what else, such that most of the time, it’s hard to imagine he could see straight let alone defeat SMERSH – and some of the plot twists are, shall we say, extravagant.

But it’s wonderful stuff that whisks you away from the real world.

Modern Bond is a different matter.

At the same time as he’s been seen pitting himself against big business – The World is Not Enough – the franchise itself has become a huge commercial juggernaut.  Aston Martin, Ford, Coke, Visa and so many others have nailed themselves to his PPK while Heineken is reported to have paid £28m for a deal that involves, among other things, James Bond drinking a beer in Skyfall.

There are those who are furious about this. Personally, I’m indifferent.

The original Bond drank beer so if the film version has a pint here and there, it matters little. All that matters is that we have something new for the canon.

So I’ll be there when the film comes out, waiting to pass an opinion. Of course, if they’ve tried to reinvent the wheel, then I’ll be the first one to cry foul – but they won’t. Bond’s producers have known for decades that they’re on to a good thing and so the formula of plot, stunts, car chases et al will be there.

And in front of it, you’ll find me. Grinning and revelling in it all, wondering when the next Bond film will come, and enjoying the debates.

After all, there are those who think Daniel Craig could yet be the best Bond ever…

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