On This Day: The night Bond began again

Twenty years ago, a new 007 stepped onto the red carpet. Casino Royale was about to give a familiar screen hero a decidedly different edge.

Remember those blue swimming trunks? Before Daniel Craig’s first Bond adventure reached cinemas, that beach photograph had already made quite an impression.

On November 14, 2006, Casino Royale had its royal world premiere at London’s Odeon Leicester Square. Queen Elizabeth II attended the screening, welcoming a new chapter in a series that had been entertaining audiences since 1962.

For viewers who had grown up with Sean Connery’s cool assurance or Roger Moore’s raised eyebrow, Craig offered a bruising introduction. His casting had attracted criticism, including complaints that he was too blond for the part.

Based on Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, the film followed the agent’s early days as 007. Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd could challenge him across a dinner table, while Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre made a poker game feel dangerous. Beneath the action was a love story with painful consequences. This Bond could fall hard, and get hurt.

A royal wedding on television

On November 14, 1973, Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey. An estimated 500 million viewers worldwide watched the televised ceremony, while crowds lined London’s streets for the procession to Buckingham Palace.

For those who remember gathering around the television for royal occasions, it belongs to an earlier chapter of family viewing. The couple later divorced.

Lightning on the way to the Moon

Apollo 12 launched from Florida on November 14, 1969, heading towards the second crewed Moon landing. Its opening minute was alarming: lightning struck twice, temporarily disrupting electrical systems.

The rocket kept climbing. After checks in Earth orbit found no significant problems, the mission continued towards the Moon. Just months after Apollo 11, space travel remained an extraordinary undertaking with very real dangers. NASA

Born on this day

King Charles III turns 78. Many Australians remember his schooldays at Timbertop in Victoria. Parliamentary Handbook

Australian surfing great Nat Young, the 1966 world champion, turns 79. en.wikipedia.org

Paul McGann turns 67. He starred in Withnail and I and played the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who. British Film Database

Do you remember?

Who was playing Bond when you first saw a 007 film at the cinema?