PartyCasino’s latest research, ahead of the launch of the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, showed that 40% of UK women would gladly ditch their husband or boyfriend if they had the chance to be on the arm of a James Bond of their choice.
The legendary secret agent, voted the nation’s favourite in the same piece of research, has been played by seven suitably dapper actors since the first Bond movie hit the screens in 1962.
But the latest 007 – Daniel Craig, who bows out with the new film out this week – proved to be the best so far. As Carly Simon crooned in the opening credits of The Spy Who Loved Me, nobody does it better, apparently…
Behind Mr Craig, the votes showed it was a close-run thing between the rest of the previous Bonds, but the current Bond (James Bond) and his more vulnerable persona has clearly struck a chord with the UK’s ladies, as he romped to victory.
The James Bonds Britain’s women would choose:
- Daniel Craig 64%
- Pierce Brosnan 56%
- Timothy Dalton 53%
- David Niven 52%
- Roger Moore 51%
- Sean Connery 50%
- George Lazenby 49%
Perhaps the biggest surprise in our survey was that Britain’s men said they were much less likely to swap their wife or girlfriend for a Bond girl, even though they had vastly more choice from the 24 movies released so far. Only just over a quarter (26%) said they would make the trade while a resounding 54% said they absolutely wouldn’t.
With a raft of lovely ladies to choose from, often with wildly ridiculous names like Strawberry Fields, Pussy Galore and Goodnight, there were plenty of top actresses for the chaps to choose from.
But it was Halle Berry as Jinx Johnston in Die Another Day and Jane Seymore as Solitaire in Live and Let Die who jointly won the top spot in the survey.
Elsewhere, the iconic image of Ursula Andress stalking out of the sea in ‘that’ bikini as Honey Ryder in Dr No still packs a punch, while the likes of Britt Ekland, Kim Basinger, Diana Rigg and Grace Jones are all firmly on the list.
| Halle Berry – Jinx Johnston – Die Another Day – 2002 | 26% |
| Jane Seymore – Solitaire – Live and Let Die – 1973 | 26% |
| Gemma Arterton – Strawberry Fields – Quantum of Solace – 2008 | 23% |
| Ursula Andress – Honey Ryder – Dr No – 1962 | 22% |
| Britt Ekland – Goodnight – The Man with the Golden Gun – 1974 | 18% |
| Sophie Marceau – Elektra King –The World Is Not Enough – 1999 | 17% |
| Eva Green – Vesper Lynd – Casino Royale – 2006 | 17% |
| Kim Basinger – Domino Petachi – Never Say Never Again – 1983 | 16% |
| Barbara Bach – Anya Amasova – The Spy Who Loved Me – 1977 | 15% |
| Naomi Harris – Miss Moneypenny – Skyfall – 2012 | 14% |
| Honor Blackman – Pussy Galore – Goldfinger – 1964 | 14% |
| Teri Hatcher – Paris Carver – Tomorrow Never Dies – 1997 | 14% |
| Diana Rigg – Tracy Bond – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – 1969 | 13% |
| Madeline Smith – Miss Caruso – Live and Let Die – 1973 | 11% |
| Maryam d’Abo – Kara Milovy – The Living Daylights – 1987 | 9% |
| Famke Janssen – Xenia Onatopp – Goldeneye – 1995 | 8% |
| Jill St. John – Tiffany Case – Diamonds are Forever – 1971 | 8% |
| Grace Jones – May Day – A View to a Kill – 1985 | 8% |
| Michelle Yeoh – Wai Lin – Tomorrow Never Dies – 1997 | 7% |
| Daniela Bianchi – Tatiana Romanova – From Russia with Love – 1963 | 7% |
| Luciana Paluzzi – The SPECTRE assassin – Thunderball – 1965 | 6% |