Bond is Great - and he’s back!

This is for your eyes only, but it’s no coincidence that I share my initials with James Bond. Like him, I work tirelessly on Her Majesty’s Service, working for Queen and country in foreign lands, regularly having to wear a dinner jacket to parachute off the snow-covered Ardennes into the latest Aston Martin. 

Of course, the latter is entirely fantasy, but in our aspirations for diplomatic excellence – and with that Olympic opening ceremony still fresh in our minds – it’s good to have an ambitious role model. And Bond is back! The 23rd James Bond adventure, Skyfall, will be in Belgian cinemas from October 26 thanks to Sony Pictures, EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

Fifty years since Sean Connery did battle with Dr No on an exotic island with an exotic companion, there is still a real global fascination with our best-known secret agent. Meanwhile, in the real unglamorous world, the brave and discreet work done by intelligence services remains as important as ever, as a recent speech by Britain’s foreign secretary reminds us.

To capitalise on this fascination with an entirely fictional British agent, VisitBritain – who share the Embassy with us – are undertaking an extensive Agent UK marketing campaign in Belgium and 20 other countries to encourage 007 fans to visit Britain – the home of Bond – for their next holiday.

With Skyfall filmed in iconic London locations, including the National Gallery, Whitehall and Greenwich, as well as Glencoe and Glen Etive in the Scottish Highlands where Ian Fleming’s family once owned a home, we can safely back the claim that “Bond is Great Britain.” 

And while Bond may be fantasy and fun, the film business is serious. Britain’s film industry contributes £3.2 billion to UK GDP and supports more than 70,000 jobs. Creative industries were responsible for 10 percent of Britain’s exports in 2009 – and are creating the skills base we need to compete in high-tech sectors such as IT and computer games.  

Film also helps keep the visitors coming. VisitBritain research shows that just under half of potential visitors to Britain want to visit places they have seen featured in films or television.

Meanwhile, in Belgium, the Ghent film festival will host a concert of Bond Music on October 18 and 21. Belgian card-makers Carta Mundi are cashing in by providing the playing cards and poker chips for Skyfall. In Brussels, Kinepolis will host the premiere, with drinks company Diageo providing the martinis.

So there is plenty to show why Bond is great, and why Bond is Great Britain. And as British Ambassador to Belgium, I encourage you to go and see Skyfall (and I’d be interested to hear if a character created by a man named Fleming has any Belgian connections).

If you like what you see in Skyfall, I hope you will consider visiting Britain for your next holiday. After all, you only live twice!