An Evening With Roger Moore

An Evening With Roger Moore, Grand Theatre, Church Street, Blackpool.

And the question of which actor’s played the best Bond sparks fierce debate in the office.

Whether your favourite 007 is Sean Connery’s suave Scotsman, Pierce Brosnan’s slicked-back style or Daniel Craig’s gritty mode, one thing’s for certain, Roger Moore’s tongue-in-cheek panache sealed his place in cinematic history.

As the 24th Bond film Spectre opens in cinemas on Monday, there’s still wild hype and excitement for the latest release in the series and Moore, who played the British superspy from 1973 in Live And Let Die through to 1985’s A View To A Kill, understands - perhaps better than most as the longest running actor in the role - how it’s stayed such a popular movie franchise.

“It seems to be Bond has gone on, as a franchise, since 1961, ” he said. “It would seem it will go on too, there’s always a market for that genre of film and I think Bond has become like an old friend to audiences.

“They know more or less what to expect, but they don’t know how those expectations will be delivered each time out.

“It’s basically the same plot and you mustn’t alter it. You can change the faces but the basic elements have to be there; the attractive ladies, the fast cars and the extraordinary stunts.”

Those extraordinary stunts’ have been a trademark of the Bond movies since day one, but they’ve certainly changed with the times from Moore’s era to the present incarnation played by Daniel Craig.

So how does Moore think 2015’s Bond measures up to his own version?

“It was much lighter, I played it for fun, ” he said of his days in the role. “But I’ve not been surprised at all by how Bond has developed or who has played the character.

“Two of them have been my suggestions anyway; Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, and they absolutely lived up to my hopes.

“Today the world is a little more serious, in terms of what’s going on around us. Violence is common place and the films reflect that.

“When I saw Casino Royale I thought Daniel Craig did more action in the first two or three minutes than I did in 12 years added together.

“Now with the focus on technology, you hardly even have to be there.

“I got involved with the stunts, within reason. You do things that if it goes wrong you’re not going to endanger the shooting schedule.

“I can jump over a six-foot wall but at seven foot it’s a little too far; and the stunt double would be furious if you don’t ask for them as they wouldn’t get their money.”

As Moore turned 88 earlier this month, this year marks 30 years since his last turn as Bond and his 70th year in showbusiness - hence his visit to Blackpool’s Grand Theatre tonight for An Evening With Roger Moore.

Does he look back on his time as the legendary character fondly?

“It doesn’t seem so long ago, nothing seems more than yesterday ago - until you start trying to remember it, ” he said, with ready reference to his advancing years.

At 6ft-plus tall and with a twinkle in his eyes that belies his age, it’s still clearly evident why he became such a star, although he shares some not-quite-so glamourous secrets of the job.

“Playing James Bond was a great deal of fun, and a lot of very interesting and uncomfortable places to go to, ” Moore said. “Ones which look exciting on screen but are not so much when you’re there, and your main question is What’s for lunch?’

“In remote places in India and the likes, one of the worst things was that Bond doesn’t sweat... And the most tiring thing was changing your shirt every five minutes so he didn’t have sweat rings around the arm pits.”

Of course, when you’ve played an iconic role like Bond, it’s almost all anyone wants to talk about, with Bond girls a popular topic of conversation.

“How many Bond girls did you sleep with?’ comes up regularly, ” he said. “And my answer is My wife’s in the audience.’”

And the favourite Bond girl?

“I’ve been asked that a few times too, ” Roger said. “Maud Adams I particularly liked working with for two of the films [The Man With The Golden Gun and the eponymous Octopussy].

But get Moore on to the topic of Unicef and you’ll find where his true passion today lies.

You certainly don’t expect to end up talking about breast feeding or the importance of iodine in pregnancy.

That’s the contrast in Moore’s life and lengthy career, though, I guess; from the international playboy super spy to the international humanitarian, in his role as a Unicef goodwill ambassador.

He’s worked with the charity to promote its causes since 1991, and it’s this charity work - not services to acting’ - that saw him firstly made a CBE in 1999, and subsequently a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in June 2003.

“I always said Unicef were faced with two types of emergencies; loud and silent, ” he explained. “The loud ones are things like Iraq and Syria, where it’s front page news.

“The silent emergency is something that’s there all the time; sanitation, safe drinking water, education, prenatal health - iodine deficiency.

“You need one teaspoon of iodine in you’re whole lifetime, especially as a pregnant woman to prevent deformities or a lower than average IQ in your baby.”

Moore’s quick to recognise the peculiarities of the situation too.

“It amazes me, that an ex-James Bond goes around the world talking about breast feeding, ” he said. “I have given awards to hospitals for encouraging it and not having any bottle-fed babies.”

He then shares a tale of a Swedish tabloid journalist trying to catch him out on a Unicef visit to a hospital in Stockholm: “A nursing mother had her 24-hour-old baby there and all the press were there as I went into the room, and I said no - if she wanted to talk to me that’s fine.

“After the journalists were asking me questions and I was asked: What do you think of Swedish breasts?’”

It’s fair to say he was unimpressed with the line of questioning and complained to the journalist’s employer - who ended up donating $200,000 to Unicef.

“He did them a favour by drawing attention to his own vulgarity, ” the canny actor added.

Where Bond’s known for his gadgets, Moore’s not quite so sure these days.

That said, his latest project with Unicef has seen him support the development of a new children’s app called GivingTales, a collection of illustrated Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, narrated by stars including Moore himself - reading The Princess And The Pea, as well as Stephen Fry, Dame Joan Collins, Ewan McGregor and David Walliams.

After a free download for the app, 30 per cent of the revenues of subsequent downloaded stories, released each month, go to Unicef.

“My son and his business partner came up with the idea as I was appointed Hans Christian Andersen ambassador during the second centential celebrations of his birth, ” Moore explained.

“We launched it at the British Library and the Prince and Princess of Denmark came over.

“It was bold of me to read The Princess And The Pea in front of a princess, I thought, but she really loved it.”

Prior to Bond, Moore trained at RADA, and worked as a model before winning small screen roles, playing Simon Templar in The Saint and starring alongside Tony Curtis in The Persuaders.

With the legacy of Bond and his charity work, there must be plenty of career highlights to look back on.

“The birth of my children, ” he answers without a moment’s thought, adding: “I never had that moment when everything changed.

“It just seemed to go along; one day when you call a restaurant, they are happy to give you a good table.

“You don’t realise when it happens, you just appreciate it.”

He admits Blackpool’s not been on his radar, for about 100 years’ having visited in his 40s when his then-wife Dorothy Squires was playing the resort.

But wife Kristina Tholstrup is a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing, and he admits the Blackpool Tower Ballroom show is one of their favourite episodes in the series each year.

“Her ambition is to dance the Viennese waltz with Anton Du Beke and as long as she doesn’t want me to dance that’s fine, ” he adds.

So what can fans expect from tonight’s visit to the resort’s Grand Theatre.

“They can expect that I’m still alive, only just - hanging on by a thread, ” he said. “I hope they’ll expect a fun evening that’s maybe informative.

When I saw Casino Royale I thought Daniel Craig did more action in the first two or three minutes than I did in 12 years added together.”