My James Bond Land-Lord

When I stopped working as an au pair in England I moved in to my own place for the first time in my life. Finally I had my own life, instead of living with another family and according to their rules.
I moved to a shared house, where my house mates were a Welsh guy who I actually never met (!) and later a girl from Zimbabwe moved in.

My land lord was called Douglas. He had a dog named Hamley and lived in a smaller house in the garden.
We got on great. He was a very talkative guy, and I appreciated our chats in the kitchen over a cup of tea.

He would always ask about my day, and would let me take Hamley for walks whenever I wanted.
 

My mum and sister with Hamley

He was always walking around in an old t-shirt and jeans, playing with his dog and pottering around the house. But there was more to this man... After having lived there for a good few months I found out that he worked as a body-double stunt man for Pierce Brosnan in James Bond films! What? My land-lord!?

When I questioned him about it he just smiled and said he knew I would find out eventually.

- So can you like, jump with a motorcycle? I asked, eagerly.
- Yep.
- Could you fall down the stairs?
- Yes, if you paid me for it.

What a cool job! He had been in two James Bond films, and also done stunts for Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2 (he called him "Tom"!). I had hundreds of questions.

Then one day he asks me to come outside, he wanted to show me something. Hidden away in his garden was an Aston Martin car. I am not a car person but I did realise that this car was special. "This car makes grown men cry" he said, proudly.


The real Pierce Brosnan with an Aston Martin

One day when I was standing in the kitchen I heard him walk in and turned around.

- Oh well, hello Mr Bond!

He really did look just like Pierce Brosnan's version of Bond, dressed up in a Bond suit, blue lenses in, ready to play his part as Mr Bond to take a groom to his wedding in his fancy car.

What a cool land-lord I had! I ended up living there for almost a year, before I moved in with James. Douglas always jokingly said that he looked forward to the wedding invitation.

Actually, I should send him a card from our wedding, as he seemed to know from the day I met James that I would one day marry him!

My land-lord Douglas.
Look closely in "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Die Another Day" and you might see him!