‘Bond. James Bond.’ Not the most difficult of words for a professional actor to deliver, or so you might think. Yet such a state had Sean Connery worked himself into, that the Scottish actor kept fluffing the line. In the end, director Terence Young had to ask Eunice Gayson, playing original Bond girl Sylvia Trench, to take Connery to a café in the Pinewood Studios for a stiff drink. Three vodkas later, the pair resumed their seats at the fictional casino table and Connery was able to introduce James Bond on the big screen for the first time. The line, dispensed with a cigarette between his lips, would go on to become one of the most famous in cinematic history.
Dr No celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, a milestone that saw Shirley Bassey perform Goldfinger at a special concert at the Royal Albert Hall; BFI Southbank host a Q&A with producer Michael G Wilson; Cineworld screen each of the 25 films made so far; and Christie’s put on an auction with EON Productions that raised almost £6.9 million for charity. The top lot, a replica Aston Martin DB5 that was used as the stunt car in No Time To Die, achieved £2,922,000 alone.
Amid the brands celebrating six decades of history’s most successful film franchise is Northampton-based shoemaker – and EON partner since 2012’s Skyfall – Crockett & Jones. Having entered a relationship with the Bond production company at the behest of Daniel Craig himself, Crockett & Jones has so far kitted out 007 in a pair of lace-up derbies, a smart double-monk boot and a pair of rough-out suede chukka boots. To celebrate this year’s milestone, the company has revisited its extensive back catalogue, returning, appropriately enough, to 1962.
Amid Crockett & Jones’s catalogue from that year was a pair of plain-fronted, round-toed Chelsea boots with straight-cut elastic sides and an oak-bark leather sole. The company has re-released the boot as the ‘Hamilton’, named after Guy Hamilton, who directed Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). The boot will be available from December in black calf leather and Ivywood antique calf leather.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when the ‘Chelsea’ boot adopted its moniker. There’s evidence to suggest the style was previously known as the say-what-you-see ‘elastic side boot’. One of the earliest examples is said to have been designed by Queen Victoria’s bootmaker, Mr J Sparkes-Hall, in 1837. A pair of ankle-high boots, the shoes featured elastic inserts on either side – making it easy for the Queen to slip them on and off before and after horse riding.
Adopted by the wider equestrian world, the style subsequently became known as the ‘paddock’ boot, mutating into the ‘Chelsea’ boot sometime in the late 1950s or early ’60s – a consequence, it’s thought, although hard to confirm, of the style’s popularity among denizens of the King’s Road.
What we do know is that Crockett & Jones’s first ‘Chelsea’ boot appeared in 1961 – the company having made elastic-sided boots since 1925 – and that its popularity has subsequently advanced far beyond Mick Jagger’s old stomping ground.
Black calf leather Hamilton Chelsea boots, £895, Ivywood antique calf leather Hamilton Chelsea boots, £895, crockettandjones.com
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