He’s had a license to kill since the publication of Casino Royale in 1953, but James Bond has enjoyed no such success in his application to become a dog owner.
Less than a decade after Ian Fleming’s signature creation first saw print, Sean Connery embodied the character in Dr No.
Since then, 007 has become an icon – the flash cars, fancy gadgets, tuxedo and signature drink turning into hallmarks with each new release.
In this time, we’ve seen Bond as a gruff secret agent, a camp ladies’ man, a rookie upstart, and… whatever David Niven was doing in the 1976 version of Casino Royale.
One thing Bond has never been, though, is a dog person.
And there’s good reason for that, according to novelist and Fast Show actor Charlie Higson, who learned the hard way that dogs are a no-go for Bond.
Speaking on the My Mate Bought a Toaster podcast with Tom Price, Higson said: ‘In my first book, I gave Bond a dog. I thought to myself, “He’s on an adventure, he should have a dog”.’
However, he was reportedly forbidden from doing so by Fleming’s estate, which has creative control of the books, including Higson’s Young Bond series.
‘And they said, “No, Ian hated dogs”,’ Higson continued. ‘So the dog didn’t make it into the book.’
Higson has written five Young Bond books to date, beginning with SilverFin in 2005.
In baby Bond’s debut adventure, he clashes with an American bully while at Eton College, learning that his father is a dangerous arms dealer.
After four more books, the series was taken over by Steve Cole, who published his own quadrilogy of young Bond stories.
In 2023, Higson published On His Majesty’s Secret Service – an adult Bond adventure commissioned in honour of the coronation of King Charles III.
The author said: ‘Ian Fleming Publications came to me a little more than a month ago and I was thrilled – until I realised it had to be ready for the coronation in May.’
He continued: ‘Getting it written in such a short space of time was as tense and heart-pounding as any Bond mission. Although nobody would actually be shooting at me.
‘I’ve been thinking about writing an adult Bond adventure [for a while] – he came bursting out of me with both fists flying. It was all I could do to keep up with him and get his story down on paper.’
The first of Higson’s books to be set in the present day, the story finds Bond investigating a dangerous plot to violently disrupt the King’s coronation.
Someone who didn’t get the No Dogs memo is actor Daniel Craig, who appeared on Saturday Night Live a year before the release of his final Bond film, No Time to Die.
Poking fun at himself as one of the grittier Bonds, he began his monologue by saying: ‘Hi, my name is Daniel Craig. I’m an incredibly serious actor.’
He then reached to the side, where he was handed a fluffy dog, which he proceeded to dance with.
With the release of No Time to Die, Craig handed in his license to kill, leaving the role vacant.
Since then, Amazon MGM took over creative control of the film franchise, giving them the power to cast the next Bond.
With plans afoot for the next film, fans are on tenterhooks, waiting to see who’ll embody the iconic spy next… and whether they’ll renege on the no dogs rule.