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The Great Bond Geoguesser Game

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  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,269
    I'm still lurking in the shadows here @j_w_pepper , but I'm just not often online enough to keep up with this game (for my own ego boost, I knew the location ;-) )
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    CommanderRoss wrote: »
    I'm still lurking in the shadows here @j_w_pepper , but I'm just not often online enough to keep up with this game (for my own ego boost, I knew the location ;-) )

    Feel free to post something instead of myself, @CommanderRoss, I'm glad about everyone who joins us in this effort. Apart from maybe the trivia questions thread, it normally provides me with the most enjoyment and the most additional insight into the franchise of all of them. I don't care about speculating about any future Bond actors, cars, or whatever, but I'd like to know as much as I can (within reason) about what has happened so far and how it's been connected.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,269
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    CommanderRoss wrote: »
    I'm still lurking in the shadows here @j_w_pepper , but I'm just not often online enough to keep up with this game (for my own ego boost, I knew the location ;-) )

    Feel free to post something instead of myself, @CommanderRoss, I'm glad about everyone who joins us in this effort. Apart from maybe the trivia questions thread, it normally provides me with the most enjoyment and the most additional insight into the franchise of all of them. I don't care about speculating about any future Bond actors, cars, or whatever, but I'd like to know as much as I can (within reason) about what has happened so far and how it's been connected.

    I'd love to, but I'd hold up the game, as I won't be online for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Sorry.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    OK. Promise you'll be back, als tu blieft.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited January 2023 Posts: 7,554
    I feel bad that I haven't been participating here but truth be told I'm on the forum so infrequently now I'm not sure I could effectively hold a round (and I'm not smart enough to guess correctly anyways!). It's fun to pop in here once in awhile though and learn something new. Glad y'all are enjoying the game.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,601
    NickTwentyTwo wrote: »
    I feel bad that I haven't been participating here but truth be told I'm on the forum so infrequently now I'm not sure I could effectively hold a round (and I'm not smart enough to guess correctly anyways!). It's fun to pop in here once in awhile though and learn something new. Glad y'all are enjoying the game.
    Wait til I start posting locales from the video games - that'll be right up your alley.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    QBranch wrote: »
    Wait til I start posting locales from the video games - that'll be right up your alley.
    It won't be up mine...I never played a video game.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited January 2023 Posts: 4,341
    All right, I'll procrastinate quickly and add another one. Should be easy for true connoisseurs of the literary Bond. Or not?

    0gx3z0M.jpg
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    Who says all of us are true connoisseurs...?
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited January 2023 Posts: 9,044
    OK, I found it via literary007.com, though it is not a novel location, but Ian Fleming's home from 1936 until 1940 in Flat B of 22 Ebury Street, Belgravia, S.W. 1.

    PS: It is at least a "novel" idea. :-)
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    Bingo! The house has a plaque on it (which I blurred a bit):
    ebury_fleming.jpg

    The Blue Plaques Website informs us: It was at this time, in late 1936, that Fleming moved into 22B Ebury Street – a flat in what had originally been a nonconformist school, built in Greek Revival style. Here he entertained his many girlfriends and his gang of young men about town, who were known as ‘Le Cercle Gastronomique’.
    The living room was in the upper part of the building’s chapel-like interior; Fleming had it painted grey, with stylish concealed lighting. A rooflight was moodily tinted dark blue. In wartime, this did not conform with blackout restrictions, which led him to move out in 1941.

    It was here that a 29-year old Fleming started his life away from home as a bachelor. Ian lived in the chapel, which had no windows but a blue skylight, and a lavatory where the altar used to be. The furniture was black, all in all a very gloomy apartement and full of books. Girls seemed to love the setting, with him stretched out on the black sofa.

    All this information is from the really excellent and richly illustrated James Bond - The Man and His World, by Henry Chancellor. Highly recommended, entertaining reading!

    It saddens me to say it, but you are again next @j_w_pepper !
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    Thank you for your sympathy...it provides a quantum of solace. I just ordered a used copy of that Henry Chancellor book upon your recommendation. At amazon.de the lowest price for the used paperback is over 70 euros! But at zvab.com I found an offer from "WorldofBooks" in UK that will only cost me 16.83 including shipping.

    I'll revert for the next location.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    OK. Here's the next one, a movie location. A car stops in front of it, one passenger gets out, the other passenger goes on. The tricky part may be that I cut off the ground floor because it would give it away, while in the movie you only see the ground floor, I guess.
    hocc01199ydx6.jpg
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    edited January 2023 Posts: 4,483
    It reminds me of the hotel Bond stays in GE.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    Are you sure you mean a hotel in GE? And before you answer, no, it is not the Hotel Atlantic from TND either. Look at the flags. And there is one word to be discovered which along with the flags may deliver a hint.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited January 2023 Posts: 9,044
    To bump this and provide further hints: It is not a hotel. The flag on the right is a considerable anachronism for a Google Street View. And the building is a mere 200 meters away from another location in this thread. (That's one-eighth of a mile for you colonials.)
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    The letters could be Western, in which case I can't find a word ending on -MUR.
    Or they are kyrillic, in which case they might say мир (peace), with the "i" in handwriting. That should be anachronistic at the moment. The right flag could be Soviet (CCCP) or Chinese. I think it may be a building in Russia, but I am not aware of filming in Russia? Very hard to find out ...
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited January 2023 Posts: 9,044
    It is not cyrillic, and looking at the other three flags the red one will hardly be China's. And you're right about the anachronism. Maybe the -MUR has something to do with one of the flags as well. And remember, 200 meters from a past location.
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,269
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    OK. Promise you'll be back, als tu blieft.

    I promise ;-)

    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    OK. Here's the next one, a movie location. A car stops in front of it, one passenger gets out, the other passenger goes on. The tricky part may be that I cut off the ground floor because it would give it away, while in the movie you only see the ground floor, I guess.
    hocc01199ydx6.jpg

    It's definately a soviet flag, which got me utterly confused, as I know of no conference place or anything where those four nations got together, let alone in the movies. But then I figured it might have something to do with the war, and missing persons, and that got me to TB.

    So, my guess:

    SPECTRE HQ: Avenue d’Eylau, 16th arrondissement, Paris
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited January 2023 Posts: 9,044
    Thanks for getting back to this and welcome again, @CommanderRoss. But no, this is not Paris...and I wouldn't know why the flags of four powers (including one that is past) should still be displayed in Paris these days (however old the Google Street View image may be, it is definitely post-1990). There must be another reason...

    The two passengers I mentioned sat on the back seat bench of a four-door car with a driver. One of them left in front of this building (years before the GSV photo was taken), while the other went on in the direction they came. And, as I said, this movie location is a mere 200 meters (as the crow flies) from a literary location already having been the subject of this thread.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited January 2023 Posts: 4,341
    Found it! It's the house at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, hence the flags of the 4 nations that occupied Berlin after WW2. It's called Mauermuseum / The Wall / Le Mur.

    (again, it would make sense to speak French, then your riddles, dear @j_w_pepper , would be more easy to solve)

    So this would be in Octopussy, Bond and M travel there, the car stops, M gets out, while Bond goes on, crossing the Checkpoint into East Germany.

    octopussy_04.jpg

    By the way, the "Stasi" (the State Security Service of East Germany) documented the filming there of OP. Their report says that filming started at 9:34 on August 10, 1982. It involved a Mercedes with 3 men inside, one of them M-actor Robert Brown, who got out of the car. This is the foto they took:

    csm_BArch_MfS_HA-VI_Nr-182_Bl-108_947decc221.jpg


    When the car turned around after each take, 4 times it briefly crossed the border between both states by 4-5 meters. Filming ended by 13:33. The Stasi spies noted every detail, including the license plates of the film and crew cars.

    Read about it here: https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/informationen-zur-stasi/themen/beitrag/james-bond-im-visier-der-stasi/

  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    Right, of course...with a little prodding. Here's a screenshot direct from my Blu-ray, where you can see that M is getting out in front of the "House on Checkpoint Charlie". It's both shown in the window of the museum entrance and reflected on the Mercedes' trunk/boot.

    screenshot001qvenn.jpg

    Today's "Mauermuseum" is no longer the closest building to the former border between East and West Berlin on Friedrichstrasse. The empty lot in the left half of the screencap (used for parking and a control booth at the time) has been covered with a new office building since the 90s.

    That Stasi file is really interesting, thanks for posting the link. I especially like the explanation of photo no. 5: "Mercedes B-JH 375 violates the national border of the GDR when turning" [i.e. back to the West]. And it took the Stasi to make me realise for the first time that the interiors of the car were not shot inside the W123 (B-JH 375), but in that /8 with a British plate. It was probably the extended/"Pullman" version to make camerawork easier.

    Well, here you go, @zebrafish.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited January 2023 Posts: 4,341
    A literary location. More specifically, it must have been here, where the empty space/construction site now is.

    NlYUZxc.jpg
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited January 2023 Posts: 9,044
    It does very much look like Moscow. Especially once you zoom in and see all those cyrillic street signs, including one that seems to advertise or direct you to the "Moskovskiy Akademicheskiy Teatr Satiry". But I've yet to find the location in question nevertheless. It fits neither Pushkin Street where Kronsteen had his chess match, nor 13 Sretenka ulitsa where Smersh Headquarters were, nor Sadovaya-Chernogriazskaya ulitsa where Tanya lived. But I'll keep sniffing.

    And I forgot to say, TMWTGG (the novel) doesn't seem to give any street addresses in Moscow. Only the one in Vladivostok we had recently.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    Well, you are on to something and too quick to draw conclusions - is all I want to say at this point.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    "Schnell fertig ist die Jugend mit dem Wort." - Friedrich Schiller, Wallenstein

    Anyone who cares, try Google Translate. :-)
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    Moscow is correct. Now, better take a walk along the streets and watch out for the house numbers!
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    OK, so it is the place where Smersh HQ was, 13 Ulitsa Sretenka (in this order). Google Street View put me in the wrong place initially, at least not on no. 13. Good one, anyway!
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,341
    Perfect, you got it! The book you ordered has a picture from the 1960s, showing the „SMERSH“ building (even back then it consisted of shops, not really any kind of headquarter for a global organization), but I don‘t know if it shows number 9 or 13.

    I guess it is your turn again, @j_w_pepper !
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,044
    I have a feeling that at least one person who has been on this thread will know this right away, but I don't have anything more sophisticated right now. It is strictly a literary location.

    tdipbtreeq.jpg

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