Dunkirk star Tom Hardy will be able to use the skills he learned from Arbroath Marines if he becomes the next 007.
Hardy is one of the frontrunners to take over the suave super-spy’s tuxedo because Daniel Craig simply doesn’t want to be taking orders from M any more.
Hardy showed he is a real-life action hero after having his 007 credentials put to the test from Arbroath-based 45 Commando at RM Condor and Barry Buddon in 2015.
Hardy is an honorary member of the Royal Marines and took part in a series of physical challenges at RM Condor that the Marines undertake on a daily basis.
Sniper rifle training at Barry Buddon
So how did Hardy – who was the leading man in Mad Max: Fury Road – get on back in 2015?
He visited Condor’s firing range and fired a number of the unit’s weapons systems and also took part in a combat conditioning circuit on the beach at Lunan Bay.
Hardy also went to the Barry Buddon Training Area, at which he was able to gain some hands-on experience of the unit’s sniper rifle.
The Walther WA2000, perhaps?
He also received a tour of the Woodlands Garden, which was opened in 2011 and is a site of remembrance to honour all those who have lost their lives while serving at 45 Commando since 1971.
Hardy proved he was up to the mark during his 48-hour spell at the barracks.
Sergeant Kevin Bowie, the unit’s physical training instructor, said afterwards: “All at 45 Commando hope that Tom enjoyed his short but eventful stay at RM Condor.
“The mighty 45 have put him through his paces over the past 48 hours; he understands our ethos and Corps’ values and has an insight into what is required to wear the coveted Green Beret.”
Hardy was presented with a unique hand-turned wooden replica Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Dagger on his departure, after posing for photographs with the Marines.
There were no airs and graces despite his superstar status.
Major Giles Duncan, the second-in-command at 45 Commando, added: “Tom was hugely impressed by our Royal Marines and told me he was humbled by what the lads did.
“He confided that had he not become an actor, he would have liked to have been a Marine.”
Superman’s close links to Condor
Will he take over as Ian Fleming’s secret agent?
Superman actor Henry Cavill is also in the running for the role of 007, alongside the likes of Regé-Jean Page, James Norton, Richard Madden and Idris Elba.
Cavill himself has close links to the Angus base where Hardy trained in 2015.
The Man of Steel is the longest-serving ambassador of the Royal Marines Charity and brother Nik is a Lieutenant Colonel with 45 Commando and served in Afghanistan.
But 007’s links to Arbroath don’t end with Cavill and Hardy’s Condor connections.
The son of Arbroath music hall icon Andy Stewart took part in top-secret screen tests at Pinewood Studios for the coveted role of James Bond in 2005.
Ewan Stewart, whose dad was synonymous with The White Heather Club, made his name in 1989 after playing Dr Robbie Meadows in Only Fools and Horses.
Stewart became one of Scotland’s most respected actors and starred in Rob Roy in 1994 and James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster, Titanic, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
He was one of the final candidates battling it out to play 007 in 2006’s Casino Royale, which would represent a complete reboot following 2002’s Die Another Day.
Stewart screen-tested for the role and was up against Goran Visnjic, who was best known as Dr Luka Kovač in ER, and unknown Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin.
The fourth candidate who met director Martin Campbell?
Henry Cavill!
The four candidates had tuxedos and suits cut for the audition.
Each was also told to play out love scenes on the 007 stage with former Emmerdale actress Camilla Power, who was being hotly tipped to be a Bond girl.
Production executives at Eon, which makes the Bond movies, decided to go back to the drawing board and eventually offered the role to Daniel Craig.
Craig went on to save the world and Stewart joined the cast of River City.
He remains a regular visitor to Arbroath, where mum Sheila still resides.
007 creator’s roots are in Lochee
Of course, 007’s creator Ian Fleming’s own roots lie were in Tayside with both his father Valentine and grandfather Robert born in Fife and Dundee, respectively.
Robert was born in 1845 and began his life in Lochee.
Five of Robert’s brothers and sisters died in childhood from diphtheria.
The family moved to Ramsay Street in 1846 and then in 1853 to a Brown Street tenement shared with 11 other families.
Robert was given a basic education at Brown Street School under Finlay McDiarmid before studying maths at Dundee High School aged 11.
He left school at the age of 13 to work as an office boy on a starting salary of £5 per year and quickly attained a position of influence in Dundee’s textile industry.
Aged 21 he was bookkeeper and clerk to Edward Baxter and gained a close knowledge of US investments and built up a range of contacts.
Robert’s brainchild, the Scottish American Investment Trust, launched in 1873, was the result, which invested in bonds attached to the US railroads.
The Scottish American Investment Trust was an immediate and enormous success and Robert went on to become one of Dundee’s most remarkable success stories.
Robert made many generous bequests to the city, including the Fleming Gardens Estate, and received the freedom of the city in the Caird Hall, at the age of 85, in 1929.
Robert didn’t live to admire his grandson’s success and died in 1933, which was 20 years before Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published.
The Bond books inspired the 27 film adaptations of the series, which began in 1962 with Dr No and Sean Connery from Edinburgh in the lead role as 007.
So will Hardy use his Arbroath skillset to become Bond number 7 for movie 28?
Smokies and wine, shaken not stirred?
Good evening, Mr Bond, we’ve been expecting you!
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