James Bond, aged 13
Have you ever wanted to know what a teenage James Bond looked like? Well now you have your chance to find out. The family of Ian Fleming, creator of 007, has approved of a drawing of the super spy in his schoolboy days. The illustration is used on the cover of a new set of children’s books about the young Bond. James, aged thirteen, is very different from the handsome and sophisticated man he grows up to be. The young Bond is presented as a tall and scruffy teenager. He wears baggy pants and has a mop of messy hair. He looks quite handsome and has no acne, no crooked teeth, not any other teenage problems. If you look closely enough at him, you’ll see he looks slightly like Sean Connery.

The young Bond books are written by a Fleming fan, Charlie Higson. Mr Higson said that the picture of James as a schoolboy greatly helped him develop the character: “Now I know what he looks like. Young Bond and his world have really come alive”. His first novel, Silver Fin, was a bestseller as soon as it hit the shelves in early April. James is described as a public schoolboy at Eton. His first mission is to end the evil actions of a scientist who experiments on human beings. The scientist’s son is one of James’s classmates and is also a nasty character. The book does well in showing how the young James Bond gained his expertise in becoming a super spy.