20 Things You Didn’t Know About On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

12. “Good Motto, Eh? ‘The World Is Not Enough’.”

George Lazenby Bond OHMSS
MGM/UA

The College of Arms assisted with both Ian Fleming’s 1963 novel and its 1969 film adaptation.

J.C.G. George, principal secretary to the-then York Herald, Dr. Conrad Swan, explained to The Guardian newspaper: “What did we do? Dialogue polish. And could a chap have borne arms in 1066? No he couldn’t; earliest would have been 1127. As you can imagine, being a part of the Royal Household, we didn’t want any howlers like that”.

The College also assisted Syd Cain with Sable Basilisk, Sir Hilary Bray's letterhead and Blofeld's coat of arms (the last surviving version of which, from the set of Blofeld's subterranean laboratory, now resides at Piz Gloria above Mürren).

Whilst the College’s headquarters on Queen Victoria Street near St. Paul’s Cathedral in London also featured in the film, its interior was faithfully recreated at Pinewood Studios.

Later, when Peter Hunt was unconvinced by George Lazenby’s impersonation of George Baker’s Sir Hilary Bray, he asked Baker to dub all of Lazenby’s dialogue as Sir Hilary, much to Lazenby's annoyance.

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