The new James Bond film "Quantum of Solace", currently receiving lukewarm reviews before its opening this week, may well reveal the darker side of our hero, but Blog readers will not be surprised to hear that in the original books by Ian Fleming, Bond showed more than a passing interest in chemicals.
In "Casino Royale" and "Live and Let Die," Bond's escapades are fuelled by spoonfuls of benzedrine which he knocks back before setting off to the casino or to swim through shark-infested waters.
In "Moonraker", Bond's boss M smiles indulgently as Bond opens a thin paper packet, transfers the powder onto a silver fruit knife and tips it into his Dom Perignon '46.
"Benzedrine," he said. "I rang up my secretary before dinner and asked her to wangle some ... It's what I shall need if I'm going to keep my wits about me tonight. It's apt to make one a bit overconfident, but that'll be a help too." He stirred the champagne with a scrap of toast so that the white powder whirled among the bubbles ... "It doesn't taste," said Bond, "and the champagne is quite excellent."
And there's more chemical interest to come when later on, as Bond inspects the Moonraker rocket, he feels a "glow of admiration, and almost of reverence" as the villain Drax shows him the top-secret rocket propulsion fuels.
"One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen," said Bond ... Drax pointed upwards ...
"Driven by superheated steam, made by decomposing hydrogen peroxide. The fuel, fluorine and hydrogen" (he glanced sharply at Bond. "That's top-secret by the way") "falls down the feed tubes and gets ignited as soon as it's forced into the motor."
It seems that others before me have also explored the links between James Bond and chemicals, most notably in this spoof Uncyclopaedia entry "James Bond - chemical properties", and in this Youtube video of a plastic Lego "James Bond 007 Operation: Chemical Weapons".
Nevermind the chemicals what about the pecs?