Faulks was educated at the fee-charging Wellington College and studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he won an open exhibition and to which he was elected an honorary fellow in 2007. He took a teaching job at the Dwight-Franklin International School after university while also moving into journalism, becoming a features writer for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and was recruited by the Independent as Literary Editor in 1986.

Sebastian Faulks.

He became the Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday before leaving in 1991 to concentrate on writing. He has been a columnist for the Guardian (1992-8) and the Evening Standard (1997-9). He continues to contribute articles and reviews to a number of newspapers and magazines and to broadcast regularly.

His first novel, A Trick of the Light, was published in 1984; Faulks was 31 at the time and was finding writing hard-going. In 1989 he published the first of his ‘French trilogy’, The Girl at the Lion d’Or. This was followed by the second book, Birdsong (1993), which has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide and came 13th in the BBC’s Big Read initiative which aimed to identify Britain’s best loved novels. The trilogy was completed with Charlotte Gray (1998) which was made into a film in 2002 directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Cate Blanchett. On Green Dolphin Street was published in 2001, and in 2005 Faulks published his most ambitious novel, Human Traces, described by Sir Trevor Nunn in the Independent as “a masterpiece, one of the great novels of this or any other century”.

In July 2007, it was said that Faulks had become the latest author to write an official James Bond novel, Devil May Care, at the request of the trustees of the estate of original 007 author Ian Fleming. The novel was released on May 28, 2008, to mark the 100th anniversary of Fleming’s birth. Faulks finished the book in six weeks and followed the Bond style with exotic locations, glamorous women and larger-than-life villains.

Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields.

Biography: Strawberry Fields is first seen at La Paz Airport with René Mathis and Bond. Sent by MI6, she tells Bond that he is under arrest, and that he must return on the next flight to Britain. She is seen booking a room in a run down hotel as a cover for their disguise as teachers on sabbatical. However, Bond refuses to stay there, saying “I’d rather sleep in a morgue.” Bond then takes them to a much fancier hotel, posing as teachers on sabbatical who won the lottery. She falls for his charms shortly after arriving and is seduced into bed with 007.

Afterwards, she is invited to Dominic Greene’s party with Bond and Mathis. Later at the party as Bond and Camille leave, Elvis runs after them until Fields trips Elvis up to allow them escape. Later, when Bond returns to the hotel and is confronted by M and other officials, he spots Fields’ dead body on the bed nude but covered with crude oil (her demise is a tribute to Jill Masterson’s death in Goldfinger). Upon the discovery, M comments that Fields only had a desk job and her duty was to collect reports and she did not deserve to die in this way. Bond mentions to M during his escape at the Hotel that Fields showed true bravery for her actions and wanted it mentioned in M’s report. Her first name is not shown until the end credits, and she refuses to divulge it to Bond.

Daud Shah as Fisher in ‘Casino Royale’.

His exact relationship with Dryden is not established on screen. He is notable as the first man to be killed by James Bond, and the first of two kills required in order for Bond to qualify for 00-status. Bond’s killing of Fisher is shown in a flashback just prior to Bond’s killing of Dryden. Bond and Fisher engage in hand-to-hand combat in a men’s washroom (the exact location of which is not indicated, though deleted scenes suggest it is in a cricket stadium in Pakistan).

Both combatants have guns, but the majority of the fight involves Bond and Fisher throwing each other through toilets and cubicle walls. Eventually, Bond gets the upper hand and appears to drown Fisher in a sink. However, as Bond turns to retrieve his gun, Fisher, who feigns death, grabs his own gun. Bond turns and fires, and this is shown on screen as a modified version of the traditional gun barrel sequence and leads into the opening credits.

Feyador provides Koskov with men and trucks necessary for his Koskov’s opium deal with the Mujahadin, and on Koskov’s request has the captured Bond and Kara Milovy locked up in the base’s brig. However, they escape, and later attack the base in full force with Kamran Shah and his men. When Bond seizes control of the Russian cargo plane Koskov intended to use to fly the opium to Tangier, a furious Koskov ordered Feyador to block the runway with something, anything. Feyador jumps into a fuel truck and tries to drive it into the path of the plane. Shah, seeing what Feyador is trying to do, throws a grenade underneath the vehicle. Although Feyador notices the grenade, he is unable to get out in time and dies when the truck explodes.

Nadim Sawalha as Aziz Fekkesh in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’.

Fekkesh is an Egyptian businessman and part of the ring smuggling the submarine tracking device’s plans that Karl Stromberg commissions. Bond, hoping to intercept the plans, is ambushed by Sandor at Fekkesh’s apartment. Getting the information out of Sandor that Fekkesh is at a show at the Pyramids of Giza, Bond follows him there, but Fekkesh is killed by Jaws, though not before Fekkesh passes the device’s plans (on microfilm) on to the next link in the chain, Max Kalba.

Searching for information, Bond opts to follow Fekkesh’s trail and meet with Kalba at his nightclub.

Olga Bisera as Felicca in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’.

When Bond arrives in Cairo, Egypt to contact Aziz Frekkesh in regard to the microfilm of the submarine tracking system developed by Stromberg, he finds the man missing. Instead, he finds Felicca, who coyly says that Frekkesh will be “a little late”. As Felicca distracts Bond by kissing him passionately, Sandor, hiding from a behind an overlooking window, poise to aim to shoot Bond. Felicca meets her demise when Sandor misses his mark and the bullet strikes her instead of Bond in a manner reminiscent of Thunderball.

Felsen is a thin SPECTRE henchman who accompanies Irma Bunt and Braun in their pursuit of Bond. He and Braun are knocked out by Bond, but are woken up by Bunt in order to chase Bond and Tracy in their car. Felsen sits in the back seat with Bunt and tries to shoot at Bond’s car on the highway, but his car veered off the road before he can fire. He abandons the car before it blows up at the racetrack.

Edward Charles Morrice Fox, (born 13 April 1937) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is generally associated with the role of an upper-class Englishman. He is known particularly for playing the title role in The Day of the Jackal (1973) and for his portrayal of Edward VIII in the television miniseries ‘Edward and Mrs Simpson’ (1978).

In 1983′s Never Say Never Again, it is clearly stated that there is a new M, played by Edward Fox. This M is concerned primarily with making the books balance and constantly testing agents. He is quite open about his low regard for Bond. Film dialogue establishes that since he took over MI6 from a previous M, he has rarely used the 00-section, and at one point another official requests he “reactivate the 00s”.

Joe Robinson as Peter Franks in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’.

In both the film and the book, James Bond takes his identity in order to meet Tiffany Case. In the book, Bond takes the identity of Franks because the two look similar. Franks never physically appears.

In the movie, Franks is taken into customs of the Dover Ferry terminal so Bond can take his identity, and after he escapes he goes to Amsterdam to meet Tiffany. Bond, knowing he can’t let Tiffany meet the real Peter Franks, heads for her apartment, where he encounters Franks in the elevator, and Bond’s cover is blown when he is about to attack him. A long and brutal fight then ensues, and Bond finally kills Franks by knocking him off a balcony with a fire extinguisher, where he falls to his death. Bond then switches his wallet with Peter’s, to make Tiffany think he killed James Bond, thus maintaining his cover as Franks. The two then smuggle the diamonds to Los Angeles within the body of Peter Franks.

Joseph Furst as Dr Metz in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’.

Furst was regularly featured in UK television drama series of the 1960s and early 1970s with appearances in ‘The Saint’, ‘The Champions’, ‘Doomwatch’, ‘The Persuaders!’, and as the mad (and well remembered) Professor Zaroff in the Doctor Who story ‘The Underwater Menace’. Many people believe his accent in this role to have been put on; this is incorrect, it is in fact his normal accent.

Joseph Furst’s notable film appearances included 55 Days at Peking, The Brides of Fu-Manchu, Inn of the Damned, and Diamonds Are Forever as Dr Metz.