We all love a bit of Bond. Girls want to bed him. Boys want to be him – sans the Casino Royal Speedos, of course. Talk about cutting off circulation to the groin.
Starting this week, Sky Atlantic’s Fleming, starring Dominic Cooper, brings the beginnings of Bond to the small screen. To celebrate everybody’s favourite spy, in our first post for the Lovestruck blog, His ‘n’ Hers Handbook present the best 007 dates in and around London. Don’t forget your PPK. Protection is everything.
Go on a spy walking tour: Is the ex bothering you again? Need to know how to evade heavy surveillance whilst scoffing on a scotch egg during your lunch break? Perhaps you’re a connoisseur of the particular rather than the practical? Did you know then that evil villain Goldfinger was named after a Hungarian architect? Or that Bond’s favourite shampoo brand, shared by Fleming, was Pinaud Elixir? Nope. We haven’t heard of it either.
London Walks’ Spies & Spy-catchers are the kings of fascinating Fleming factoids. The two-hour tour, headed up by spymaster Alan Titchard, explores the facts and the fiction of the capital’s snooping past from imagined 007 to the very real Moscow ‘Cambridge Five’ spies. London Walks cost from £9 per person.
http://www.walks.com
Drink the best Martini in town, if not the world: It would be rude not to use Bond’s catchphrase ‘shaken and not stirred’ at DUKES Bar, given it was a famous haunt of Ian Fleming, and is also rumoured to be the inspiration behind his character’s infamous words.
DUKES Martinis are eye-wateringly strong, so have a few canapés or you’ll be seeing sharks with ‘frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads. To learn how to make a world-class 
cocktail, the Martini Master classes are also on offer for £95 per person. The dress code is smart. Think 007 sophistication and Bond girl chic. Not bikinis or elaborate crocodile disguises.
http://www.dukeshotel.com
Speedboat through London: 007 is always on the go isn’t he? Slightly shocking that you never see him pay a visit to the drive-thru? Or pop into a roadside public loo? Perhaps Bond has exceptional bladder skills as well as ballistic ones. If he isn’t ‘vrooming’ around in his Aston Martin DB9 he’s cruising about in an amphibian car. Why not join him on the waves?
The Thames RIB Experience offer speedboat trips up and down the city’s river all year long. Their Ultimate MI6 Spy Experience bypasses film locations including MI5 & MI6. They even pipe in the Bond theme tune when you hit the O2. Not sure 007 would approve of that. A 50 minute ride costs £36 and charters are up to £500. They currently have Valentine’s Day special offers.
http://www.thamesribexperience.com
Get bookish over Bond: With the history and fanfare of the movies it’s easy to forget that the 007 adventure all started with the written word. Why not take your date and go spying for Fleming’s first editions? At Adrian Harrington Rare Books in Kensington you’ll come across a 1953 first edition of Casino Royal – the first Bond caper; once owned nonetheless by former SAS officer Sir Fitzroy Maclean, a close friend of Fleming’s. Perhaps you could purchase it for your date? At £50k, it’s a snip. The conundrum is: How much do you value your love?
http://www.harringtonbooks.co.uk
Play spy for the day: In any decent Bond movie there’s always a chase scene. No, we can’t offer you a footrace during rush hour, featuring knotted torsos and shoe-throwing butlers. Fortunately, this is something a little less deadly. London Street Games’ Find Alan! is part quiz, part Cluedo and part manhunt (not that kind of manhunt).
Once registered, teams receive clues to their mobile phone as to the whereabouts of ‘Alan’. The best bit – the first folks to find the mystery man get their mitts on his beer tokens. London Street Games offer various other packages from business team building exercises to bespoke treasure hunt marriage proposals. The next Find Alan! event is on 27th Feb at 6:30pm, register beforehand, 2 hours, £5 per person.
http://www.londonstreetgames.com
