The Name's Bond. Queer Bond.

July 26, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Name's Bond. Queer Bond.

The most masculine, heterosexual man ever immortalised on screen—James Bond—owes his existence to a film about Oscar Wilde. In 1960, producer Cubby Broccoli poured his energy into The Trials of Oscar Wilde, a courtroom drama about the hounding of a gay icon. Ian Fleming was on set, but not as the creator of 007; he was an actor playing Wilde's butler. That same year, another filmmaker named Gregory Ratoff was making his own Oscar Wilde movie, financed by Twentieth Century Fox. Ratoff had also somehow acquired the rights to Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale. When Ratoff died in December 1960 without making his Bond film, Broccoli—just a month after meeting Harry Saltzman—set up Eon Productions and secured the rights to all the other Bond books. The queer midwife to the world's most famous spy was a film about a gay man on trial.

The Queer Architects of Bond

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What you'll learn

1 (00:05) **The Queer Midwife of James Bond** - The episode opens by revealing that the 1960 film *The Trials of Oscar Wilde*, not a Bond film, is the true origin point for the cinematic 007 franchise.
2 (03:43) **Introducing the Queer Bond Thesis** - Hosts Oswin Baker and Carla-Rae Shawnessy frame the episode's central argument: that James Bond, the icon of hyper-masculinity, has a deep and often overlooked queer history.
3 (06:49) **A Gay Fan's Entry Point: The Bond Girls** - Mark O'Connell explains that his personal attraction to Bond was never about the male lead, but about the strong, eccentric, and well-dressed women, a common entry point for queer fans.
4 (13:12) **Confronting the Bigotry of Bond** - The hosts and guest directly address the racism, sexism, and homophobia found in Ian Fleming's books and the early films, including a rape scene in *Thunderball*.
5 (18:19) **The Queer Imprint: The Books** - The discussion begins a deep dive into the three areas of Bond's queer life: the books, the films, and the music, starting with the literary world of Ian Fleming.
6 (23:38) **Dickie Chopping's Queer Book Covers** - The conversation moves to Richard "Dickie" Chopping, the gay artist who designed the iconic, hand-painted covers for nine of the 14 Bond books.
7 (28:33) **The Queer Imprint: The Films - Cubby Broccoli's Fight for Oscar Wilde** - The episode returns to the 1960 film *The Trials of Oscar Wilde* and how it forced Cubby Broccoli to fight the censors over a gay story.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

He's the man's man, the lady's man, the pinnacle of heterosexual hyper-masculinity. His name is Bond.

But you know what? Maybe James Bond is not as straight as you think. Because the origin story of 007 is a very queer one. From Ian Fleming's gay coterie and literary touchstones through to the creation of the Bond template on film, there's more to the world's favourite spy than meets the eye. And that's before we even mention the music.

So tune in for a romp through 007's backpages in the company of cultural historian Mark O'Connell, whose new book, Bond, Queer Bond pulls the spy firmly out of the closet.

Pull on your dancing shoes, get out that glitter, raise an eyebrow and if a vodka martini doesn't stir you in this heat, take advantage of this episode's sponsor, Brulo non-alcoholic beer, and treat yourself to £10 off one of their mixed cases. Just visit https://www.brulobeer.com/collections/shop and use the coupon TRAPPEDHISTORY at checkout.

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