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1. The Contessa

Episode 1 of 10

007 hunts for SPECTRE boss Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and meets a beautiful Contessa. Joanna Lumley reads Ian Fleming's thriller.

Agent 007 James Bond is hunting down SPECTRE boss Ernst Stavro Blofeld in France - where he meets a beautiful Contessa.

Read by Joanna Lumley.

First published in 1963, this was Ian Fleming's 11th Bond novel, sandwiched between 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and 'You Only Live Twice'.

In movie terms, this was the sixth of the original Bond movie franchise with George Lazenby playing the hero and Diana Rigg as Tracy.

The reader, Joanna Lumley, had a small, unnamed role in the 1969 film of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', being simply referred to as 'The English Girl'.

Abridged in ten parts by Michael Bakewell.

Producer: David Benedictus

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1989.

15 minutes

Last on

Tue 13 Aug 202403:30
BBC Radio 4 Extra

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