22 replies to this topic

[Bond_Bishop]

Does anyone know it? Major Boothroyd is widely known but what is his first name? I did read an article at Wikipedia that said his name was Quentin, anyone heard of that? That role-playing-game also mentions Boothroyd's first name as Geoffrey (after Fleming's real life friend Geoffrey Boothroyd). Can anyone clear up this mist for me?

[Righty007]

I always thought it was Major Geoffrey Boothroyd. Quentin? No...

[Tanger]

It is Geoffrey Boothroyd named after Geoffrey Boothroyd.

[k13oharts]

Hmmm... first time I heard of a Quentin Boothroyd.
Ok, fine I'll go through my novels.
(Lolz, we actually went through the Bond movies and novels without knowing his first name for sure )

And Moneypenny?
Is she really Miss Jane Moneypenny?
(That's probably lifted from James' name!)

[marktmurphy]

I did read an article at Wikipedia that said his name was Quentin, anyone heard of that?

That probably comes from his name-badge in Tomorrow Never Dies, which displays the name 'Quentin Quigley' or something. But as he was undercover, it was just a lightly amusing joke, not an intention of his real name.

[Mister Asterix]

[mra]His first name is Major.

I

[Strangways]

"Quentin"? I've read the Wikipedia article; it says Fleming called him Quentin Boothroyd in the novel "Dr. No", but Fleming sure as heck does not. Don't know where the article author got that idea. Perhaps, like we learned that "M" may have had more to do with an abbreviation of the Admiral's name rather than a job title, someone in some fan speculation suggested Quentin for Q? Or maybe someone with a very bad memory of the novel confused Quentin with Quarrel?

Fleming liked to honor his friends with cameos in the novels. Ernest Cuneo became cab driver Ernie Cureo in the novel Diamonds Are Forever, and in one draft of Thunderball was the original name for the Mafia chief badguy (which eventually became SPECTRE's Ernst Blofeld). If we're going to give Boothroyd a first name, let it be his pal Geoffrey Boothroyd.

But PLEASE... let's not let this get like the Star Wars fanboys who demand a first, middle, and last name and a complete biography for every alien monster in the cantina and every rebel trooper who got shot in scene 38a on the left side of the screen... I really don't want to know anything more about the rocket technician who says "Five minutes...and counting..."

[Gri007]

It is Geoffrey Boothroyd named after Geoffrey Boothroyd.

I agree

[Mister Asterix]

But PLEASE... let's not let this get like the Star Wars fanboys who demand a first, middle, and last name and a complete biography for every alien monster in the cantina and every rebel trooper who got shot in scene 38a on the left side of the screen...  I really don't want to know anything more about the rocket technician who says "Five minutes...and counting..."

God bless you, Strangways.


What was Strangways middle name anyway? (Just kidding)

[DLibrasnow]

I've always thought his first name was Geoffrey...but not sure where this came from.

[Strangways]

[quote name='Mister Asterix' date='11 July 2005 - 12:15'][quote name='Strangways' date='11 July 2005 - 10:49']But PLEASE... let's not let this get like the Star Wars fanboys who demand a first, middle, and last name and a complete biography for every alien monster in the cantina and every rebel trooper who got shot in scene 38a on the left side of the screen...

[Blofeld's Cat]

In Never Say Never Again Q's first name is Algenon, or "Algy" for short.

[pieffra]

I always knew his name was Geoffrey...

[marktmurphy]

"Quentin"?  I've read the Wikipedia article; it says Fleming called him Quentin Boothroyd in the novel "Dr. No", but Fleming sure as heck does not.  Don't know where the article author got that idea.  Perhaps, like we learned that "M" may have had more to do with an abbreviation of the Admiral's name rather than a job title, someone in some fan speculation suggested Quentin for Q?  Or maybe someone with a very bad memory of the novel confused Quentin with Quarrel?

It's from his namebadge in Tomorrow Never Dies.

[TortillaFactory]

In Never Say Never Again Q's first name is Algenon, or "Algy" for short.

Why am I picturing Rupert Everett?

"Quentin"?

Even if it IS from his name-badge in TND, don't you think it's a bit too "q'ute" (BAHAHAHHAHA) to have Q's name start with Q? I prefer to think - wishfully, perhaps - that British Intelligence doesn't glean their code-names entirely from the actual initials of their agents. But in real life I think C's name started with a C (although wasn't it really meant to be short for "Control"?), so who knows?

[Blofeld's Cat]

In Never Say Never Again Q's first name is Algenon, or "Algy" for short.

Why am I picturing Rupert Everett?

LOL

*cough*

*ahem*

I can't picture Rupert as "Algy," but Alec McCowan's portrayal of the character is one of few highlights for me in Never Say Never Again.

[Bondian]

I think it's Oncehadanastyturninthe Boothroyd!.

[marktmurphy]

Even if it IS from his name-badge in TND, don't you think it's a bit too "q'ute" (BAHAHAHHAHA) to have Q's name start with Q?  I prefer to think - wishfully, perhaps - that British Intelligence doesn't glean their code-names entirely from the actual initials of their agents. 

It wasnt supposed to be his real name- it was a joke.

[k13oharts]

Even if it IS from his name-badge in TND, don't you think it's a bit too "q'ute" (BAHAHAHHAHA) to have Q's name start with Q?  I prefer to think - wishfully, perhaps - that British Intelligence doesn't glean their code-names entirely from the actual initials of their agents.  But in real life I think C's name started with a C (although wasn't it really meant to be short for "Control"?), so who knows?

Lolz, it would get too confusing as with the MIB agency.
Here comes the MIB!
(MIB = Men In Black for the uninitiated)

[hcmv007]

I know in Jmes Bond Junior, his grandson was named Horace. I think that would be a good first name, if he was to be given a first name. Mister Asterix and Stangways have it right, it is not necessary to know the name of every character ever seen in a Bond film. If Ian Fleming wanted to name him, he would have, as he would for Moneypenny.

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

The identity of Q shows how the notion of Bond's world is indelibly stamped from the movies, even among those who read the novels:
There is nothing in the novels prior to John Gardner that indicates Boothroyd and Q being the same character. Major Boothroyd is the Armourer (and only appears in Fleming's Dr No and is mentioned in The Living daylights). Q and Q Branch are mentioned in several novels. The Branch is concerned with all sort of miscelanious items (from gadgets to airplane tickets but no firearms). The making of book for TWINE quotes Desmond Llewelyn saying that at some point the script for Goldfinger included both Q and the Armourer as separate characters. This eventually was the case in The Man with the Golden Gun with Boothroyd being renamed Colthorpe at some point during rewrites.
In the continuation novels both Pearson and Wood differentiate the two characters. When Gardner assumed, Boothroyd became head of Q Branch but it appears this was imposed on him by Glidrose. I read in an interview that he was aware of the mistake.
To assume Q's Christian name to be Geoffrey is what in literary studies is called bibligraphical phallacy, that is to interpolate information from sources other than the text itself. Fleming never revealed his first name nor Moneypenny's.
The Secret World of 007 includes a shot of the prop suitcases in which Little Nellie was carried and the tag bears the legend MR BOOTHROYD UNIVERSAL EXPORTS TOKYO HILTON. The name Quentin Quigley appears on Q's Avis uniform in TND but then again you have to read the making of book to find that out.

[1q2w3e4r]

Geffory. And Desmond refers to him (his character) as Major Geffory Boothroyd of the Guards Armoured Division

[Double-Oh Agent]

Ian Fleming never says what Q's first name is although the character is named after gun expert Geoffrey Boothroyd who wrote Fleming a letter stating that Bond's .25 Beretta was a lady's gun and recommended a couple of better and more plausible weapons for a spy--one of which was the Walther PPK. Fleming was grateful for the advice and corrected the situation in his next book, Doctor No, where he has M order Bond to get a new gun which is given to him by a Major Boothroyd.

While Boothroyd's first name is never mentioned, I nevertheless consider it to be Geoffrey as do apparently several of you as well. Similarly, in the movie Live And Let Die, the villain Mr. Big is named after Ross Kananga for his work at the crocodile farm. And although Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big's first name is never mentioned, I've always considered it to be Ross for the same reason as Geoffrey for Boothroyd--although maybe I should consider Kananga's first name being Buonaparte or Ignace, but certainly not Gallia.