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[stromberg]

Minutiae, anyone?

I was trying to spot a reference in DAD, concerning that "Blue Boy" painting at Blade's Club. The only thing I could find out that one of Major Dexter Smythe's fishes in the Octopussy novel was called "Blue Boy". I haven't read this one yet, so I'm not shure if this wouldn't be a bit far out.

I wondered if there was maybe a connection between "Blue Boy" and the "Duke of Wellington" portrait in Dr. No. Somewhere on this website (but also on other places), I've read that the 'Duke' hasn't been recovered to this day and I was a bit surprised when I found this story:

In 1961, Charles Wrightsman, the oil-rich American collector, bought Goya's "Portrait of the Duke of Wellington" for $392,000 and planned to take it stateside. Such was the public outrage that the government raised the necessary matching sum. Less than three weeks after its triumphal hanging in the National Gallery, it was stolen. The thief demanded a ransom of the same amount and said he was going to devote it to charity. There was no response--unless you count the double take when James Bond (Sean Connery) spotted the painting on the wall of Dr No.
In 1965, the thief sent a claim ticket to London's Daily Mirror and the painting was picked up by police in a railway baggage office. The thief, an unemployed bus driver named Kempton Bunton, gave himself up six weeks later. He had planned to use the money to buy TV licenses for the poor, serving three months in jail for his offense.

(Source: http://www.forbes.co...onnguide_2.html)

[Blue Eyes]

I never knew that the painting was recovered!