Terry O'Reilly

read another fun book recently titled Love and Let Die by John Higgs.

It lists the surprising parallels between the Beatles and James Bond.

Don't believe it?

Listen to this.

For starters, Dr. No, the very first Bond film, and Love Me Do, the very first Beatles record, were both released on the very same day, October 5th, 1962.

two British cultural phenomena unleashed on the world at the same moment.

Both Goldfinger and A Hard Day's Night were released in 1964, both by United Artists.

Both are on the British Film Institute's list of the 100 best British films of the 20th century.

Both were nominated for Oscars.

Both had soundtracks that hit the top of the charts, with the Goldfinger theme nudging A Hard Day's Night off the number one spot.

Both the song Goldfinger and A Hard Day's Night were produced by George Martin.

And in Goldfinger, Bond says drinking improperly chilled champagne was as bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs.

That's very harsh, James.

Anne Fleming's nickname for her husband, Ian, was Thunder Beetle.

Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, who produced the Bond films, were offered A Hard Day's Night, but turned it down.

The Beatles didn't think A Hard Day's Night was as good as a Bond film, so their next movie, Help, leaned more into adventure and villains.

As a matter of fact, track one of the Beatles' original Help album begins with a hat tip to the Bond theme, played by guitarist Vic Flick, who played the original Bond theme.

Help was filmed in the Bahamas, and Fleming's Thunderball was being filmed nearby around the same time.

John Lennon's two books, released in 64 and 65, were published by Jonathan Cape, Fleming's publisher.

McCartney, Lennon, and James Bond all got married in 1969.