Seven Of The Best Bond Gadgets

Bond is boss of the gadgets. There is no individual more kitted out, tooled up or prepped for action than Bond, James Bond. And in light, and honour, of the announcement that the 23rd instalment in the franchise will be called Skyfall we've put together a list of our favourites.

What follows are seven of, what we believe to be, the best gizmos provided by Q Section to the silver tongued spy with a licence to kill.

1. Ericsson DT360 Mobile Phone from Tomorrow Never Dies

And you thought Angry Birds was cutting edge? This little beauty opened locks, contained a fingerprint scanner, doubled up as a stun gun delivering 20,000 volts and, get this, could be used as a remote control for Bond's BMW 750iL. Sweet.

2. Dentonite Toothpaste from Licence To Kill

The name is brilliant. Yes, plastic explosives disguised as toothpaste. There is a certain special something about the explosive disguised as the everyday. And how did one set off this frisky oral hygiene product? With the cigarette packet detonator of course!

3. Horse Stall from Octopussy

This one is all about the details. It wasn't enough to just conceal and transport an Acrostar Jet, the smallest jet in the world, in a horse box, oh no. Q Section did it with flare, by adding a fake horse rear so even the most suspecting of henchmen wouldn't have a clue. Sneaky devils.

4. Ghetto Blaster from The Living Daylights

This never actually made it out of the lab. Bond was too busy sliding about in a cello case. Nevertheless this 'boom' box delivered significant thump at the low end by doubling up as a shoulder mounted rocket launcher.

5. Bagpipes from The World Is Not Enough

Along the same lines as the ghetto blaster, the Q Section version of the wind based musical instrument was multi-function. Not only did it make a horrific noise, but also featured two concealed weapons within its pipes. These were a flame thrower and machine gun, presumably designed to suit the international super spy's every mood.

6. Ballpoint Pen from GoldenEye

What is it about the everyday item that can blow up?! "A pen. This is a Class 4 grenade. Three clicks arms the four-second fuse, another three disarms it." Instructions which led to one of the best of all Bond moments as the audience frantically counts with 007 as Boris Grishenko clicks away his nervous tension... BOOM!

7. Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger

Goldfinger had the best theme music and the best car. This gem of an automobile was beautiful and deadly, containing revolving licence plates, tyre slashing hubcaps, rear bulletproof shield, machine guns behind the headlights, smoke and oil slick fired from the back, plus the famous passenger ejector seat. What a motor!

A Notable Omission. The Dagger Shoe from From Russia With Love

We wanted to include the dagger shoe, but technically, it didn't belong to Bond. It was used by SPECTRE agents, in particular Rosa Klebb. As an aside though, the device did cameo in Q's lab in Die Another Day, clearly he thought it was as good as we did. Always reckoned the shoe dagger would have been useful for navigating the London commuter rush...

And that's our list, a briefcase full of Bond gadgets that would be sure to get you safely from work to bar on a Friday night and all in time to order a Martini, shaken, but not stirred. As for Skyfall, we can't wait to see what Q Section has in store.