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Did you know: Goldfinger’s first name was “Auric” based on the Latin “aurum” for gold.

“Au” is also the chemical symbol for the element. “Aurora” was the Roman goddess of the dawn and her name became associated with gold because of the colour of the sky at dawn. Ian Fleming named his gold-infatuated villain after his neighbour, architect Erno Goldfinger, with whom he apparently was not on the best of terms. In the movie, Goldfinger was played by the German actor Gert Frobe who spoke no English and all his lines were dubbed by Michael Collins. Although Goldfinger was supposed to be English, for some bizarre reason Collins added a German accent. The movie was filmed entirely at Pinewood Studios in England including all the U.S. scenes. A mock-up of Fort Knox was actually constructed. On the set. The iconic opening shot of the movie in which 007 emerges from the sea wearing a dry suit that is shed to reveal an immaculately ironed, spotless, dry tuxedo, including a fresh rose in the buttonhole, was inspired by a real-life event. Dutch resistance fighter Peter Tazelaar pulled off such a stunt when the Allies were investigating ways of getting spies into Nazi-occupied Holland. In 1941 Tazelaar made his way ashore in a special suit that he stripped off once he got to the beach and now dressed in a tuxedo infiltrated a party for Nazi officers at a nearby hotel. Unlike James Bond, Tazelaar did not wear a hat with a fake duck as he was swimming ashore.


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