Birth of a new Bond in 'Solo'

LEAD PIX: epa03882989 British novelist and screenwriter William Boyd holds his new James Bond novel 'Solo' following the book's launch at the Dorchester Hotel in London, Britain, 25 September 2013. Boyd signed seven copies of the new Bond chapter before they were handed to British Airways flight attendants and later dispatched to seven cities around the world - Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Zurich, Los Angeles, Delhi, Cape Town, and Sydney. EPA/ANDY RAIN

William Boyd is the latest to follow in Ian Fleming’s footsteps with Solo, which charts a Bond ‘recklessly motivated by revenge’.

WE may have got James Bond slightly wrong. Yes, he is a prodigious drinker, heavy smoker and consummate killer, but when it comes to his womanising, the author of his new incarnation believes the spy was more honourable than some think.