Bond girl Madeline Smith makes a fan`s day

A 007 fan has been left shaken and definitely stirred after his favourite Bond Girl dropped in to give him an early 80th birthday present - reports Burton Mail.

Noel Betts was gobsmacked when former James Bond star Madeline Smith turned up at his home, in Yew Tree Road, Rosliston, on Wednesday to congratulate him on his forthcoming birthday in December.

The pensioner, who lives with his wife, Sheila, 72, and son Roger, 48, could not believe his eyes when the acterss walked into his living room and enjoyed a buffet and several hours of chat with the Bond-mad family, before returning home at 8.30pm.

She even had time to eat lunch at the Bulls Head, in the village's Burton Road, before going for a ramble to Coton-in-the-Elms with Roger, who set the surprise up.

The star, who lives in Twickenham, became the first Bond Girl of the Roger Moore era when she appeared as Italian Secret Service agent Miss Caruso in 1973's Live And Let Die.

Her most memorable scene in the film was of Bond apologising to her as he unzipped her dress with his magnetic watch.

While it remains her most famous and only role in a major Hollywood movie, she also starred in Frankie Howerd's Up Pompeii, several Carry On and Hammer Horror films, the play Habeas Corpus with Alec Guinness and had a two-year run in Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, along with a wide variety of theatre and television roles.

Mrs Betts said: "We're all James Bond fans here and my son travels round to functions across the country, where the stars of the films appear.

"He met Madeline in Milton Keynes and had a signed picture from her, and when he met her again, he asked if she would pay a visit to his father for his 80th in December.

"She said she wouldn't travel in the winter but would come in June. I got Noel up to the window and said there was a surprise visitor.

"When I said 'it's Madeline Smith', he said: 'Are you joking?' It was a real treat for him and she's lovely."

Mr Betts said: "It was a real surprise - a very nice surprise. She was a star a long time ago and I always followed her career. She was my favourite Bond Girl."

Mr Betts' friend and neighbour, Dev Cox, also had a visit from Ms Smith.

"She came to us after the pub and I told her about Coors trying to get rid of the Bass Museum," he said.

"She was absolutely outraged and so was her partner, who's an American.

"Everyone came out to see why people were snapping away in what is usually a quiet cul-de-sac full of pensioners."

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