I have a very specific memory of losing a pub quiz because of James Bond. It was a Tuesday night in Bristol, the final round was film trivia, and I was absolutely certain — certain — that Timothy Dalton had only ever played Bond once. My teammate disagreed. I overruled him. Turns out Dalton appeared in two Bond films, and that confident wrong answer cost us third place and a £15 bar tab. I still think about it. The point is: Bond quizzes have a way of making you feel brilliant right up until the moment they absolutely floor you.
What makes 007 such fertile quiz territory is the gap between how much people think they know and how much they actually know. Almost everyone has seen at least a handful of Bond films, which creates this wonderful false confidence. People can name the famous ones — Goldfinger, GoldenEye, Casino Royale — but ask them which actor appeared in the most Bond films, or what Judi Dench's M was actually called, and you'll see grown adults go very quiet. There's also the generational dimension: older quizzers tend to know the Connery era inside out, while younger players might only really know the Craig films. That generational split makes Bond rounds genuinely competitive in a way that, say, a round purely about 1970s sitcoms might not be.
I've put together 50 questions across five rounds, and I've tried to cover the full sweep of the franchise. Round 1 looks at the Bond actors themselves — who played Bond, when, and a few things about them that might catch you off guard. Round 2 digs into the iconic films. Round 3 is all about the villains, which I personally find the most fun. Round 4 covers the Bond girls and allies, and Round 5 wraps up with gadgets and cars, which is where the real petrolheads and gadget nerds come into their own.
A quick practical note: these questions are written with a mix of difficulty levels, so they should work whether you're running a family quiz night or a more competitive pub quiz setting. I'd suggest not skipping the fun facts under each answer — some of them genuinely surprised me during research, and sharing them aloud after each answer tends to keep the energy up between questions. Also, if you're quizzing with a mixed age group, you might want to warn people upfront that the questions span the whole franchise from 1962 to the present day, so everyone's on equal footing from the start.
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Round 1: The Bond Actors
You'd think this would be the easy round, and for the first couple of questions it genuinely is. But once you get past naming the six main Bond actors, things get surprisingly slippery. Debut films, the order in which they took on the role, and a few personal details about the actors themselves tend to separate the casual fans from the true devotees.
1. Who was the first actor to play James Bond in an official Eon Productions film?
✓ Sean Connery
💡 Connery was initially reluctant to take the role and was reportedly not Ian Fleming's first choice for the part.
2. Which actor played James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service?
✓ George Lazenby
💡 Lazenby had never acted professionally before landing the Bond role, having previously worked as a car dealer and model.
3. How many official Eon Productions Bond films did Roger Moore appear in as 007?
✓ Seven
💡 Moore's seven films — from Live and Let Die to A View to a Kill — is more than any other Bond actor.
4. In which year did Daniel Craig make his debut as James Bond in Casino Royale?
✓ 2006
💡 Craig's casting was controversial at the time, with some fans protesting online because he was blond and considered "too short."
5. Name the two Bond films in which Timothy Dalton played 007.
✓ The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989)
💡 Dalton was reportedly offered the role as early as 1968 but turned it down, feeling he was too young at the time.
6. Which Bond actor was born in Edinburgh, Scotland?
✓ Sean Connery
💡 Connery grew up in a tenement in Edinburgh's Fountainbridge area and worked as a milkman before finding fame as an actor.
7. True or false: Pierce Brosnan was originally cast as James Bond before Timothy Dalton took over the role.
✓ True
💡 Brosnan was set to take over from Moore but his TV contract for Remington Steele prevented him from accepting the role in 1986.
8. Which Bond actor also played the title role in the 1974 TV movie The Man Who Would Be King — wait, let me rephrase — which Bond actor starred as James Bond in the 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever after Sean Connery returned to the role?
✓ Sean Connery
💡 Connery was paid a then-record £1.25 million to return for Diamonds Are Forever after George Lazenby had vacated the role.
9. Which Bond actor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was also known for playing Remington Steele on television?
✓ Pierce Brosnan
💡 Brosnan was born in County Meath, Ireland, and moved to London as a teenager before eventually relocating to the United States.
10. In No Time to Die (2021), Daniel Craig's final Bond film, what is the name of the 00 agent who has been assigned the 007 designation in Bond's absence?
✓ Nomi (played by Lashana Lynch)
💡 Lashana Lynch became the first Black woman to hold the 007 designation on screen in the Bond franchise's history.
Round 2: Iconic Films
With 25 official Eon Productions Bond films to draw from, there's a lot of ground to cover here, and I've tried to pull questions from across the decades rather than just leaning on the famous few. A couple of these are genuine curveballs — particularly around release years and plot details that people half-remember but rarely get precisely right.
11. In which film does Bond utter the line "Shaken, not stirred" for the very first time in the franchise?
✓ Goldfinger (1964)
💡 Oddly, the phrase appears in Ian Fleming's novels much earlier, but Bond doesn't say it on screen until the third film.
12. Which 1977 Bond film features a villain called Karl Stromberg who plans to trigger a nuclear war from an underwater city?
✓ The Spy Who Loved Me
💡 The Spy Who Loved Me is widely regarded as Roger Moore's best Bond film and features the iconic Lotus Esprit submarine car.
13. In which country does most of the action take place in GoldenEye (1995)?
✓ Russia (specifically St Petersburg and a location in Cuba)
💡 GoldenEye was the first Bond film produced after a six-year legal hiatus and marked Pierce Brosnan's debut as 007.
14. Which Bond film features the song "Live and Let Die," performed by Paul McCartney and Wings?
✓ Live and Let Die (1973)
💡 "Live and Let Die" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song — one of only two Bond songs to receive this honour.
15. Name the Bond film in which the main plot revolves around stolen ATAC communication equipment that controls British nuclear submarines.
✓ For Your Eyes Only (1981)
💡 For Your Eyes Only is notable for its relatively grounded, realistic tone — a deliberate contrast to the more outlandish Moonraker before it.
16. Which year was the very first James Bond film, Dr. No, released in UK cinemas?
✓ 1962
💡 Dr. No had its world premiere at the London Pavilion on 5 October 1962 — just weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis began.
17. In Skyfall (2012), what is the name of the Scottish estate where Bond's climactic final confrontation takes place?
✓ Skyfall
💡 The exterior Skyfall lodge scenes were filmed at Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands, with interior shots done at Hankley Common in Surrey.
18. Which Bond film was the first to feature Judi Dench as M?
✓ GoldenEye (1995)
💡 Dench played M across seven Bond films, spanning both the Brosnan and Craig eras — a remarkable continuity across two very different interpretations of Bond.
19. True or false: Moonraker (1979) features a sequence set in outer space.
✓ True
💡 Moonraker was fast-tracked into production to capitalise on the success of Star Wars, which had been released two years earlier.
20. In Casino Royale (2006), in which country is the high-stakes poker game hosted?
✓ Montenegro
💡 In the original Ian Fleming novel, the card game takes place in a fictional French seaside town called Royale-les-Eaux, not Montenegro.
Round 3: Bond Villains
This is my favourite round to write and, honestly, my favourite round to host. Bond villains are such a distinctive gallery of characters — ludicrous, menacing, occasionally camp — and the details surrounding them are often brilliantly specific. People tend to remember the villain's name but forget the actor, or remember the plan but not which film it's from. Prepare for some lively table debates on this one.
21. Which actor played the villain Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 film of the same name?
✓ Gert Fröbe
💡 Fröbe's German accent was so thick that his voice was dubbed entirely by actor Michael Collins for the English-language release.
22. What is the name of the criminal organisation that serves as the primary antagonist across multiple Bond films, including Thunderball and Spectre?
✓ SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion)
💡 SPECTRE was originally co-created by Ian Fleming and screenwriter Kevin McClory, which led to decades of legal disputes over the rights.
23. In The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, which physically imposing henchman — recognisable by his metal teeth — serves as the villain's enforcer?
✓ Jaws (played by Richard Kiel)
💡 Richard Kiel stood 7 feet 2 inches tall and became so popular with audiences that his character was given a redemptive arc in Moonraker.
24. Which villain in GoldenEye turns out to be a former MI6 agent and 00 operative who faked his own death — and is ultimately revealed to be Bond's childhood friend?
✓ Alec Trevelyan / 006 (played by Sean Bean)
💡 Sean Bean is famously known for his on-screen deaths, but Trevelyan is one of his more elaborately killed characters — dropped from a satellite dish.
25. Name the Bond villain in The Man with the Golden Gun who is a highly paid assassin with a third nipple and a golden firearm.
✓ Francisco Scaramanga (played by Christopher Lee)
💡 Christopher Lee was Ian Fleming's cousin by marriage, which Fleming cited as one reason he felt Lee would be perfect for the villainous role.
26. In which Bond film does the villain plan to destroy a space shuttle using a laser satellite weapon called the Icarus?
✓ Die Another Day (2002)
💡 Die Another Day was widely criticised for its implausible plot and excessive CGI, and is often cited as the film that necessitated a franchise reboot.
27. Which Oscar-winning actor played the villain Silva in Skyfall (2012)?
✓ Javier Bardem
💡 Bardem reportedly didn't watch any previous Bond films before taking the role, wanting to approach Silva without preconceptions about Bond villains.
28. What is the name of the primary SPECTRE villain who appears across multiple Craig-era Bond films, revealed as Ernst Stavro Blofeld?
✓ Ernst Stavro Blofeld (played by Christoph Waltz)
💡 Christoph Waltz won two Academy Awards before playing Blofeld, making him one of the most decorated actors ever cast as a Bond villain.
29. True or false: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, SPECTRE's leader, is shown stroking a white cat in his very first on-screen appearance in the Bond franchise.
✓ True
💡 The white cat became so iconic it inspired the Dr Evil and Mr Bigglesworth parody in the Austin Powers films.
30. In Licence to Kill (1989), what is the name of the drug lord villain whom Bond pursues on a personal mission of revenge?
✓ Franz Sanchez (played by Robert Davi)
💡 Licence to Kill was the first Bond film to receive a 15 certificate in the UK due to its notably darker and more violent tone.
Round 4: Bond Girls & Allies
The term "Bond girl" is a bit of a cultural relic, and I think it's worth noting that this round celebrates some genuinely brilliant characters alongside the more famous names. This category tends to catch people out because names like Natacha, Anya, and Wai Lin are easy to muddle — but the details around them are wonderfully specific and reward the true fans.
31. What is the name of the iconic Bond girl in Dr. No who emerges from the sea in a white bikini, played by Ursula Andress?
✓ Honey Ryder
💡 The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress sold at auction in 2001 for £35,000 and is considered one of cinema's most iconic costumes.
32. Which actress played Natalya Simonova, Bond's Russian ally in GoldenEye (1995)?
✓ Izabella Scorupco
💡 Scorupco is Polish-Swedish and was primarily known as a pop singer in Scandinavia before landing the GoldenEye role.
33. In The Spy Who Loved Me, what is the name of the Soviet agent who becomes Bond's unlikely ally — and love interest — played by Barbara Bach?
✓ Major Anya Amasova (also known as Agent Triple X)
💡 Barbara Bach later married Ringo Starr after the two met on the set of the 1981 film Caveman.
34. Name the character played by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), a Chinese secret service agent who teams up with Bond.
✓ Wai Lin
💡 Michelle Yeoh performed most of her own stunts in Tomorrow Never Dies, impressing even the seasoned Bond production stunt team.
35. Which Bond film features a character called Holly Goodhead, a CIA agent played by Lois Chiles?
✓ Moonraker (1979)
💡 Holly Goodhead was one of the first Bond characters explicitly written as a professional equal to 007, being a trained astronaut and CIA operative.
36. What is the full name of the character Moneypenny, M's secretary and Bond's long-running flirtatious acquaintance at MI6?
✓ Miss Moneypenny (her first name is never given in the classic films; in Skyfall she is revealed to be Eve Moneypenny)
💡 In Skyfall, Eve Moneypenny is played by Naomie Harris, who shot her scenes largely before being told her character's full identity.
37. In Casino Royale (2006), which character does Eva Green play — a Treasury agent assigned to work with Bond at the poker table?
✓ Vesper Lynd
💡 Vesper Lynd is the only woman Bond explicitly says he loves in the Craig-era films, making her death one of the franchise's most emotionally significant moments.
38. Which actress played Jill Masterson in Goldfinger — the woman famously found dead, covered in gold paint?
✓ Shirley Eaton
💡 A real medical myth circulated at the time suggesting Shirley Eaton could have died from skin suffocation — doctors confirmed this is physiologically impossible.
39. True or false: Halle Berry's character Jinx in Die Another Day was originally intended to spin off into her own solo film.
✓ True
💡 A Jinx solo film was actively developed by MGM and Eon Productions but was ultimately shelved, reportedly due to disappointing test screenings.
40. What is the name of the MI6 quartermaster — known simply as Q — first played by Desmond Llewelyn, who appeared in the role across 17 Bond films?
✓ Q (the character's real name is never revealed in the films; Desmond Llewelyn played the role from 1963 to 1999)
💡 Desmond Llewelyn made his final appearance as Q in The World Is Not Enough in 1999, just weeks before he died in a car accident.
Round 5: Gadgets & Cars
Right, this is where the real arguments happen. Everyone has an opinion about the best Bond car, and there's usually at least one person at the table who knows far more about Aston Martin specifications than is strictly healthy. I've tried to mix the obvious (yes, there's an Aston Martin question) with some genuinely obscure gadget details that will separate the encyclopaedias from the casual viewers.
41. What model of Aston Martin is most closely associated with James Bond, first appearing in Goldfinger (1964)?
✓ Aston Martin DB5
💡 The original DB5 used in Goldfinger sold at auction in 2010 for $4.1 million, making it one of the most expensive film cars ever sold.
42. In which Bond film does a Lotus Esprit transform into a functional submarine?
✓ The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
💡 The submarine Lotus used in filming was actually bought by Elon Musk at auction in 2013 for nearly $1 million — he reportedly wanted to convert it for real.
43. What is the name of the MI6 department responsible for providing Bond with his gadgets and equipment throughout the film series?
✓ Q Branch
💡 Q Branch is a fictional division with no direct real-world equivalent, though the real MI6 does have dedicated technical support and engineering departments.
44. In Goldfinger, what concealed weapon is built into Bond's Aston Martin DB5 that he uses to eject a passenger from the vehicle?
✓ An ejector seat
💡 The ejector seat gag became so iconic it was parodied in countless subsequent films and television shows, including The Simpsons.
45. Which gadget does Q provide Bond with in Skyfall (2012), marking a deliberate nod to the classic Goldfinger era with its stripped-back simplicity?
✓ A Walther PPK with a palm-print reader (and a small radio transmitter)
💡 Skyfall's Q — played by Ben Whishaw — pointedly tells Bond that "exploding pens are a thing of the past," drawing a laugh from longtime fans.
46. In Die Another Day, Bond is given an Aston Martin Vanquish with what unusual capability, allowing it to evade enemies by appearing invisible?
✓ An adaptive camouflage system (effectively making the car appear invisible)
💡 The invisible car was one of the most ridiculed elements of Die Another Day and is frequently cited as a low point in Bond gadget history by fans.
47. What type of vehicle — not a car — does Bond famously pilot in a thrilling chase sequence near the beginning of The Spy Who Loved Me, before the Union Jack parachute moment?
✓ A ski (Bond is on skis, and escapes via a Union Jack parachute after skiing off a cliff)
💡 The ski jump stunt in The Spy Who Loved Me took stuntman Rick Sylvester three attempts to complete and was filmed in Canada's Asgard Peak.
48. In Thunderball (1965), Bond uses a personal propulsion device to make his escape in the pre-title sequence. What is this device commonly called?
✓ A jetpack (or Bell Rocket Belt)
💡 The jetpack used in Thunderball was a real device developed by Bell Aerosystems — it could only fly for around 20 seconds on a full fuel load.
49. Which car manufacturer, associated primarily with luxury and performance, provided Bond with vehicles in the Brosnan era — including a BMW 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies that Bond controls remotely via his mobile phone?
✓ BMW
💡 BMW's product placement deal with the Bond franchise in the 1990s was reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars and was controversial among Aston Martin loyalists.
50. In Casino Royale (2006), Bond's Aston Martin DBS is destroyed during a dramatic road accident. What causes the car to crash?
✓ Bond swerves to avoid Vesper Lynd, who is lying tied up in the road
💡 The DBS crash in Casino Royale set a Guinness World Record at the time for the most cannon rolls performed by a car in a film stunt — seven rolls.
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What strikes me most when I sit down and look at 60-plus years of Bond films all at once is how much the franchise is really a mirror of its era. The Connery films are very much products of Cold War anxiety and a particular idea of suave British masculinity. The Moore years are camper, sillier, somehow both more and less of their time. And then Craig's run — starting with Casino Royale in 2006 — essentially deconstructed the whole thing and asked what it would mean to be Bond if Bond were an actual person, with damage and grief and consequences. Whether you prefer the fun or the serious version probably says something about you, and that's part of why Bond quizzes spark such spirited table arguments. It's not just trivia — it's a proxy war about taste and nostalgia.
As always, if you spot an error in any of these questions or answers, please do get in touch at hello@simplyquizzes.com — I do my best to fact-check thoroughly but with 50 questions and six decades of franchise history to navigate, the odd detail can slip through. And if you've enjoyed this one, there are plenty more quiz posts on the blog covering everything from classic literature to Premier League football to world geography. Go have a look — there'll be something there for your next quiz night, I promise.