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| Bonding with the best: Roger Moore (centre) with his parents, Lilly and George Moore |
How Roger Moore bonded with his mother
Sir Roger Moore’s mother, Lilly, was born in Calcutta at the turn of the last century into an English army family, the ultra smooth actor best known for playing James Bond, has revealed in his just published autobiography, My Word Is My Bond.
When Sean Connery quit after doing six Bond movies, Moore took over and did seven. Indians will remember Moore from Octopussy in which he fooled around with Vijay Amritraj and Kabir Bedi at the Lake Palace in Udaipur.
With the premiere last week in London of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd Bond movie, much of the focus has been on Daniel Craig, the sixth actor to play 007, the British agent licenced to bed every actress on the planet save the virtuous Aishwarya Rai.
Still, Moore has received plenty of attention during the three months he allocated for promotional interviews organised by Michael ’Mara, his niche publishing house in London.
For a celebrity, his tale is shocking in one sense — Moore, born in south London on October 14, 1927, had an entirely happy childhood. His father, George, was a policeman and his mother, Lillian (“Lilly”), a housewife.
A reviewer, writing about Moore’s autobiography, which will be available shortly in India, commented: “Moore was an only child; his family was warm, affectionate and close. It’s a refreshing change from misery memoirs.”
Moore’s maternal grandfather was a senior Regimental Sergeant Major in the British Indian army in the First World War. Lilly had an older and a younger sister, Amy and Nelly, and their brother, Jack, was the youngest.
“Lots of my relatives (remember Uncle Jack?) were regulars in the Army or Navy,” Moore said once. “But in spite of this family tradition I had no interest in the forces at all.”
Although Moore did rise to be an army captain, he had been bitten by the acting bug and even showed promise as a comedian prepared to make fun about the army.
“Which was liable to put a slight strain on my family because they were strongly military-minded,” he said a long time ago. “My mother Lilly, for instance, was born in the barracks in India.”
He added a little joke: “In fact, during the recent census I had to put on the form that my father was born in England and my mother in India. So I presume I am down in official records as a Commonwealth immigrant who could be deported any second. If Enoch Powell gets in I’m out.”
During a recent interview, four-times married Moore was asked if he loved women.
His reply was: “I loved my mother and my mother was a woman.”
The affable Sanjaya Baru, who mysteriously quit a plum job as Manmohan Singh’s press spokesman, will be as surprised as anyone to learn he is being billed as one of “India’s top thinkers”.
He and others are speaking before a 2,000-strong audience this weekend at a London conference, ‘The Battle of Ideas 2008 Festival’, organised by the Institute of Ideas to “get to grips with the impact of the credit crunch on emerging economies, such as India”.
This probably wasn’t personal but as Manmohan Singh’s press adviser, sometimes it seemed to me Dr Baru’s main aim in life was to stop me from ever getting an interview with the Prime Minister (“not this time”, “he’s busy”, “next time” etc etc).
The late H.Y. Sharada Prasad, who looked after Mrs G for years and did her immense harm, was also one of life’s blockers.
It’s generally better to say yes rather than no. In Britain, politicians agree to be interviewed by the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman and John Humphreys, knowing they will be massacred.
The institute promises rare goodies: “Sanjaya Baru, former advisor and spokesman for the Indian Prime Minister and a leading authority on global economics, will tackle the question, ‘Capitalism: what is it good for?’ at a keynote debate.”
Joining American and British heavyweights, there will be other Indians: Sundeep Kumar, director of SABMiller’s corporate affairs in India; Ashis Nandy; editor in chief of Green Futures; and the literature expert Swapan Chakravorty, who will make the case for Calcutta as the World City of Literature.”
Sujata Sen, representing festival partners, the British Council (India), will set out why the ‘Battle of Ideas’ was pertinent for democracy and development: “The right to probe ideas, disagree with perspectives, and dispute the ways and means of social justice and welfare are factors critical for the success of the world’s largest democracy.”
Perhaps the conference will find time to discuss the proposition: “Are press officers good for Indian demo- cracy?”
Incidentally, Manmohan Singh proved to be both eloquent and convincing when I interviewed him.
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| Passion play: Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover, Antinous |
The Roman Emperor Hadrian (76AD-138AD), who built a fortified wall across northern England, was the Rahul Dravid of his day — though not in the matter of sexual orientation.
Having just managed to catch the British Museum’s splendid exhibition on Hadrian on its last day, I learnt that he enjoyed a stable home life with his wife, Sabina, but his greatest passion was for his Greek male lover, Antinous.
“For the Romans”, the exhibition said, “homosexual relationships were not unusual.”
If there is a moral, it’s that the Indian government’s worries about decriminalising homosexuality seems unfounded.
It certainly did no harm to Hadrian, who has left behind an enduring and rich legacy.
Oh, to be in India now that the monsoons have ended and the weather is turning cooler.
However, it is autumn in England and the country has never looked lovelier. The sleet and the snow have come unseasonably this year. But on a crisp sunny day, the turning of the colours in the trees, from bright yellow to brown, purple and gold, and the carpet of leaves in the parks are best captured, not by digital camera, but through watercolours.
It is good to be Indian and living in London, a privilege I should say. Why so many foreigners and even some British-born youths, should want to mess up England beats me.
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Lakshmi Mittal stood out among the millionaires attending a “Maharajah and Maharani” themed 50th birthday party given at their Hertfordshire mansion recently by construction tycoon Harpinder Singh Narula for his wife, Surina, who is generally regarded as the UK’s most high profile Indian hostess.
Among the bejewelled royal costumes, decked with stringed pearls, not all fake, the steel tycoon turned up tieless in what resembled an off the peg business suit.
But I suppose when you really are a modern Maharajah, you can afford not to dress like one.
Viewing what appeared to be a recreation of the splendours of the court of Emperor Akbar, complete with dancing hijras, qawaali musicians, screens made from imported jasmine and floating flowers in the swimming pool, Mittal seemed lost in thought.
An over-ambitious Delhi woman journalist who cornered the 58-year-old tycoon, requesting an interview “about your deep philosophy of life”, received a dusty answer: “I am too young to talk about my philosophy of life. Come back in 20 years.”
