James Bond Literary Wikia
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James Bond Literary Wikia
Major Boothroyd
Name: Boothroyd
Alias(es): Q
Affiliation: MI6
Nationality: England English
Rank: Major
Occupation: Head of Q branch
First appearance: Casino Royale (mentioned)
Last appearance: Trigger Mortis

Major Boothroyd better known as Q (standing for Quartermaster); the head of Q Branch, the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service introduced in Ian Fleming's sixth James Bond novel, Dr. No.

Novel biography[]

Casino Royale[]

Q is first mentioned after Bond is assigned to take down Le Chiffre. M suggests to Bond that he should go and have a talk to Q about any equipment he might need.

Live and Let Die[]

Later, after Bond escapes from an agent of SMERSH, M tells him to get Q to organize a plastic surgeon to repair the skin where a "Ш" sign was cut into his left hand. When Bond arrives in Jamaica in his pursuit of Mr. Big, he is given state of the art diving equipment from Q via John Strangways, head of station C.

Dr. No[]

After James Bond’s recovery from being poisoned by Rosa Klebb in Paris, M calls Major Boothroyd the best armourer in the world for advice on weapons for agents in the field. Q is called into M's office to present him and Bond with alternatives to Bond's current weapon of choice, the Beretta 418 pistol, whose stalled drawing time led to Bond's poisoning at the hands of Colonel Klebb. He calls the Beretta a "ladies gun" and suggests a variety of other weapons to them such as the Russian Tokarev TT-33, the Japanese M-14 and the Sauer M-38 before finally settling on the Walther PPK as his personal choice and recommendation, which is approved by M.

Behind the scenes[]

The origin of Q’s character is rather complicated. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to "Q branch", the first being in Casino Royale, a division of the British Secret Service which provides equipment to field operatives.

In the sixth novel, Dr. No, the service armourer Q physically appears for the first time. Fleming named the character after Geoffrey Boothroyd, a firearms expert who lived in Glasgow, Scotland. He had written to Fleming suggesting that Bond was not using the best firearms available; criticizing in particular Bond's use of the Beretta 418 pistol. Grateful for the advice, Fleming phased out the Beretta and wrote the character of Boothroyd into the subsequent novel.

Q is also referenced occasionally in the continuation novels of John Gardner, but the author favoured instead to focus on a new character of his own invention, Q'ute. Successor Bond author Raymond Benson used Q’s character on several occasions.

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