Ian Jacklin describes the drive to restore a 007 icon

Ian Jacklin channels George Lazenby at the restored OHMSS lamp post (photo courtesy of Ian Jacklin)

In the late 1960s, after five wildly successful James Bond film outings, Sean Connery was done (at the time) as 007. A new Bond actor was announced, the inexperienced George Lazenby. Being a model, however, Lazenby knew how to deliver a memorable image.

One of them was Lazenby posing as Bond next to a lamp post with Big Ben in the background.

However, in the 21st century, the lamp post had seen better days. Bond fan Ian Jacklin led the charge to have the lamp post restored. This article on the From Sweden With Love website has details. The blog contacted Ian Jacklin to pose a few questions.

THE SPY COMMAND: What inspired you to take this task on?

IAN JACKLIN: You could say that brother Jeffrey Jacklin who was 10 years my senior inspired me way back in December 1969 when I was 5 years old. He had collected all of the available United Artists publicity photographs from OHMSS and one of them was the famous Lazenby lamp post picture. I was constantly looking at the Bond picture postcards.

At this point in time, I had never seen a James Bond film. Jeffrey promised me that he would take me to see OHMSS in January 1970 shortly after his 16th Birthday. Jeffrey introduced me to the fantastic world of James Bond 007.

So, some 50 years later, I returned the favor and introduced Jeffrey to George Lazenby. Shortly after the U.K.’s COVID lockdown had ended, both my wife and I visited London to see No Time To Die in October 2021. We visited the Lazenby lamp post and I was shocked to see it in an awful state.

It had stickers all over it and the top of the post had been removed. Seeing it in such a poor, neglected state made my blood boil. My wife took a photo of me next to the lamp post and then I decided to do something about it.

TSC: What complications did you encounter? Was there something you hadn’t thought of before you started?

IAN JACKLIN: The first obstacle I encountered was to find out which of the two local councils actually owned the lamp post, City of Westminster or Lambeth council?

So I sent a lot of emails over two years asking both councils. They did take their time to reply. The second obstacle was, whether should I short-circuit the “red tape” and raise some funds via GoFundMe for the repair work myself? The next problem is finding which council would carry the restoration work out. Someone on X, formerly Twitter, suggested a petition. (This person will remain anonymous!) So a petition was set up.

TSC: Summarize why this lamp post is so iconic.

IAN JACKLIN: The lamp post is so iconic because of its location. It is opposite the United Kingdom of Great Britain’s Houses of Parliament, The George Lazenby image is still used to this day for posters, Blu-rays, DVD covers.

People travel from all four corners of the world to recreate the Lazenby image.

TSC: Now that the lamp post has been restored, what is the most satisfying aspect for you?

IAN JACKLIN: It gives me a sense of great satisfaction knowing that it has been restored and Bond fans can continue to visit the site and it is there for the James Bond 007 fans yet to come.

We James Bond fans now “Have All The Time in The World,” to visit the George Lazenby lamp post.