Desmond Llewelyn says in the Licence to Kill DVD commentary, “I wear a different tie every time, and I have sort of the history of Q worked out.” Llewelyn brought his own personal history and affiliations—including military, college and sports club—to the character of Q, also known as Major Boothroyd. Q actually does not wear a different tie every time, though his numerous regimental and club ties subtly give the character a more specific personal background than even James Bond has.
I have not been able to identify all the ties. Please comment below if you know what the unidentified ties represent and the article will be appended. You can click on the images to see them larger.
From Russia with Love
The first time we see Desmond Llewelyn’s Q he is wearing a Brigade of Guards tie with his Prince of Wales suit. The Brigade of Guards tie has stripes in maroon and dark blue.
This tie came from tailoring and military tie shop Benson & Clegg.
Goldfinger
In the lab Q wears a Order Radleian Golf Club tie from Radley College with his brown tweed suit, which Llewelyn attended. The tie has red stripe with a narrower white stripe spaced below it.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #1: In the opening scene in M’s office, Q wears a brown tie with rose and purple stripes. We get a much better look at this tie in Diamonds Are Forever.
Q wears a light icy blue-grey textured tie at James Bond’s wedding. It is similar to Bond’s own tie.
Diamonds Are Forever
Q wears an Order Radleian Golf Club tie in his lab, which he previously wears in Goldfinger.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #1: The brown tie with rose and purple stripes returns from the previous film, and we get a better look at it here. Q wears it in both the scene where Bond poses as Burt Saxby on the phone and at the casino.
The Man with the Golden Gun
Q wears the Order Radleian Boat Club (Mariners) tie from Radley College when Bond meets him in the lab to examine the gold bullet and later in the second scene on the RMS Queen Elizabeth. The tie is black with a red stripe and thin white stripes spaced above and below the red stripe.
Colthorpe in this photo, played by James Cossins, is wearing the Brigade of Guards tie, a tie Q frequently wears.
In the first scene on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, Q wears the Westminster School tie, which is black with widely spaced pink stripes. This tie came from Benson & Clegg.
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Brigade of Guards tie that Q first wears in From Russia with Love returns during Bond’s briefing and again at the end of the film.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #3: In Egypt and Sardinia, Q wears a red striped tie with white and black stripes. The stripes are in the reverse direction.
Moonraker
The Order Radleian Golf Club from Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever returns for the third and final time in the M’s office scene in Moonraker.
At the South American headquarters, Q wears a dark blue tie with a yellow stripe pattern. The stripes are in groups of three, with the middle stripe being narrower than the other two. Charles Day identified it as the 1st and 3rd Trinity College Boat Club Tie.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #5: At the end of Moonraker, Q wears a tie with wide pink and black stripes. We get another look at this tie in Licence to Kill.
For Your Eyes Only
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #6: In his lab, Q wears a navy or black tie with a triple stripe pattern in white, red and pink. The order of the three stripes reverses each repeat.
The Order Radleian Boat Club from The Man with the Golden Gun returns in the final scene.
Octopussy
At the lab, Q wears the Malpas Cricket Club tie, which is navy with a white double-stripe pattern. Between each double-stripe is a white symbol, likely representing the club. Desmond Llewelyn played cricket for the club. Thank you to ‘Bond Fan’ for identifying it.
Q yet again wears the Brigade of Guards tie when piloting the hot air balloon
A View to a Kill
Q wears a khaki knitted tie with morning dress, possibly to signify service in the Royal Artillery. RA officers wear a khaki knitted tie as part of their service dress. Otherwise, a casual knitted tie looks out of place with formal morning dress.
At the end of A View to a Kill, Q wears his trusty Brigade of Guards tie.
The Living Daylights
When he helps Koskov escape, Q once again wears a Brigade of Guards tie.
In his lab with his three-piece Glen Urquhart check suit, Q wears a Newport Rugby Football Club. The tie is black with pairs of amber stripes, after the Newport RFC’s nickname, the “Black & Ambers”. The tie also has a motif of silver Prince of Wales’s feathers badges. The Prince of Wales’s feathers is a symbol of Wales that consists of three ostrich feathers emerging from a coronet. The tie also has a motif of red and green roses. Llewelyn played rugby for the club.
Licence to Kill
Q is first seen in Bond’s hotel room wearing his Brigade of Guards tie.
He wears a black tie as part of a chauffeur disguise.
In one of Q’s scenes in Bond’s hotel room he wears a Guards Armoured Division tie. This navy tie has a motif of a white “ever open eye” inside the red outline of a shield. Llewellyn’s character in the 1950 Terence Young-directed film They Were Not Divided served in the Guards Armoured Division.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #8: Whilst assisting Bond on a boat, Q wears a navy tie with red, grey/grey-blue and white stripes. The stripes are in the reverse direction.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #5: The tie with wide black and pink stripes from the end of Moonraker returns.
GoldenEye
GoldenEye features the seventh and final appearance—as well as the fifth consecutive appearance—of Q’s Brigade of Guards tie.
Tomorrow Never Dies
As part of his disguise as an Avis car rental salesman “Quentin Quigley”, Q wears a black tie with printed red hexagon-like shapes and white lines. This tie is likely just part of the disguise and not relevant to Q’s background
The World Is Not Enough
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #9: When working on the Q boat, Q wears a navy tie with an unknown red motif.
UNIDENTIFIED TIE #10: In his Scottish castle lab, Q wears a navy tie with a large yellow motif.
In publicity stills for GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough, Q wears a Royal Welch Fusiliers tie. It is a brighter red and blue than the Brigade of Guards tie, and the red stripes are twice as wide as the blue stripes. Llewelyn served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers during the Second World War.
Can anyone help identify the unidentified ties? In the Licence to Kill DVD commentary, Llewelyn mentioned a tie for Trinity College of Cambridge, which Llewelyn attended.
What an incredibly well researched and put together article! Your attention to details and knowledge never fails to surprise me. I had never noticed that so many of Q’s ties where used several times!
None of them look like a Trinity College tie to me – you can find images of all the Cambridge college ties on the Ryder and Amies website. I wonder if it is a Trinity sports club tie or something similar?
I would also guess that it’s from a Trinity sports club. It could also have been from a Trinity sports club that is long gone. Desmond Llewelyn was a very active man.
Unidentified tie #5 could be Worcester College Oxford, depending on how pink it really was. http://bensonandclegg.com/worcester-college-oxford-university-silk-tie
Unidentified tie #4 looks like First and Third Boat Club, as the rowing club of Trinity College Cambridge is known.
#9 could be the Farmers Club tie. The yellow motif on the nay tie is Ceres, goddess of agriculture. It looks like the old design which was available in green and navy. Recently the design has been modernised and the motif looks a bit different.
The regimental tie from The World Is Not Enough press stills is of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, not Welch, as stated. To the best of my knowledge neither Q, nor indeed Llewelyn, have a reputation for reneging on deals or financial agreements.
No, the article is correct. The regiment is called the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
*was, it’s been amalgamated into the Royal Welsh since.
Thank you for the information. I know the tie is still called ‘Royal Welch Fusiliers’, the pre-2006 name. The Royal Welsh tie is a different pattern.
I finally found a photo of a First and Third Trinity Boat Club tie http://www.bensilver.com/U19-1st-and-3rd-Trinity-Boat-Club,1418.html#.VgHrdcV103g
I didn’t originally think that was the tie because the middle stripe wasn’t considerably narrower than the other two, but there is still a difference in width, so I think you are correct.
The pink and black tie is worn by boys in “E” Social at Radley College.
The pink and black striped tie from Moonraker and Licence to Kill is the house tie for ‘E Social’ – one of the houses at Radley. I think the Golden Gun version with the thick black and thin pink is a variation of that. The Sardinia tie looks like it has a Radley connection too – possibly a team/colours tie.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that a tie is missing from The Living Daylights.
Do you think you will ever cover any of Q’s sleeveless cardigan? It would be an interesting subject since Bond never has worn one in the series.
Do you think Bond will ever wear such a garment?
If there’s a tie missing, please point me to it.
I don’t think Bond would wear a sleeveless cardigan. Though sleeved cardigans are no longer associated with older men, I don’t think the same holds true for sleeveless.
Matt, do you ever wonder who decides on these “associations”?
The scene that I am talking about is when Dalton wears his Herringbone suit.
I like the Order Radleian Boat Club Tie. When Q wears the tie in TMWTGG he pairs it with a tweed or herringbone suit. Always found interesting how Q folds his pocket square.
Do you like the way he folded the pocket square or not? Personally I like the traditional square.
It’s a nice way to do a pocket square.
The first tie in Octopussy is of the Malpas Cricket Club in Newport, the cricket club situated across the road from Desmond’s house in Newport.
Thank you for the identification! I’ve updated the article with this information.
In LTK, with Q’s black necktie does he match it with a black suit or blue suit.
I believe that’s a black suit to look appropriate as a chauffeur’s uniform.
Thank you for the response.
By the way, I am not for sure if you watch any of the Gentleman’s Gazette YouTube videos, but he has a video that mentions Bond’s style.
In the video, he features your blog for a few seconds.
Stay safe
Bill
Unidentified Tie #10 seems to be featuring cartridge caps. Cordings of Piccadilly is selling a similar one but in claret instead of navy.
Q’s Tie in Diamonds are for Ever is Old Fettesian
The Old Fettesian is similar but not the same.
It is the Old Radleian golf club and boat club not the Order Radleian.
Desmond went to Radley College and these are the old boys ties.
Tie #5 is the E Social Tie @ Radley College. I was in that social…and so was Desmond Llewelyn…although he was there a few years before me!
Thank you for the identification!
That’s a wonderful connection to have to the Bond franchise!