Resident helped build submarine for James Bond film
As the film Spectre takes Bond fever to a new level, a resident at a Great Yarmouth care home is proud of his own part in the 007 story. With the Daniel Craig blockbuster continuing to smash box office records, Len Ordway, 75, has spoken about his spy movie secrets to staff and fellow residents at Eversley nursing home, in North Denes Road. The retired fabrication engineer was working at the firm OSEL on the Harfreys Industrial Estate in 1980 when he was part of the team which built a mini submarine, the Mantis, used in the Roger Moore 007 film, For Your Eyes Only.
The submersible, adapted from a type employed in the offshore oil and gas industry, played a prominent role in the film shot in the glamorous setting of The Bahamas. Len, who has Parkinson’s disease and has lived at Eversley for more than a year, said: “It all seems a long time ago. However, I remember they put on a special premiere in Norwich and invited all the families of the engineers who worked on the sub.”
Len’s wife Anne, 73, who lives at their family home in Winifred Way, Caister, said: “We are very proud of how Len’s story has inspired our grand-daughters. “Maisie, 19, is studying to be an engineer at Brunel University while Ruby, who is 22, is doing a Masters degree at Oxford in neuroscience and wants to go on and do her PhD in Parkinson’s research to help find a cure.” PROUD: Len Ordway, and family members, recalls a special premiere for the 007 film in Norwich.
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