On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film) ten gumboot." Zec was kinder to Lazenby's co-star, saying that "there is style to Diana Rigg's performance and I suspect that the last scene which draws something of a performance out of Lazenby owes much to her silken expertise." "The New York Times" critic AH Weiler also weighed in against Lazenby, saying that "Lazenby, if not a spurious Bond, is merely a casual, pleasant, satisfactory replacement." One of the few supporters of Lazenby amongst the critics was Alexander Walker in the "London Evening Standard" who said that "The truth is that George Lazenby is almost as good a James Bond
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (novel) Fleming's friend Patrick Leigh Fermor pointed out that "Pol Roger" was the only champagne at the time not to be produced in half-bottles. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is the second book in what is called "the Blofeld trilogy", sitting between "Thunderball", where SPECTRE is introduced and "You Only Live Twice", where Blofeld is finally killed by Bond. Although Blofeld is present in "Thunderball", he directs operations from a distance and as such he and Bond never meet and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" constitutes his and Bond's first meeting. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was published on 1 April