In 1966 Harry Saltzman announced a television series about a ten-year-old who fought SPECTRE that could have been based on 003½ but nothing became of it.

[1] At some other point Bond film producers Saltzman and Broccoli planned to make either a theatrical feature or a TV series based on the 003½ premise.

[2] The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½ is considered a failed attempt at launching a youth-oriented line of fiction aimed at 8- to 14-year-olds.

A moderately successful television series of the same name was launched in 1991, produced by Eon Productions / Danjaq.

The success of the show spawned numerous novelisations, a video game, and comic books.

Although an officially licensed spin-off from the James Bond series, its place within the canon of the books—if any—has never been established.

It was not known who wrote The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½, although many authors have been named as possibilities, including Roald Dahl and Kingsley Amis.

Roald Dahl, on the other hand, did share some similarities, specifically with one book he wrote in 1975, Danny, the Champion of the World.

Dahl completed the screenplay for You Only Live Twice for Eon Productions in 1967, the same year The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½ was published.

[4] Several years ago, the now defunct 007Forever.com website made a detailed case for the claim that Arthur Calder-Marshall was indeed the author behind the R.D.

This incredibly detailed analysis focused greatly on the writing style, and compared specific paragraphs from "003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior" to several of Calder-Marshall's novels which were published at roughly around the same time.

[citation needed] The plot follows James Bond Junior while he tries to uncover what is going on at Hazeley Hall.

He and Sheelagh Smith, his "girlfriend," follow the clues of this mystery, but the information is given to the commander of the police, Sir Cuthbert Conningtower, when James is injured.

At the climax, she contacts Commander Sir Cuthbert Conningtower about what James discovers at Hazeley Hall.

Steals £2m gold bullion en route from the Soviet Union to Britain at Gatwick airport.

James entices her with sketching materials to get inside Hazeley Hall Manor so that he can get his goods from the bothy.

They resent Merck fencing-in Hazeley Hall so they retaliate with guerilla warfare: put silver sand in petrol tanks, puncture tires with one-inch carpet nails, put water in the oil tank, attempt – but fail – to poison guard dogs.

While there, James sees Merck in a police car and his men in military uniforms driving camouflaged Bedford trucks as they set out to steal the gold bullion.

Jon Ling: Boy Scout, and James's replacement in the "Pride of Lions".

Won't let her husband contact police about theory Merck has stolen gold bullion at Hazeley Hall.

Inherited Monkshill estate (in Beacon Hill on the Kent-Sussex border) from his own father three years prior.

At story's end Hazeley Hall comes on the market again and Captain David Bond buys the stables, the walled garden and the bothy.

Claire Tomalin in The Observer said, "the story is a small perfect triumph in the hands of a master.

"[5] The Library Journal said, "This imported British spin-off from the adult series doesn't exude literary quality but is a notch above what might be expected.

After a sluggish beginning in which Bond family relationships and the basis for the story's intrigue are explained, the adventures of the youthful 003 1/2 (James Bond's nephew) gain momentum as he ferrets out the mystery of a heavily"guarded estate and runs up against gold robbers and guard dogs.

"[6] Ursula Robertshaw writing for The Illustrated London News complained that the book is "Very definitely for boys.

First, with its bullion robbers and the indomitable amateur boy who cracks the code, as it were, the book sends up the junior thriller; young Bond with his blacked and infra-red camera and judo principles ("Don't go against the enemy, go with him") is a remote cousin of Miss Blyton's water-pistol-carrying kids.

Then (and I am less certain of the author's intention here) the fast-moving events and casual cruelty of the story may be a satire on the exploits of Jimmy's notorious uncle; if so, it is a satire many readers won't see or won't want to.

Mascott has given us glimpses of the sordid and a nearer approach to danger (and one brilliant female character drawn in the round).

"[8] Punch critic Marjorie D. Lawrie praised Christopher Chamberlain's "satisfying illustrations", but otherwise had no opinion of the book.