THIS week we look back to the day when a Highworth pub was opened by the widow of James Bond creator Ian Fleming.

Our journey to a spring day in 1972 was prompted by the news that a 1954 Aston Martin DB 2/4, understood to have inspired 007’s best known car, is to be auctioned at Benheim Palace by specialist firm Coys in July.

The car to be sold is thought to have spent much of its time parked outside Fleming’s neighbour’s house when the author lived in Kent.

Bond’s first Aston, of course, was the DB5 which first appeared in Goldfinger in 1964 and came complete with an ejector seat.

Fleming died that year, having spent the final period of his life at Warneford Place in Sevenhampton with wife Ann, who was both his obsession and his muse.

Years later, when a new pub was named the Goldfinger Tavern, there could be only one choice of celebrity for the official opening on Thursday, March 16, 1972.

Ann was photographed there with members of the Highworth Drama Society, who dressed as Goldfinger characters. She pulled the first pint and handed it to Arthur Robinson, who was dressed as sinister henchman Oddjob.

We wrote: “The Goldfinger Tavern was launched with sherry, contrary to the famous Bond character’s favourite of Martini – shaken, not stirred.

“‘My husband would have been absolutely delighted. It’s a super idea,’ said Mrs Fleming.

“She arrived from her home in Sevenhampton - just outside Highworth - in a fast three-and-a-half-litre saloon with a registration number CIA 666.”

We added helpfully: “CIA stands for the Central Intelligence Agency.”

No mention was made of the significance of the number 666, presumably because it was several years before the release of The Omen and not many people were avid readers of the Book of Revelation.

Ann was also shown around bars called Bullion and Oddjob during her visit.

She and her late husband had taken an interest in the village and its surrounding area. Ian Fleming, although not a resident for very long before his death, was vice-president of Swindon Artists’ Society.

His wife made numerous local public appearances. In November of 1963, for example, she opened Swindon Conservative Association’s annual bazaar at the Town Hall, and in 1965 she opened a Swindon Artists Society exhibition at the gallery in Bath Road.

In 1971 she held an open day in her Sevenhampton garden.

She lived until 1981 and shares her husband’s grave at St James Church in Sevenhampton.