WIMBLEDON hero Roger Taylor was in the running to succeed Sean Connery as James Bond — until his wife turned down his key swimwear audition.
Sheffield-born Taylor, 83, made three Wimbledon semi-finals, in 1967, 1970 and 1973, and was the nation’s favourite tennis underdog before Tim Henman came along.
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For the first time, he has revealed how he was asked to attend a casting session for the 1969 flick On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Connery, who died in 2020 aged 90, launched the spy film franchise series with Dr. No in 1962 but stood down from the role five years later.
Handsome, 6ft, left-hander Taylor’s appearance in the 1967 Queen’s final gained a lot of “interest from Hollywood”.
Noel Berryman, the vice-chairman of Queen’s Club, claimed the wife of scriptwriter Richard Maybourne had watched that final and proclaimed to her husband: “There’s your new James Bond.”
Writing in his new autobiography, The Man Who Saved Wimbledon, Taylor recalled: “I assumed this was some kind of a wind-up.
“Noel insisted he was deadly serious and asked if I’d be interested in meeting some of the money men at their offices in Park Lane to talk about the project.
“My wife Frances started laughing, saying the whole thing was ridiculous.
“But I was keen to explore the options despite never having set foot on a stage before or done any acting.
“So, in between winning a few matches that first week, I stared menacingly into mirrors trying to capture the essence of 007.
“Sunday came around and we headed into town.
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“I was in a state of conflict: excited, nervous and also worried that my attention was being taken away from Wimbledon. We arrived and I was shepherded into a room full of men.
“Two of these moguls had huge cigars and they all stared at me without saying a word… not one word.
“They kept staring, making me feel incredibly self-conscious! And that was it.
“I never even had a chance to tell them ‘I’m Bond, James Bond, don’t you know’ before the meeting ended and then I headed back to Wimbledon.”
As the tournament progressed, Berryman informed Taylor he had done enough to secure a second test at Pinewood Studios — but “could I bring my swimsuit!”
Taylor, who is now married to his second wife Alison, said: “At which point Frances became very irate. She’s a Scottish Baptist and clearly didn’t fancy becoming a Bond girl.
“I’m often asked how much I regret not making more of the opportunity and still laugh at some of the reports from those days which referred to me as the James Bond of tennis.”
Bond bosses went for Aussie model George Lazenby.
Yorkshireman Taylor, who has incurable amyloidosis, added: “A few years on, I was in California, sitting at a bar. Next to me was a guy who looked like a broken man. Very much the worse for wear. It was Lazenby!
“I wondered if maybe I’d had a lucky escape after all.
“That said, every time I watch a Bond movie there’s a little bit of me that wonders what if? And I did perfect the ‘Bond, James Bond’ line, you know.”
The Man Who Saved Wimbledon — Roger Taylor’s official biography, published by Pitch Publishing, £25, is out June 30.
