Christopher Wood (OK 1954) died April 1, 2016

Wood died aged 79. He was an advertising executive turned writer whose oeuvre included literary fiction, historical novels and the screenplays for the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).

He was born in Lambeth, and during the Blitz his parents sent him away to Norwich where he became a pupil at the Edward VI Grammar School. He later returned to London to attend King’s College Junior School.

By the end of the 1960s, Wood was managing brands for the advertising agency Masius Wynne-Williams. He used his daily journey from Royston in Hertfordshire to write fiction.

In 1976 he wrote the comedy film Seven Nights in Japan, which starred Michael York, for the director Lewis Gilbert, with whom he shared an agent.

Gilbert’s next project was The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and he brought Wood on board. Wood returned to the franchise two years later as the sole writer on Moonraker.