A short time ago we missed the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir Ken Adam, who was production designer for Dr No 1962, Goldfinger 1964, Thunderball 1965, You Only Live Twice 1967, Diamonds are Forever 1971, The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 and Moonraker 1979. His designing skills became legendary and he won two Oscars for Barry Lyndon 1975 & The Madness of King George 1994; he was nominated for Around the World in 80 Days 1956, The Spy Who Loved Me & Addams Family Values 1993 – won two BAFTAs for Dr Strangelove or:- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 1964 & The Ipcress File 1965, nominated for Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Sleuth 1972, Barry Lyndon, The Spy Who Loved Me & The Madness of King George – he also designed the car for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1968. His life was full – born in Berlin, Germany as Klaus Hugo Adam into a prosperous Jewish family, his father was a Prussian cavalry officer, awarded the Iron Cross, Second and First Class in WW1. In order to evade the Nazis in Germany, he was sent with a brother to Craigend Park boarding school in Edinburgh, but when the whole family came to England, they settled in Hampstead, London in 1935; he finished education at St Paul’s in Barnes, London, then trained in architecture and was involved in design of air raid shelters. Before the end of WW2 he and his brother joined the Royal Air Force, two of only three German-born to do so and he flew Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft in the Battle for Normandy 1944. He was naturalised as a UK citizen in 1946 and found his way into the film industry, starting at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, then at Twickenham Studios, Richmond-upon-Thames and amongst others worked on Captain Horatio Hornblower and Ben-Hur; he also worked with Kubrick at Shepperton Studios, Surrey, as well as of course at Pinewood Studios in Bucks for the Bond films. He was knighted in 2003, not just for his film career, but also helping to build stronger Anglo-German relations as well. In 2012 he turned over the entire body of his work to the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin. He died in 2016 at his home in Knightsbridge after a short illness at the age of 95. We believe him more than worthy of a match in his honour and hope you do too – if the number or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
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