 THE fault, I confess, was entirely mine. In a lamentable lapse I asked Honor Blackman if she had won the role of Pussy Galore in the 1964 film Goldfinger at an open casting audition. "An open casting audition?" she gasps, not so much crouching tigress as one about to pounce. Coming over all Lady Bracknell she adds, "I don't know what they are," but suddenly sniggers, "how grand am I?!" Then gets serious again: "All I know is that I was asked to do it. It's true that I was the hottest thing at that point with The Avengers and so the fact that I did judo meant that I was dead-ringer right, says she so modestly." Before dissolving into more chuckles. Formidably feline is the phrase that unavoidably springs to mind when bantering with Ms Blackman, but just when you think you've overstepped the mark she goes all coquettish on you. Or bursts into throaty laughter, after all there is an engaging air of self-parody. As the most enduring Bond girl of all, Honor Blackman officially renewed her acquaintance with the James Bond industry by hosting a hugely successful concert of music from the films conducted by Carl Davis and performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Liverpool Summer Pops.
 Finally, four years later, she is back with the concert on Thursday evening, this time at the Philharmonic Hall. In typically forthright manner she says: "If somebody had said you'd still be talking about this bloody film 40 years later I would have said don't be daft. It's astonishing that they're even still making the Bond series. "The snowball started with Goldfinger. I didn't realise how big it was going to be. I had seen From Russia with Love and thought it was an awfully good film. It was exactly like going into The Avengers, you don't have any idea what its future is." There was nearly a riot in Leicester Square at the premier when the crowd pushed the cinema's plate glass window in. The film was hyped with gimmicks like a solid gold finger especially moulded for Blackman to wear. | 
