The Q division is the branch of MI6 responsible for developing gadgets, weapons and technology that aid James Bond in his missions.
'Q' stands for 'quartermaster', brilliantly played for many years by Desmond Llewelyn, who provided Bond with an array of often over-the-top deadly gadgets.
For every device used in the field, there are a host in development, and some of the most entertaining scenes in the films are of Bond raising a quizzical eyebrow as a poor minion tries out a ridiculous gadget.
In The Spy Who Loved Me there is a spring-loaded ottoman chair that, when activated, ejects the baddie into the air.
There is also a deadly tea tray: a sheet of metal that can accelerate to a speed which allows it to decapitate its victim.
GoldenEye gave us the phone box airbag that leaves a poor scientist squashed against the glass.
The same film also has the rocket-launching leg cast, perhaps inspired by the killer arm cast from For Your Eyes Only: a plaster cast that swings 180 degrees at ferocious speed, taking out an enemy.
In Thunderball, Bond escapes from the roof of a French chateau using a jetpack. This was a real, state-of-the-art Bell Rocket Belt used by stuntman Bill Suitor.
Another favourite was the bagpipe flamethrower from The World Is Not Enough.Of course, Bond gets to use some of these eccentric gadgets in the field.
There is his seagull diving headgear from Goldfinger, the ultimate underwater disguise... or is it?
In Octopussy, Roger Moore’s 007 mans a crocodile-shaped submarine to infiltrate the floating palace.
Finally, one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in Bond comes from a real invention.
In Thunderball, Bond escapes from the roof of a French chateau using a jetpack. This was a real, state-of-the-art Bell Rocket Belt used by stuntman Bill Suitor.
Bond makes a laughably slow ascent while pursued by two heavies.
His assailants have ample time to shoot the spy as he coolly drifts away; mercifully they are hopeless shots.
James Stillman, London E10