The Saint's Blog devoted to news and rumors about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar, alias The Saint, was played by Roger Moore in the 1960's TV show featuring the Volvo 1800.
Please e-mail any current news and rumors about The Saint to:
A complete display box of The Saint collectors cards from 1966 sold recently on eBay for $1275. These cards were made by Somportex in Denmark and sold mainly in Great Britain. These display boxes with Roger Moore on the cover are very rare, and it's even harder to find them full of unopened packages of the cards! Congratulations goes out to the winner of this fine item. I don't think I've ever seen the "prizes paper" that was included as part of the winning bid.
Television Heaven has a great article entitled, Baker and Berman: A Saintly Combination within their Saint section that is well worth reading. It covers the great partnership between Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman on the production of The Saint TV series starring Roger Moore.
The link to The Saint came by way of John Paddy Carstairs, who directed the filming of The Saint in London in 1939. Carstairs eventually became very friendly with Leslie Charteris and years later it was he who suggested the idea of a TV series to Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman.
My first Volvo was a white 1964 Volvo 1800S that I sold to a chap in Norway in 1996. I have updated My First Volvo page to add more pictures, details, and history about this beautiful car.
It currently lives in Norway, and is being well taken care of by its current owner. I have also included a couple of photos that he sent to me in 2004.
eBay has been the consistant best source for buying Saint items worldwide for a long time. To make it easier to find and bid on the latest new Saint items on eBay I have created an eBay Saint RSS feed. This feed searches for all items that have the words The Saint or Le Saint and also have at least one mention of Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, Leslie Charteris, George Sanders, or the Volvo 1800. It also leaves out all VHS and DVD listings as they are really numerous! The listings are sorted by newest items first, so the most recent additions will always be at the top.
This can be used in a couple different ways:
You can go directly to the RSS feed and connect it to your My Yahoo, Google, or MSN Home page using the tools in the side menu of the Feedburner feed. eBay Saint RSS feed.
You can subscribe to e-mail updates via the FeedBlitz form below:
The television series, "The Return of The Saint" starring Ian Ogilvy will be released on region 2 DVD on January 29th 2007 by Network (the same company that just did the excellent Roger Moore sets. Extras, including interviews and commentary, are in the process of being produced, with further details forthcoming.
This DVD set will include all 24 episodes of The Return of the Saint.
Think of any cult/fantasy television show of the 1960s or '70s and the chances are that they were created by ITC, the company owned by legendary media tycoon Lew Grade. For the first time in one book, the incredible stories behind the making of these enduringly popular shows are told by the actors, directors and creators involved in bringing them to the small screen. Robert Sellers' stellar list of almost fifty interviewees includes such international stars as Sir Roger Moore, Tony Curtis and Robert Vaughn; legendary animators Sylvia and Gerry Anderson; Jane Henson, widow of Muppets creator Jim Henson; Oscar nominated director Franco Zeffirelli; and cult stars such as Peter Wyngarde and Ian Ogilvy. Arranged in eight chronological sections, "Cult TV: The Golden Age of ITC" contains a wealth of anecdotes and detail that will delight fans of these remarkable series and cult television in general. The book is introduced with a foreword from former "James Bond" and "The Saint" star, Sir Roger Moore and contains an afterword by Gerry Anderson.
Ian Ogilvy is looking out the driver's window of The Saint's white Jaguar XJS in the episode "The Village That Sold Its Sold" from the TV series The Return of The Saint.
The Saint's Jaguar page has been updated with more photos and details about the cars used in the production of the series.
Many thanks to David Cleary for all his time and trouble in getting this important addition accurate and full of great information.
Elstree Film and Television Studios has posted some further information and pictures about Roger Moore's plaque presentation event. Sir Roger Moore returned to Elstree Studios on Tuesday to see a plaque unveiled in his honour, 35 years after his career took off as the face of The Saint.
In an article in the China Daily, Roger Moore says the Daniel Craig is "absolutely super" in the role of James Bond in the new movie, Casino Royale. In the same article, Roger Moore hints at a remake of The Saint which might involve both Roger and his son Geoffrey Moore.
BEIJING, Nov. 2 -- Sir Roger Moore has backed the new James Bond Daniel Craig, saying he will be "absolutely super" in the role of the secret agent.
Sir Roger, who played Bond during the 1970s and 1980s, was unveiling a plaque at the Elstree film and television studios yesterday.
He said: "I am fed up with everybody attacking poor Daniel Craig, I am sure he is going to be absolutely super."
Sir Roger was unveiling the plaque to mark the six years he spent filming at Elstree when he played Simon Templar in the hit TV series The Saint.
He said: "I spent eight to nine years of my life literally working every day from crack of dawn till sunset, sometimes through the late nights. "It`s good to be back."
Sir Roger was joined by some members of the cast and crew of The Saint, and hinted there may be a remake in the pipeline, thanks to his son.
He added: "I think my son may be remaking it in the very near future and he might even give me a part."
I've been working on expanding this site's information about the various cars The Saint has driven over the years. I now have three pages about Simon Templar's automotive exploits, and I am looking for more references in the books by Leslie Charteris about the mighty and mythical Hirondel.
I have just added a page about the blue Jensen Interceptor that Simon Dutton drove in the 1989 as Simon Templar, alias The Saint, in the six made-for-TV movies. The car was a 1976 Jensen Interceptor Saloon Mark III painted Briazs Blue. After filming was completed, a Saintly plaque was added to the dashboard and the car was sold to a Doctor in England.
I am always looking for more information and details about the Saint's cars, so please look at The Saint's Volvo and The Saint's Jaguar pages as well and let me know if there are any additions or corrections.
I am using del.icio.us to bookmark various sites around the web and categorize them. By joining my network, you can help me find new bookmarks to be posted on various pages thoughout this site. For example, The Saint's Volvo Links page has bookmarks that are tagged at "volvo" while The Saint's Jaguar page's bookmark lists are all tagged "jaguar". These lists are automatically updated, and with your help can grow!
I have added a section at the end of the Saintly Sources page that automatically posts all bookmarks that have been tagged as "the.saint".
Roger Moore was honored with a plaque by the Town Council, in association with the British film Institute at Elstree film and television studios on October 31, 2006.
He joins a very distinguished list made up of Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Vivien Leigh, Simon Cowell, Richard Todd, John Mills, Trevor Howard, Stanley Kubrick, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Dame Margaret Rutherford, Peter Cushing, Charles Lawton, Dame Anna Neagle, Herbert Wilcox, and Alistair Sims.
Roger's official site has three pages (1, 2, 3) about the event with lots of pictures and stories. I espicially enjoyed listening to the sound clips from the event. Tony Curtis even called in and had some very nice things to say about working with Roger Moore on The Persuaders.
For all of you Saint fans out there with website or blogs of your own. Please link to this site at http://www.saint.org/ to promote the latest news about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. It's important for all those interested in Roger Moore as Simon Templar, the Volvo connection, or the Val Kilmer movie to find the latest news in a quick and timely manner!
Many thanks for your support, and remember to link today!
<a href="http://www.saint.org/">The Saint and Leslie Charteris News</a>
Due to the popularity of the information on The Saint's Volvo, I have created another page all about The Saint's Jaguar. If anyone has more pictures or information they would like to contribute to this work in progress, please e-mail 'saint' at this domain (saint.org).
The Jaguar Model Club also has a great list of all the appearances of a Jaguar in movies and TV and has the following additional information about the Jaguar XJS' role in the Return of The Saint TV series starring Ian Ogilvy:
This early prototype 1975 four-speed manual, V12 XJS was driven by Ian Ogilvy in 20 out of the 24 episodes filmed. Replaced by a second White XJS for the last four episodes after Ogilvy, burned the clutch out doing one of those famous get away starts on gravel! The original car was registered PWK 530R but had false 'ST 1' plates fitted. The car survives today and is one of the 352 rare manual versions of the Jaguar XJS.
On October 31st Sir Roger Moore unveiled a plaque at Elstree Studios to commemorate his time working there on The Saint and subsequent feature films. Keeping him company at the presentation were a number of his former colleagues who worked with him on the show such as producer Robert S. Baker, Johnny Goodman, Malcolm Christopher, Dave Prowse, June Randall, Burt Kwok and many others.
Visit the official website of Leslie Charteris to see more pictures from the event, including a few good ones of Roger signing the hood of the Saint's Volvo 1800.
Radiolovers.com is a site featuring free old time Radio shows
They offer hundreds of vintage radio shows for you to listen to online in mp3 format, all for free. Before the days of video games, shopping malls, MTV, and the Internet, families used to sit in their living room each night to listen to radio shows such as Abbott and Costello, The Saint, Superman, Groucho Marx, Bulldog Drummond, The Avenger, Gunsmoke, Sherlock Homes, The Shadow, and many others. When TV become popular in the 1950's, most of these shows went off the air, but they now live on at websites such as this one and on weekly nostalgia radio broadcasts worldwide.
This was the second episode of the short-lived series and the DLT Entertainment site describes the plot as "against the romantic backdrop of Paris, a priceless blue sapphire, once the possession of the Russian Czars, is the bait to trap a murderer and thief who mixes with the cream of high society." I'm not sure why they left out mention of the twin sisters...
Bill Cawthon has written a great article about the history of The Saint's Volvo that features a couple of nice pictures of early models.
One of the interesting things that is discussed in the article is that after Leslie Charteris sold the television rights to Producer Robert Baker and Lew Grade of ITC their first visualization of Simon Templar on TV was of Patrick McGoohan driving a Jaguar E-Type. When the producers went to Jaguar they were turned down as Jaguar felt they had enough exposure and could not keep up with the demand as it was. Therefore they ended up with the other hot car introduced at the Geneva Auto Show in March 1961 by buying one at full price from a London Volvo dealer. Luckily, as the show took off , Volvo kept the show well stocked with fresh 1800's as the years went buy. Older cars were cut apart for interior shots, crashed, and otherwise used by Roger Moore as his personal vehicle of choice.
Burl Barer reports on his blog that there is some interest in Capture The Saint in the busy offices of the Hollywood movie business. There is nothing confirmed, of course, but the fact is that Robert Evans, the famed Producer of the Val Kilmer The Saint movie in 1997 is currently reading a personally signed copy of Capture The Saint by Burl Barer.
Robert Evans, as you might remember, not only produced The Saint. He has had quite a remarkable career and is most remembered for his years on the Paramount lot during Chinatown, The Godfather, The Conversation and other heady days of the 1970s. His Wikipedia entry has a lot more detail for your reading enjoyment. A new Saint film under his belt would be a lot of fun.
Robert Evan's book, The Kid Stays in The Picture chronicles the life and times of one of Hollywood's greatest producers is also available in Audio Book and DVD formats.
I've read Capture The Saint and I think it would make an excellent movie. And keep reading Burl Barer's Blog for updated news on this subject.
Retro To Go reports that a new Saint mug personally designed by Sir Roger Moore is now available for order from Whatever It Takes. All proceeds go to charity, so not only are your doing your part, you also get a really cool retro mug of The Saint.
The charity that The Saint and Roger Moore is supported is called 21st Century Leaders, which sells high-quality "merchandise with meaning" with all profits going to help poverty and protection of the environment. Their latest batch of merchandise is mugs and Sir Roger is just one of the many famous people contributing a mug. Other notables include David Bowie, Giorgio Armani, Nicole Kidman and George Clooney.
These cult TV retro mugs are available to pre-order now for November delivery, priced at a reasonable £9.99. Please visit their product page to purchase one today.
The saint.org website devoted to Leslie Charteris, Simon Templar, and The Saint has been up and running for over 4000 days (more than 10 years), and the log file contains almost 20 million entries! Using Analog 6.0 for Macintosh, I have compiled and posted a complete statistical usage report for www.saint.org through October 31, 2006.
I have also posted a shorter version of just the last month to see what the near-term trends look like.
A Happy All Saints Day goes out to all you Saints, souls, and cherubs out there. Yesterday was Halloween, otherwise known as All Hallows Eve, or as I call it All Halo's Eve. So cheers and keep your halos on straight.
In my travels I often run into The Saint in strange places, and it's surprising the number of bars named The Saint. Probably none of them have any relation to Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar, and yet there must be some connection?
Here's a short list of a few I know of in London:
The Saint Bar and Kitchen on Rose Street near St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Saint Bar on Great Newport Street near Leicester Square in London.
Saint's Bar in The Saint Gregory Hotel near Liverpool Street in London.
I'm sure that there are others in many other cities around the world. I have heard of one in Boston, and another in Melbourne.
A complete display box of The Saint collectors cards from 1966 sold recently on eBay for $1275. These cards were made by Somportex in Denmark and sold mainly in Great Britain. These display boxes with Roger Moore on the cover are very rare, and it's even harder to find them full of unopened packages of the cards! Congratulations goes out to the winner of this fine item. I don't think I've ever seen the "prizes paper" that was included as part of the winning bid.
I am using del.icio.us to bookmark various sites around the web and categorize them. By joining my network, you can help me find new bookmarks to be posted on various pages thoughout this site. For example, 
