Peterborough turban expert recalls surreal James Bond experience
A sliding doors moment when film producers came to Peterborough created a "weird claim to fame" for a man soon to be known as a turban expert.Del Singh and his brother had put flyers around the city to advertise their heavy metal band Singh Brothers Rock Road Show when they received a strange call to ask if they were Sikh and could tie a turban.Little did Del know, that call would lead him to meet the James Bond film stars of Octopussy and spark autograph requests decades later."If somebody hadn't seen that name or put the name Singh to being Sikh... there's a lot of stuff happened as a consequence of that. It's incredible."
After agreeing to meet with EON Productions at a hotel, a 19-year-old Del and his brother half believed they were being pranked. Despite being met by a man with an Octopussy lanyard, Del still didn't buy into the idea until he walked into a room thick with cigar smoke. "Underneath the smoke cloud was Roger Moore, 007, James Bond in the flesh."Things got kind of surreal at that point."They brought across an Indian actor called Kabir Bedi, who's a very tall guy, he is one of the henchman in the film."Even though he's Indian in real life, he doesn't wear a turban. I was told what you need to do is tie a turban on his head. That's what we need you for."Del was handed a piece of red material and asked to tie it. Rejecting the material as it was too much "like a bath towel", Del instead produced his grey school turban, about 12ft long, and used it on Kabir, tight enough to withhold the daring scenes shot at Nene Valley Railway.Del and his brother convinced the production team to hire them as a pair and sold the studios their old school turbans.
The brothers spent the next six weeks at the Nene Valley Railway.The railway, which has said it would welcome more productions, has featured in 150 commercials, TV programmes and films.Del said his weeks spent on set put him in a "very privileged position" and allowed him to watch the live stunts. "I guess the thing that I would never have envisaged back in 1982 is the four or six weeks of my life would actually still be of interest now," he said.
Following the death of Sir Roger Moore in 2017, Del posted on social media about the summer Bond came to Peterborough. Del was invited to attend a screening of Octopussy alongside Kabir, which was than followed by more invitations.One event in June 2023 led to a reunion with Kristina Wayborn. "This time I wasn't so tongue tied and we just got on like a house on fire, she met me and my wife and became a real family friend."
While Del is not credited, one fan found the movie call sheets from the original film where he is listed as "turban expert on set".
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