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Link to an article about John Barry's old villa in Mallorca. Here's the automated google translation of the same page.
Thanks to Edward for putting up the link in our forum.

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In The Guardian (26 Aug.), there was a report titled "To Russia with love: screenwriter suspected of bonding with enemy". Wolf Mankowitz, one of the men behind the early James Bond films, was suspected of being a communist agent, according to MI5 files at the National Archives released today. Apparently he introduced the Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Salzman to one another and was involved in writing the script for Dr No. But also as Geoff says in The Man With The Midas Touch, he was also involved with John Barry in the original script for the musical of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.

Keith Calnan

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ITV 1 are currently trailing 'The Unforgettable Bob Monkhouse' for viewing on Sunday, 8th August at 9.00pm using JB's Midnight Cowboy and what sounds like a snipppet from The Beyondness.

Keith Calnan

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A short interview with Jane Birkin reveals that she stripped off in Antonion's film Blow-Up as a dare. She was married to John Barry at the time and Barry never thought she would ever do it, 'because we turned the light out when we slept together.'
The Sunday Times magazine 1/8/10 ("Welcome to The Times and The Sunday Times websites. Available exclusively by subscription.")

Keith Calnan

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Here is fascinating footage of the stars and the royal party from the Royal Premiere of Born Free in 1966. John Barry and his then wife, Jane Birkin, can be spotted smiling at the camera towards the end of the videoclip.

This will puzzle anybody who has read Michele Monro's Matt Monro biography since it is stated therein that of the Born Free song crew, only Matt turned up and had to alert Don & John that the song was omitted from that print!!

Geoff Leonard

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The latest 007 magazine from Graham Rye features two pictures of John Barry: one has JB with Lionel Bart, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli and in the other he is with Lionel Bart and Ian Fleming at a party at Pinewood celebrating From Russia With Love.

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Was the film "Promise Her Anything" (1965) a rejected John Barry score?

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by Geoff Leonard

The current edition of INSITE, the quarterly magazine from International network of Somewhere in Time enthusiasts, has reprinted Jon Burlingame's 75th birthday tribute originally published in Variety.

It is the magazine's lead story.

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By Johnny Worth (added by Geoff Leonard)
I have an interesting story re John Barry. Adam Faith was doing a film with Jane Wyman and that awful British actor with the comic plummy voice.* The film was called Mix me a Person.

The producer was a a guy called Sergei Nolbandov and he worked for or ran a company called Vic Films.

I had written the title-song, which John had arranged - also an instrumental piece to be used during a car chase called "One double zero".   I was producing these tracks in the studio and suffered constant interruption from a fellow in the control room who I didn't know from Adam (joke) - so I told him to please shut up or kindly leave the stage - which he did!

When I arrived home my wife said Vic Films have been on the phone. Apparently there was a guy in the studio in charge of their music department named Muir Mathieson and he was very impressed with the way you handled everything. They want you to write the score for the movie.

I said "how much?" and they said £150!  I told them to stuff it so they asked John Barry to do it instead. That was virtually the start of his movie career.

* he means Anne Baxter & Donald Sinden.

It's an interesting anecdote though possibly not entirely accurate. JB receives only a "songs arranged by" credit for this film while Muir Mathieson is "musical advisor".  Nobody is credited for writing the score, such as it is.