D&AD not a patch on Q

Expectations were high for the Ken Adam/Christopher Frayling love-in staged by British Design and Art Direction in London last week.

A match between the London-based Berlin-born film set designer who created the early Bond movie sets, among other film triumphs, and design’s own film buff was tipped as a surefire winner as a D&AD President’s Lecture.

And so it was – sort of. The ‘lights, camera, action’ bit was fine, with stunning film clips. But sound? Well, the audience could hardly hear a word.

Both speakers had lapel mikes, but Frayling was sitting on Adam’s left, with his mike on his left lapel, while for Adam it was right and right. As they talked each turned away from his mike to address the other.

Bond’s celebrated gadget inventor Q would not have been impressed.