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Bond director Sam Mendes to be knighted

28-Dec-2019 • Bond News

'Skyfall' and 'SPECTRE' director Sam Mendes has received a Knighthood in the Queen's New Year's Honours list.

Mendes, who won the Academy Award for best director for American Beauty, has been recognised for services to drama. Previosuly in 2000, Mendes was made a CBE for services to drama.

The director of two Bond films said he was "amazed, delighted and extremely proud" to receive the honour. "I have stood on the shoulders of so many collaborators and colleagues over the last 30 years - actors, writers, designers, producers, technicians - to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. I would not be receiving this honour without them."

When the list was released on the UK Government website, someone from the Cabinet Office accidentally uploaded a spreadsheet containing personal information of all the recipients, disclosing their home addresses. The irony may not be lost on Mendes, whose popular 007 outing 'Skyfall' saw Bond chasing down a stolen list that would reveal identities.

Experts said the nature of the breach made it difficult to remedy. “This could be catastrophic,” said prominent data rights lawyer Ravi Naik. “It is hard to put the information genie back in the bottle once it’s out. This quite sensitive data will spread like a virus and is extremely difficult to remedy.

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