Roger Moore was Bond with manners

James Bond is not a nice man. He slaps women and cheats on them, and he relishes his licence to kill (mainly) men.

Roger Moore was the complete opposite. He was a nice guy and a proud family man.

Yet for many Roger Moore was their Bond. The best Bond. Perhaps that's because he played the part in more films than any other actor, bedded more girls and killed more people - although strangely he knocked back fewer Martinis, even though they were shaken not stirred.

In the finals for best Bond, there are only three candidates: Moore, Sean Connery the first film Bond, and Daniel Craig, the current Bond - assuming that he accepts the $150m on offer to tempt him to reprise his role in the next movie.

My own Bond viewing began with Connery in Thunderball, when he still had some of the lightness of touch which Moore was to make his trademark.

In Connery's hands Bond gradually darkened becoming brooding and angry - elements of the character which Daniel Craig has very much picked up on.

Along with David Niven in the spoof version of Casino Royale, Roger Moore was the silliest Bond. His stance was ironic, tipping a wink or a raised eyebrow to his audience in acknowledgement that the stories were basically incredible fantasies. Moore's Bond never bothered to get angry with his bosses, he just condescended to recognise their existence in between clinches with a bikini'd lovely.

Moore's Bond fitted the escapist mood of Britain in the Seventies - the heyday of glam rock and Monty Python. Not to mention The Persuaders, the TV show in which Moore managed to out cool Tony Curtis, in spite of playing an aristocratic Brit with a penchant for cravats and safari jackets.

Like hundreds of other journalists I came across Roger Moore several times in his post-Bond role of UN ambassador.

And like almost all of them I found him charming and self-deprecating: his keen sense of humour flickering in the eyes of his handsome face.

Shortly after one interview I saw him again when going out to dinner in The Ivy. I was surprised he even remembered me but he caught my eye across the tables, smiled and raised his hand in salute.

"You know James Bond?" my host, an extremely successful businessman, said in wonder, followed by the dreaded words: "Can you introduce us?"

Needless to say Roger Moore was the embodiment of good manners. He even seemed delighted to being asked questions he must have answered tens of thousands of times.

Unlike his rivals, Roger Moore was a James Bond with manners. What a Bond and what a man!