Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q (standing for Quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch (or later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.

The character actually appears only fleetingly in Ian Fleming's novels, but comes into his own in the successful Bond film series; he is also mentioned in the continuation novels of John Gardner and Raymond Benson. The character, Q (although he is not always identified by that title), has appeared in every 007 film in the original EON continuity except Live and Let Die (as Desmond Llewelyn, who was playing Q at the time, was bound by commitments to other projects). Q has not appeared in the films in the rebooted continuity, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (as there was no place for Q in the script).

Casino Royale showcases a number of gadgets and sophisticated tools used by Bond; however, the film does not indicate whether a Q Branch exists per se in the rebooted Bond universe. The ancestry of the Q character is rather complicated. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to Q and 'Q Branch' with phrases like "see Q for any equipment you need" (Casino Royale) and "Q Branch would handle all of that" (Diamonds are Forever), with a reference to "Q's craftsmen" in From Russia with Love.

In the sixth novel, Dr. No, the service armourer Major Boothroyd appears for the first time. Fleming named the character after Geoffrey Boothroyd, a firearms expert who lived in Glasgow, Scotland.

He had written to the novelist suggesting that Bond was not using the best firearms available. Boothroyd is also referenced occasionally in the Bond novels of John Gardner, but the author preferred instead to focus on a new character (see "Other Qs", below). In the films, Major Boothroyd first appears in Dr.

No and later in From Russia with Love, although played by different actors. Beginning in Goldfinger and in each film thereafter Major Boothroyd is most often referred to as Q; however, in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) he is referred once again as Major Boothroyd in dialogue. Some sources[who?], most notably the 1980s James Bond 007 role-playing game suggested[citation needed] that Boothroyd's first name was Geoffrey (the real Boothroyd's given name), although no first name was ever mentioned in the novels or on screen.

In the non-canonical James Bond Jr. cartoon series, Boothroyd's grandson was Horace Boothroyd III (and was known to his friends as "I.Q."), suggesting that Major Boothroyd was also named Horace.

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