With a new Bond movie, Casino Royale, released next month, the world’s men will once again hanker to be more like Ian Fleming’s superspy. The good news is that the web can help you to unpick the lock to this vault of knowledge. So whether you’re on special assignment in the ballroom, the bedroom or an underground bunker, you will find the web as trusty an ally as a Walther PPK.

1 GET CULTURED

For a chap who spent the better part of his life in the Royal Navy, Bond has surprisingly sophisticated tastes. You may not be able to tell the bottling year of brandy simply by sniffing it, as Sean Connery does in Goldfinger, but the scarily comprehensive 007.atomicmartinis.com, which lists every drink consumed in every movie, is a fine starting point for learning Bond’s favourite tipples.

Then, to train your own tastebuds, head to the hallowed weekly podcast www.whiskycast.com and download the whisky tasting lessons for beginners (episodes 50 and 51).

And by imbibing greedily from the free 228-page champagne guide at www.wine-pages.com you can pass yourself off as an expert on vintage Bollinger champagne, Bond’s preferred fizz, as well as other wines — should you end up posing undercover at a tasting. Just steer clear of eating cheese — it’s a dead giveaway.

When it comes to art, anyone needing, on pain of death, to know their Fabergé eggs from their Lucian Freuds should visit www.artcyclopedia.com, an online repository of old masters and modern misfits that scours the websites of the world’s greatest galleries for stunning images and smart notes.

Of course, all wannabe bon viveurs need to know their cars — from the classic Aston Martin DB5 to the more recent Vanquish — and www.classicdriver.com brims with information on desirable autos of the past 100 years.

2 ENTERTAIN THE LADIES

If you want to break the hearts of all those debutantes, heiresses and foxy Eastern European agents you’ll need to learn Bond’s suave, gentlemanly charms. The gents’ boot camp you can sign up for at www.finishingacademy.co.uk offers lessons on everything from deportment, clay-pigeon shooting and “the Capsule Wardrobe — what to take for a long weekend or three-day seminar”. So at least you’ll be able to walk the walk during your weekend stay at the evil mastermind’s country retreat. Courses cost from £850. And to help you talk the talk, head to the online guide to chivalry at tinyurl.com/efp72. The web has a rather predictable attitude when it comes to seduction skills. Horribly contrived pick-up techniques peddled by self-styled lotharios are two-a-penny: Ross Jeffries’s Swift Seduction method (www.seduction.com/blog) utilises neuro-linguistic programming,

which sounds more like Blofeld than Bond. Instead, learn how to flirt properly: ditch the cheesy chat-up lines and don’t play hard to get advises the BBC’s guide to the science of flirting (www.tinyurl.com/e6g6l). Need further inspiration? For a comprehensive list of Bond’s conquests, visit www.mi6.co.uk/ sections/girls/index.php3.

3 ROLL YOUR SLEEVES UP

As many henchmen will testify, Bond is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and while there is no substitute for real-world training, the video clips at www.all-karate.com, demonstrate techniques such as wrist blocks and jab punches.

Bond is also a survival expert. If you want to learn potentially life-saving camp skills, hunker down at www.wilderness-survival-skills.com. “Use your knife to turn dry sticks and pieces of bark into powdery tinder,” the site explains in its fire-building chapter. “Tinder is the most important part of your fire, so prepare it well.” To put some of this into practice on a down and dirty survival course sign up at www.woodsmoke.uk.com The Trailbreaker weekend introductory course costs £195. If you happen upon an emergency, then the life-saving tips at www.pocketdoctor.co.uk/firstaid may come in handy too, including useful advice on artificial resuscitation. After all, Bond is a known master of mouth-to-mouth.

4 YOUR VIRTUAL Q

The word is that this latest Bond movie is a bit light on gadgets. To compensate, see the super-fan site www.universalexports.net which boasts a rundown of all of the gadgets ever used by Bond, from the Q Branch briefcase packed with tear gas to the ever-so-futuristic Seiko watch with built in tracking device. The range of spy gadgets now within reach of the layman, or the journalist, is bewildering and www.stabbedintheback.co.uk is the place to turn to if your wife was ever on assignment with Commander Bond. It sells tracker bugs (£75), distances hearing devices (£20), and suitably creepy surveillance services, including a honeytrap sting (£200). Thankfully, Casino Royale reunites 007 with the only thing he has every really loved, his Aston Martin. Should you be bitten by the bug, you can read Jeremy Clarkson’s latest review of the DB9 for The Sunday Times at tinyurl.com/hca2m.

5 THROW THE DICE

While the code of casino etiquette at www.gamble.co.uk/tips/behaviour.htm, will ensure you don’t look like a nun visiting Vegas for the first time when you step into a smart casino, actually knowing how to gamble well is crucial to your cover.

Bond is known for his baccarat skills, but his latest outing sees him play Texas hold’em poker. Gen up on both games at www.wizardofodds.com. Starting with the basics, this encyclopedic site will soon have you betting with confidence. And once you’re confident, advanced features such as tables of probabilities for the two-card draws of Texas hold’em will help you keep your cool as the stakes mount. It also advises on choosing blackjack, roulette, craps and baccarat when in a casino, since these are the games with odds most in your favour.

To recreate Casino Royale in your living room, www.poker-chips.net sells mahogany roulette wheels for £150, and sets of chips from £45.

But if you’re simply looking to waste time rather than money, play the arcade-style games at the movie’s official website www.tinyurl.com/gvs9y.

6 BOND FOR REAL

With your training almost complete, it’s time to revisit essential flourishes of Bond style: www.jamesbondlifestyle.com is akin to an online butler, guiding you through the wardrobe — Brioni suits, Omega Seamaster watches — and the travel destinations: Goldeneye in Jamaica; Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire.

If you’re in search of real-life espionage, then the blog of the former British Secret Intelligence Service officer Richard Tomlinson is illuminating stuff (tomlinsonvmi6.blogspot.com) and you can read about his time at MI6 by downloading his 1995 novel The Big Breach from cryptome.org/bigbreach-posts.htm.

But if the wealth of online tools for Bondification is still not enough, and you possess “a keen interest in international issues and a curiosity about other cultures, along with an appetite for living and working overseas”, then visit www.sis.gov.uk to find out more about becoming a real-life operational officer. Good luck.

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