From luxury hotels and island hideaways to dusty deserts and breathtaking roads, has visited some of the world’s most spectacular places. Now bestselling author Ruth Kelly has been inspired by one of them for her new psychological thriller The Ice Retreat. The novel, about extreme therapies, is set in a mysterious mountain clinic based on the Piz Gloria, a real-life revolving restaurant in the Alps.
But you may know it better from its starring role in a classic 007 film. Here James Moore reveals its secrets - and those of other iconic Bond movie locations..
. Where: Piz Gloria, Switzerland Movie: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Today the revolving Piz Gloria is one of the world’s most stunning eateries, sitting atop the snowy 9744ft Schilthorn peak and reachable only by cable car. In the 1969 film it’s the base of Spectre boss Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Telly Savalas.
Outwardly an allergy clinic, the venue is actually his training base for ‘angels of death’ to be used in biological warfare. Bond, played by George Lazenby, heads there to investigate. The movie makers actually helped finance the finishing of the building.
Today it’s a tourist destination with an 007 exhibition. Wanting to set her book somewhere “sinister and chilling,” Ruth visited Piz Gloria and says she relived her “fear and terror of the altitude and isolation within the pages” of her thriller. Where: Hashima Island, Japan Movie: Skyfall The 2012 movie sees Daniel Craig’s 007 trav.