Until this morning, I’d never heard of Ernö Goldfinger. Then I read this article from the Guardian Hay festival.
When the film Goldfinger came out, the architect was afflicted by spoof calls in the middle of the night. Callers would intone in bad Sean Connery accents, “Goldfinger? This is agent 007,” or sing the film’s theme tune, “an irritation still endured by members of the family who list their names in the telephone directory,” Nigel Warburton, of the Open University, told a breakfast-time audience.
…
Erno Goldfinger was one of the 20th century’s prime advocates of London tower blocks. He designed the often reviled Alexander Fleming House at the Elephant and Castle, Trellick Tower in Ladbroke Grove and Balfron Tower in Tower Hamlets.
This morning, Nigel Warburton’s book was there on the shelf at work, ready to be catalogued.
I’m going to get in on the coincidence. I had also never heard of him until I watched the second part of Alan Yentob’s “A Short History of Tall Buildings” yesterday. I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually exist before this week. It’s probably something to do with the Time War.
For further Goldfinger links and proof of his (and my) existence, you can always visit my website at
http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/philos/warburton.htm
what is the name of the residence in the doc “short history of tall buildings” that is in Hong Kong on the waterfront….the really posh one?