Anyone who lives in Wellington and who's
into the arts will have benefited from the generosity of patrons Denis and Verna Adam. You'll very likely have seen them also
attending a multitude of art events over the years.
Less well known is the fact that Denis
Adam’s brother Ken is the designer of the sets for the early James Bond movies as
well as the famous war room from Stanley Kubrick’s satirical film Dr Strangelove or how I stopped worrying and learnt to love the bomb. Apocryphal maybe but it has been said that when
Ronald Reagan became President and was admitted to the Pentagon War room he was
hugely disappointed. He was expecting something far more stylish and dramatic -
something much more like the one in Dr Strangelove - than a regular meeting
room.
On a visit to his brother in Wellington we
were lucky enough to hear Ken Adam talk about his work with accompanying
slides. As an off-course substitute here's a short documentary about him from
1979 featuring some of his best known work including Barry Lyndon that scored
him an Oscar.
Image: The war room from Dr Strangelove
