Ex-Bond girl Valerie Leon has spoken of her “shocking” experience after narrowly avoiding a falling tree brought down by Storm Eunice’s winds.
The English actress, 78, is best known for her roles in six films of the Carry On series as well as Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Never Say Never Again, alongside Sir Roger Moore and Sir Sean Connery.
Millions of people were urged to stay at home on Friday due to safety fears over the impact of Eunice, one of the worst storms to hit the UK in a generation, which has swept across the country today leaving severe damage in its wake.
Leon said it was an “extraordinary” sight as an uprooted tree crushed a car only 20 feet from where she had been outside her home in the London borough of Hounslow.
“It was like a horror movie,” she said.
“I was worried about the trees because they’re all waving around all over the place, (so) I decided to move my car.
“It was after I got out and I saw a load of people up the street – there was a crowd… and that’s when I wandered up and saw this other tree – with huge, huge roots.”
Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @thevalerieleon showing a fallen tree which had decimated the bonnet of a blue Tesla caused by Storm Eunice. Issue date: Friday February 18, 2022.
@thevalerieleon
Leon took to Twitter to share a photo of the toppled tree which had decimated the bonnet of a blue Tesla.
“I narrowly avoided a terrible accident just now when this tree was blown down close to my home,” the star wrote to more than 8,000 followers.
“I feel so sorry for the owner of this wrecked car. What a shock.”
Leon’s agent likened the sight to a scene from 1971 horror film Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb, in which she had a starring role.
“In the film, she is this Egyptian queen who comes back from the dead to wreak revenge,” Barry Langford said.
“The finale is very like this storm – everything starts flying around and buildings collapse.
“I said to her, ‘my God, it’s like we’re in a scene from Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb’ – like being part of a disaster film,” the 62-year-old added.
Leon said the weather is something “no one really expects” in London.
“I know they did get the red alert for London, but it’s been extraordinary.
“Thank God there was nobody in the car… it was shocking,” she added.
