LONDON, Oct 14: His name is Craig, Daniel Craig. The English actor was named as the next James Bond on Friday, ending months of speculation over who would take over from Pierce Brosnan on Her Majesty’s secret service.

In typically flamboyant 007 style, the 37-year-old swept up the River Thames on a power launch to a news conference, escorted by Royal Marines boats.

The first blond Bond wore a blue suit and red tie and posed for photographers in the shadow of Tower Bridge.

But in exchanges with reporters he got a taste of the downside of the superstardom which landing the role will bring, dodging personal questions about supermodel Kate Moss and actress Sienna Miller with both of whom he has been linked.

Some of his comments were decidedly un-Bond.

“I’d like to thank the Royal Marines for bringing me in like that, and scaring the shit out of me,” the actor joked.

Craig was hot favourite in the run-up to Friday’s announcement, and his appointment to star in the next Bond film “Casino Royale” was all but confirmed when his mother let the secret slip to a regional newspaper earlier in the day.

While little known in the United States, Craig will be more familiar to British audiences after appearing in the gangster caper “Layer Cake”. He also played alongside Paul Newman in “Road to Perdition” and Gwyneth Paltrow in “Sylvia”.

Recalling the moment on Monday when he was finally confirmed as the sixth James Bond, he told Reuters:

“I was shopping and I dropped what I was carrying. I went straight to the alcohol section and got myself a bottle of vodka, a bottle of vermouth and went back and made myself a Martini ... or two.”

Martin Campbell will direct Casino, due for release in late 2006.—Reuters