Swashbuckler Steven Paul was shaken but not stirred when he doubled as the leading man in Bond film Die Another Day.

Steven accepted the role of assistant sword master and Bond stand-in from Hollywood sword master Bob Anderson.

And the father of three, from Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, has definitely been bitten by the showbiz bug.

Steven said: "It's a fantastic lifestyle if you can get into the business.

"The money is silly and it is exciting mixing with the stars. I was a competitive fencer for the last 25 years so it is nice to be recruited for something I have done all my life."

Steven, 48, taught Bond girl Rosamund Price and baddie Toby Stephens the choreographed fight and donned mask and suit to play the part of Bond in the film.

He said most of the stars joined in wholeheartedly with training but Pierce Brosnan found it hard to get away from a gruelling film schedule.

He said: "Pierce didn't come up for as much training as he should have done. He was always very tired. Toby Stephens and Rosamund Price were up most days for four or five months."

Fencing is a long-standing tradition in the Paul family.

His grandfather, who came to England from France, was a swordsman who competed in the Olympic games and made his showbusiness debut teaching Forties swashbuckler Errol Flynn the art of fencing.

Steven runs Battling Ltd, which manufactures fencing equipment and provides toy shops with foam swords, leaving him little time to squeeze in his teaching.

But he still managed to slip in a few training sessions with one of the stars of Lord Of The Rings, Orlando Bloom who plays elf Legolas, in a recent trip to London.

Perhaps his favourite co-star is wife Karen, who played an extra in the fencing scene and is pretty good with a blade herself.

She said: "I used to fence a lot. I never went to the Olympics but I competed at quite a high level."

Karen, 30, who works as a receptionist at Ocklynge Junior School, Victoria Drive, Eastbourne, narrowly lost out to another extra to play the part of the Bond girl body double.

She has appeared in EastEnders but found being on the Bond set overwhelming.

She said: "It was incredible. Even if you were sitting down, waiting, there was so much to look at and so much going on."

The Pauls will barely have time to bask in their silver screen glory.

Steven has his fingers crossed he will soon be involved in the up-and-coming Zorro 2.