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Ian (Lancaster) Fleming (1908-1964) - pseudonym Atticus |
British journalist, secret service agent, writer, whose famous creation was the superhero James Bond, agent 007. Ian Fleming spent some years with British Intelligence, but his books are far from reality - they offer colorful locations, beautiful women, and exciting and inventive adventures. Nowadays James Bond is an integral part of the popular culture, almost real life character, just like Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan. As he tied his thin, double-ended, black satin tie, he paused for a moment and examined himself levelly in the mirror. His grey-blue eyes looked calmly back with a hint of ironical inquiry and the short lock of black hair which would never stay in place slowly subsided to form a thick comma above his right eyebrow. With the thin vertical scar down his right cheek the general effect was faintly piratical. Not much of Hoagy Carmichael there, thought Bond, as he filled a flat, light, gun-metal box with fifty of the Morland cigarettes with the triple band. (James Bond in Casino Royale, Berkley Books, 1986, pp. 50-51) Ian Fleming was born in London, the son of Major Valentine Fleming,
a Conservative M.P., who was killed in World War I, and Evelyn St.
Croix Fleming. Ian was the second of four boys. Like his father and
elder brother before him, he was educated at Eton, where he excelled in
the difficult steeple chase contest. His first story, 'The Ordeal of
Caryl St. George', was published in the college magazine. On the other hand, James Bond's
career at Eton was brief and undistinguihed; his aunt was required to
remove him following "some alleged trouble with one of the boys'
maids". (You Only Live Twice, Vintage, 2012, p. 270) Fleming himself was removed from Eton by his mother and sent to a tutorial crammer to prepare for the army entrance exams. After resigning from the Sandhurst Military Academy
without an
officer’s commission, which infuriated his mother, Fleming spent some
time studying languages in the Austrian Alps. There he became briefly
engaged with a Swiss woman, Monique Panchaud de Bottomes. Fleming
failed the Foreign Service exam, and found himself at the age of
twenty-three without a career. In 1931 he was employded by Reuters news
agency. For a period Fleming worked as a journalist in Moscow, where
the Russians knew that he was on some intelligence job or other (all
westerners were followed by the secret police), Then he earned his
living a
banker
(by early 1935, it was clear he was not made for this profession) and a
stock-broker in London from 1935 to 1939. Even though Fleming was a
lousy stock broker, he managed make enough money to buy his own
place, a former baptist chapel. The writer and journalist Alaric Jacob
said: "He merely wanted a job which would give him leisure and money
enough for an entertaining life." (Ian Fleming: The Man behind James Bond by Andrew Lycett, Turner Pub., 1995, p. 66) Fleming¨s girlfriend at that time was Daphne Finch Hatton, the daughter of the Earl Winchilsea. In the 1930s, Fleming's elder brother Peter (1907-1971), a travel writer and novelist, gained fame with Brazilian Adventure (1933), about an expedition into Mato Grosso, and News from Tartary (1936), describing a journey from Peking to Kashmir. Peter Fleming published also science fiction stories. During World War II Fleming was a high ranking naval officer in the British Naval Intelligence. He was "a skilled fixer and a vigorous showman", his colleague Donald McLachlan recalled. (Ian Fleming and Operation Golden Eye: Spies, Scoundrels, and Envoys keeping Spain out of World War II by Mark Simmons, Casemate, 2018, p. 7) Owing in part to his facility with languages and his social confidence, he was appointed personal assistant to Admiral John H. Codfrey behind the door to room 38. Codfrey served as the model for James Bond's commanding officer, "M". Fleming organized the No. 30 Assault Unit - the Germans had successfully used similar Intelligence assault unit in Crete in 1941. During a training exercise Fleming had to swim underwater and attach a mine to a tanker. This act became material for the climax of Live and Let Die (1954). Commissioned by the Admiralty, Fleming traveled around the world to coordinate intelligence for the new British Pacific Fleet. On one journey he visited Jamaica, where he later build his home. After the war Fleming was a foreign manager of Kemsley Newspapers. He held this post until the newspaper group became Thomson Newspapers in 1959. Fleming's first book was not a spy novel but a foreign
correspondent's guide-book which was issued for the education of his
staff. In 1952 he married Lady Ann Rothermere, his long-time mistress,
in Jamaica. Their son Caspar was born a few months later. At the
wedding Noël Coward, Fleming's neighbor, served as master of
ceremonies. Lord Rothermere was the owner of the Daily Mail.
Fleming, who was her third husband, had first met her in 1939, but they
became seriously involved after the war. The marriage was unhappy.
Moreover, Fleming had a long-running affair with Blanche Blackwell, a
local plantation owner.
She once described their first night together to a French friend: "Ian
was a little nervous undressing and then he spilled some coins from his
trouser pocket on the floor. "Why do you want to pay before you've
tasted the merchandise?" she asked. He burst out laughing, relaxed, and
everything went wonderfully well." (Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare, HarperCollins Publishers, 2024, p. 555) Blanche Blackwell's
son founded Island Records, which turned Jamaican music global. Most of the Bond books Fleming wrote in Jamaica; his house on the
north coast Fleming named "Goldeneye". Prime minister Anthony Eden
spent there some time during the Suez crisis before resigning in 1957.
The first Bond adventure, Casino Royale (1953), was followed 13 others. This novel was partly based on Fleming's less fortunate gambling experience in
Lisbon during the war. The work set up what became the basic structure
for most of the Bond books. Bond travels to some colorful place where
he meets one or two beautiful women who have secrets in their past.
Sometimes Bond is captured and tortured by his enemies, but always he
destroys the villain with delusions of grandeur, saves the world, and
gets the good girl (although in Casino Royale he did not; Vesper Lynd commits suicide). Bond has a flat in Chelsea, he drives Bentley, and
his Secret Service is located in a building overlooking Regent's Park
in London. Ann Fleming labelled her husband's books as "pornography". She nicknamed him "Thunderbeatle". James Bond (the name was taken from that of an American ornithologist), is the son of a Highland Scots father and a Swiss mother. Both of Bond's parents were killed in a climbing accident when he was eleven, and an inheritance of £1000 a year let him add some other educational experiences to his boarding school years. At the age of sixteen Bond lost his virginity in Paris. He joined in the late 1930s the British secret service, but switched to the navy when the war broke out, attaining the rank of commander. Bond is a skilled golfer and the best cardplayer, expert driver and a crack shot. Among his friends is American Felix Leiter from the CIA. Bond's favorite drink is vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. Although Bond carries a Beretta pistol Casino Royale, he later trusts on Walther PPK, originally designed for the German plain-clothes police. However, "Bond mythology" is now mixed with elements from the films. In 2000 appeared an illustrated book, James Bond: The Secret World of 007 by Alastair Dougall, which do not mention the writer Ian Fleming - in tune with the idea of the book, which sheds light on Agent Double-O-Seven and the extraordinary vehicles and gadgetry supplied by Q Branch for his use in the field. The consultant editor was Dave Worrall, who founded The James Bond Collectors Club. From Russia, with Love (1957) broke the formula: 007 entered the scene in the eleventh chapter.
President John F. Kennedy listed it in 1961 as one of his favorite books. The settings were a nod to Eric Ambler's
novel The Mask of Dimitrios (1938), which takes the reader on a journey to Turkey and the Levant, but Fleming no doubt was familiar with Graham Greene's Stamboul Train (1932)
and Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1934). But these writers were not his models: Fleming admired Ernest Hemingway, whose books he had read several times. In the story Tatiana Romanova, a beautiful Russian
intelligence clerk, engineers a plot which would lure Bond to Istanbul.
At the same time the Russian SMERSH agency is planning to get rid of a
hero of the British Secret Service. General G. says: "Myths are built
on heroic deeds and heroic people. Have they no such men?" Colonel
Nikitin replies: "There is man called Bond." (Ibid., p. 045) Bond is helped in Istanbul by Darko Kerim, the local station chief. Tatiana
meets Bond - against all suspicions she has fallen in love with him. They travel through the
Balkans on the Orient Express, where they are pursued by Russian agents. Bond wins Donavan "Red" Grant, an
executioner, and Rosa Klebb, who has deadly boots. The novel was a hit, and reviews were generally favorable. Terence Young's film version was made at London's Pinewood Studios and on locations in Turkey, Scotland, and Madrid. "Less dependent on the fantastic element that would predominate in later Bond pictures, it resembles, in the opinion of Bond biographer John Brosnan, more of a Hitchcockian style thriller like North by Northwest. In general, this is a grittier, more "realistic," relatively less tongue-in-cheek James Bond—before technology, scenery, and endless strings on "Bond Girls" became the foci of the productions." (The Encyclopedia of Novels into Film by John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh, foreword by Robert Wise, second edition, Checkmark Books, 2005, p. 147) Fleming weaved elements of
science fiction in the story of Doctor No (1958),
inspired by Sax Rohmer's Fu-Manchu novels. The villain, Dr. No, has developed a
radio beam and intends to deflect U.S. test missiles from their
projected course. Live and Let Die introduced Mr. Big, a new
member of SMERSH, the enemy agency Bond so often found working against.
Other famous villains include Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger (1959) and Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun,
1965). Goldfinger was named after the architect Erno Goldfinger, a
Marxist and the designer of the Modernist tower blocks in London,
Balfron Tower and Trellick Tower. His sidekick is Oddjob, played by
Hawaiian weightlifter Harold Sakata in the film. Le Chiffre (alias ¨The
Number,' 'Herr Hummer,' 'Herr Ziffer,' etc.), undercover Paymaster of
the Syndicat des Ouvries d'Alsace from Casino Royale tortures Bond with a carper-beater. But Bond's arch nemesis is the half-Polish, half-Greek Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the founder of SPECTRE, an acronym for Special Executive for Counterespionage, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. Blofeld appeared in three novels: Thunderball (1961), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963), and You Only Live Twice (1964). In the latter book the character of Dikko Henderson was based on Richard Hughes, the Sunday Times correspondent in the Far East. Also other Fleming's friends were put into Bond books. From the mid-1950s, Fleming started selling his novels to be adapted for a comic strip. A series of articles for London's Sunday Timeson diamond smuggling appeared in book form in 1957. In between writing Bond novels, Fleming published a successful children's book about a magical car, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. "But some motorcars — mine, for instance, and perhaps yours — are different. If you get to like them and understand them, if you are kind to them and don't scratch their paint and bang their doors, if you fill them up and pump them up when they need it, of you keep them clean and polish and out the rain and snow as much as possible, you will find, you MAY find, that they become almost like persons — MORE than just ordinary persons - MAGICAL PERSONS! ! !" (Ibid., Aeonian Press, 1976, pp. 11-12) The story was adapted into a musical film in 1968. Fleming wrote the book for his son, Caspar, who committed suicide at the age of 23. Under the pseudonym Atticus Fleming contributed to many periodicals. Among his non-fiction is the travel book Thrilling Cities (1963). It was based on articles published in Sunday Times in 1959-60. Fleming's first journey, paid by Roy Thomson, the publisher, took him around the world, and the second to European cities. His text was edited in the newspaper but in the book it appeared in original length. According to Fleming, the best hotel in Hong Kong is Peninsula Court. In Japan a traveler must remember that sake should be taken warm and in Monte Carlo the best casino is Beaulieu. Fleming did not like New York - he felt that it is losing its heart - but in Hamburg he followed with enthusiasm mud wrestling in the middle of the night. When Bond was in Paris he invariably stuck to the same addresses. He stayed at the Terminus Nord, because he liked station hotels and because this was the least pretentious and most anonymous of them. He had luncheon at the Café de la Paix, the Rotonde or the Dôme, because the food was good enough and it amused him to watch the people. If he wanted a solid drink he had it at Harry's Bar, both because of the solidity of the drinks and because, on his first ignorant visit to Paris at the age of sixteen, he had done what Harry's advertisement in the Continental Daily Mail had told him to do and said to his taxi-driver 'Sank Roo Doe Noo'. That had started one of the memorable evenings of his life, culminating in the loss, almost simultaneous, of his virginity and his notecase. (from 'From a View to a Kill,' in For Your Eyes Only, William Morrow, 2023, p. 8) The first adaptation of a James Bond spy story was Casino Royale, produced in CBS's anthology
series Climax! in 1954. Peter Lorre played the Soviet agent Le Chiffre, Barry Nelson was Jimmy Bond. An incomplete telerecording
of the show surfaced in the 1980s.
Doctor No's film version was released in 1963. The spring of the same year saw the publication of On Her Majesty's Secret Service,
including a limited edition of 250. The cover featured the Bond family
coat of arms complete with the motto 'The World Is Not Enough.' Fleming developed a passion for treasurehunting, not merely in the Caribbean Islands and Seychelles, where he followed old pirate's maps and tales, but also in England. In spite of warning's from doctors, Fleming did not give up his outdoor activities, and the final heart attack which ended his life came at the Royal St. George's Sandwich golf course in Kent on 12 August, 1964. The Man with the Golden Gun, finished by Fleming's literary executors, was published posthumously. Octopussy, a collection containing two of Fleming's Bond stories, appeared in 1966. In 1981 John Gardner started to write James Bond books and later the series was continued by Raymond Benson. Also Robert Markham (pseudonym of Kingsley Amis) wrote 007 sequels. An announcement by the author's literary estate in 2023 that Bond novels will be reissued with changes concerning racist language sparked a debate over censorship. Before acting in James Bond films, Roger Moore played Simon Templar (the Saint), created by Leslie Charteris, in the very popular 1960s television series. Fleming had expressed doubts about Sean Connery in his role as Agent 007. Fleming's choise was the sophisticated David Niven, a friend, another suggestion was Richard Burton. Cary Grant reportedly said he was too old for Bond. Eventually the producer Albert Broccoli decided to cast Sean Connery in the role. Fleming had lunch him at the Savoy. He wondered if this Scottish working-class "overgrown stuntman" was the right choise. (For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond by Ben MacIntyre, Bloomsbury, 2008, p. 202) After From Russia, with Love he said that the actor was much as he had imagined Bond. For further reading: The James Bond Dossier by Kingsley Amis (1965); The Book of Bond; or, Every Man His Own 007 by William Tanner (1965); The Bond Affair, edited by Oreste Del Buono and Umberto Eco (1965); The Spy Who Came In with the Gold by Henry A. Zeger (1965); Alias James Bond - The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson (1966); The Man With the Golden Pen by Eleanor Perline and Dennis Perline (1966); Room 39: A Study in Naval Intelligence by Donald McLachlan (1968); Sean Connery by Michael Feeney (1981); James Bond in the Cinema by John Brosnan (1981); The James Bond Bedside Companion by Raymond Benson (1984); Bond and Beyond: The Political Career of a Popular Hero by Tony Bennett and Janet Woolacott (1987); Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond by Andrew Lycett (1996); The Man Who Saved Britain by Simon Winder (2006); Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories by John Griswold (2006); For Your Eyes Only by Ben Macintyre (2008); Ian Fleming's Secret War by Craig Cabell (2008); The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader, edited by Christoph Lindner (2009); James Bond in World and Popular Culture: The Films Are Not Enough, edited by Robert G. Weiner, B. Lynn Whitfield and Jack Becker (2011); Ian Fleming's Commandos: The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII by Nicholas Rankin (2011); Ian Fleming by Andrew Lycett (2013); Ian Fleming: a Personal Memoir by Robert Harling (2015); Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: the Boom in British Thrillers from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed by Mike Ripley (2017); The Playboy and James Bond: 007, Ian Fleming and Playboy Magazine by Claire Hines (2018); The Real James Bond: a True Story of Identity Theft, Avian Intrigue, and Ian Fleming by Jim Wright (2020); Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence by Ian Kinane (2021); Bond, James Bond: Exploring the Shaken and Stirred History of Ian Fleming's 007 by Brad Gilmore & Mike Kalinowski (2022); Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (2024) - Other Bond movies: A View to a Kill (1985), dir. by John Glen, Roger Moore's last performance as Bond. - Licence to Kill (1989), dir. by John Glen, starring Timothy Dalton. The first Bond movie with no ties to Fleming's work. - Goldeneye (1995), dir. by Martin Campbell, starring Pierce Brosnan. - Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), dir. by Roger Spottiswoode, starring Pierce Brosnan. - The World Is Not Enough (1999), dir. by Michael Apted, starring Pierce Brosnan. - Die Another Day (2002), starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry. Madonna sings the title song. - Daniel Craig Bond movies: Casino Royale (2006) - Quantum of Solace (2008), dir. by Marc Forster. - Skyfall (2012), dir. by Sam Mendes. - Spectre (2015), dir. by Sam Mendes. - No Time to Die (2021), dir. by Cary Joji Fukunaga, starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch. Selected works:
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