Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing. While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force.
Introduction
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming | Introduction
Yes, the "Second World War". Yes, Second World War Yes, the Second World War. Yes, working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World Wa
who was the james bond character based on
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A number of elements had a real-life background, taken from people whom the author knew or events he was aware of. Some aspects of the character and tastes replicate those of the author himself.
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what is the inspiration behind the specific number used to refer to the character?
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It was assigned by the author in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of World War I and helped in breaking the German diplomatic code.
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which movies does this character appear in?
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"Dr. No”, "You Only Live Twice”, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service” and "Diamonds Are Forever” are some of them.
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are these movies based on any novel?
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"Dr. No” is based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming.
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who is this author?
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Ian Fleming
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did he fight in any war?
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I understand there is no difficulty in obtaining corpses at the Naval Hospital, but, of course, it would have to be a fresh one."
Ian Fleming | Second World War
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing. While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force.
Ian Fleming | Introduction
He was killed by German shelling on the Western Front on 20 May 1917; Winston Churchill wrote an obituary that appeared in "The Times". Because the family owned an estate at Arnisdale, Valentine's death was commemorated on the Glenelg War Memorial. Fleming's elder brother Peter (1907–1971) became a travel writer and married actress Celia Johnson. Peter served with the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, was later commissioned under Colin Gubbins to help establish the Auxiliary Units, and became involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.
Ian Fleming | Birth and family
Benson sees no evidence of discrimination in their relationship and notes Bond's genuine remorse and sadness at Quarrel's death.
Ian Fleming | Comradeship
Fleming was active in the conscription debates during the first World War, being with the Industrial Workers of the World prepared to take a definite anti-war stance. In Port Melbourne Town Hall for example, he spoke on "the Rich Man's War and the Poor Man's Fight." During this period he was frequently arrested, jailed and threatened with being deported by the authorities, or thrown into the river by roughs and on at least one occasion was thrown in. In 1933, he was invited to make a speech at the "Congress Against War and Fascism", organised largely by the Communist Party of Australia.
Chummy Fleming | "Rich Man's War and the Poor Man's Fight"
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was a British author, creator of James Bond. Ian Fleming may also refer to:
Ian Fleming (disambiguation) | Introduction
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at 27 Green Street in the wealthy London district of Mayfair. His mother was Evelyn ("" Rose), and his father was Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 to 1917. As an infant he briefly lived, with his family, at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. Fleming was a grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who co-founded the Scottish American Investment Company and the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. In 1914, with the start of the First World War, Valentine Fleming joined "C" Squadron, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and rose to the rank of major.
Ian Fleming | Birth and family
These were followed by Blofeld and SPECTRE as Bond's opponents in the three novels "Thunderball", "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "You Only Live Twice", after the thawing of East–West relations. Black and Lindner classify the remaining books—"The Man with the Golden Gun", "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" and "The Spy Who Loved Me"—as "the later Fleming stories".
Ian Fleming | Writing
During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel, but it was not until 17 February 1952 that he began to write his first novel, "Casino Royale". He started writing his book at his Jamaican home Goldeneye, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination; he finished work on the manuscript in just over two months, completing it on 18 March 1952. Publishers Jonathan Cape were initially reluctant to publish the book, but were persuaded by Fleming's brother Peter (1907–1971), who had previously published material through them.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
The book features unpublished letters, private lawsuit documents and cast-crew interviews; there are also five "Thunderball" screenplays, two by Fleming, three by Whittingham, and two treatments by Fleming that document the creation and development of this James Bond project. The Ian Fleming estate, the Ian Fleming Will Trust, protested the inclusion of several Fleming letters in the book, which it said were used without permission. The book was subsequently withdrawn and unsold copies sent to the estate for disposal. The publisher, Tomahawk Press, later published a second edition without the letters, which it claimed were not fundamental to the story.
The Battle for Bond | Legal ban of the first edition
In this, Fleming "exploits another British cultural antipathy of the 1950s. Germans, in the wake of the Second World War, made another easy and obvious target for bad press." As the series progressed, the threat of a re-emergent Germany was overtaken by concerns about the Cold War, and the novels changed their focus accordingly.
Ian Fleming | Effects of the war
The author Raymond Benson, who later wrote a series of Bond novels, noted that Fleming's books fall into two stylistic periods. Those books written between 1953 and 1960 tend to concentrate on "mood, character development, and plot advancement", while those released between 1961 and 1966 incorporate more detail and imagery. Benson argues that Fleming had become "a master storyteller" by the time he wrote "Thunderball" in 1961. Jeremy Black divides the series based on the villains Fleming created, a division supported by fellow academic Christoph Lindner. Thus the early books from "Casino Royale" to "For Your Eyes Only" are classed as "Cold War stories", with SMERSH as the antagonists.
Ian Fleming | Writing
Among those types were his brother Peter, whom he worshipped, and who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Fleming envisaged that Bond would resemble the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael; others, such as author and historian Ben Macintyre, identify aspects of Fleming's own looks in his description of Bond. General references in the novels describe Bond as having "dark, rather cruel good looks".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
Fleming was acutely aware of the loss of British prestige in the 1950s and early 60s, particularly during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, when he had Tanaka accuse Britain of throwing away the empire "with both hands". Black points to the defections of four members of MI6 to the Soviet Union as having a major impact on how Britain was viewed in US intelligence circles. The last of the defections was that of Kim Philby in January 1963, while Fleming was still writing the first draft of "You Only Live Twice". The briefing between Bond and M is the first time in the twelve books that Fleming acknowledges the defections.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
Fleming responded to Boothroyd, and their correspondence about weaponry has been reprinted in various places.
Geoffrey Boothroyd | Introduction
The Battle for Bond (2007), by Robert Sellers, is a cinema history book of how the literary character James Bond metamorphosed to the cinema James Bond. The book details the collaboration among film producer Kevin McClory, novelist Ian Fleming, screenwriter Jack Whittingham and others to create the film "Thunderball". After the film project's collapse, without his collaborators' permission, Fleming based his "Thunderball" (1961) novel upon their joint work. In 1963 McClory and Whittingham sued him for plagiarism. "The Battle for Bond" concerns the court case. Kevin McClory won the film rights and chose a single co-production deal with Harry Saltzman and Albert R.
The Battle for Bond | Introduction
Nicholas Fleming was among those killed.
Battle of Myton | The Chapter of Myton
believe that all of this never happened. Those of us who know ... because we were there have an obligation to speak out." He was ordered home in November 1945 and discharged from the army as a captain on December 16.
Robben Wright Fleming | World War II
Upon Fleming's demobilisation in May 1945, he became the Foreign Manager in the Kemsley newspaper group, which at the time owned "The Sunday Times". In this role he oversaw the paper's worldwide network of correspondents. His contract allowed him to take three months holiday every winter, which he took in Jamaica. Fleming worked full-time for the paper until December 1959, but continued to write articles and attend the Tuesday weekly meetings until at least 1961. After Ann Charteris' first husband died in the war, she expected to marry Fleming, but he decided to remain a bachelor. On 28 June 1945, she married the second Viscount Rothermere.
Ian Fleming | Post-war
Ian Daglish (2 July 1952 – 31 July 2011) was a British military historian who specialised in writing on the British Army in the Battle of Normandy.
Ian Daglish | Introduction
Fleming had first mentioned to friends during the war that he wanted to write a spy novel, an ambition he achieved within two months with "Casino Royale". He started writing the book at Goldeneye on 17 February 1952, gaining inspiration from his own experiences and imagination. He claimed afterwards that he wrote the novel to distract himself from his forthcoming wedding to the pregnant Charteris, and called the work his "dreadful oafish opus". His manuscript was typed in London by Joan Howe (mother of travel writer Rory MacLean), and Fleming's red-haired secretary at "The Times" on whom the character Miss Moneypenny was partially based.
Ian Fleming | 1950s
Monk Watson fought on each of the five fronts in World War I. It was during his time as a soldier that he first met Elsie Janis while she was touring Europe, keeping up American morale. He describes this meeting in his autobiography.
Donald &quot;Monk&quot; Watson | World War I
He served in Mesopotamia between November 1915 and June 1917 and then in Palestine from December 1917 to November 1918. During the war he was wounded and earned the Military Cross. He served in Somaliland during the 1920 operations and was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette 29 November 1920.
Roger Le Fleming | Introduction
Slater persuaded Fleming's mother to remove him from Eton a term early for a crammer course to gain entry to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He spent less than a year there, leaving in 1927 without gaining a commission, after contracting gonorrhea. In 1927, to prepare Fleming for possible entry into the Foreign Office, his mother sent him to the Tennerhof in Kitzbühel, Austria, a small private school run by the Adlerian disciple and former British spy Ernan Forbes Dennis and his novelist wife, Phyllis Bottome. After improving his language skills there, he studied briefly at Munich University and the University of Geneva.
Ian Fleming | Education and early life
A theme throughout the series was the effect of the Second World War. "The Times" journalist Ben Macintyre considers that Bond was "the ideal antidote to Britain's postwar austerity, rationing and the looming premonition of lost power", at a time when coal and many items of food were still rationed. Fleming often used the war as a signal to establish good or evil in characters: in "For Your Eyes Only", the villain, Hammerstein, is a former Gestapo officer, while the sympathetic Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Colonel Johns, served with the British under Montgomery in the Eighth Army. Similarly, in "Moonraker", Drax (Graf Hugo von der Drache) is a "megalomaniac German Nazi who masquerades as an English gentleman", and his assistant, Krebs, bears the same name as Hitler's last Chief of Staff.
Ian Fleming | Effects of the war
He taught a module titled "Germans against Hitler".
Ian Kershaw | Introduction
Major Valentine Fleming (17 February 1882 – 20 May 1917) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament who was killed in World War I. He was the father of authors Peter Fleming and Ian Fleming who created the James Bond character.
Valentine Fleming | Introduction
This led to an adventurous air-trip to various parts of the world to collect data.
Robert Harling (typographer) | World War Two. The Royal Navy and Ian Fleming
In 1914 Fleming attended Durnford School, a preparatory school on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. He did not enjoy his time at Durnford; he suffered unpalatable food, physical hardship and bullying. In 1921 Fleming enrolled at Eton College. Not a high achiever academically, he excelled at athletics and held the title of "Victor Ludorum" ("Winner of the Games") for two years between 1925 and 1927. He also edited a school magazine, "The Wyvern". His lifestyle at Eton brought him into conflict with his housemaster, E. V. Slater, who disapproved of Fleming's attitude, his hair oil, his ownership of a car and his relations with women.
Ian Fleming | Education and early life
His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, "Casino Royale", in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolve around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Ian Fleming | Introduction
Ian Douglas Keith Fleming (21 August 1908 – 4 July 1988) was an English amateur cricketer. A school cricketer of much renown, Fleming played in five first-class cricket matches in the mid-1930s. Fleming was born at Georgetown in British Guiana in 1908. He was educated at Winchester College where he opened the batting for the cricket XI in 1926 and 1927, forming a partnership with Patrick Kingsley. In 1926 the pair opening the batting for the Public Schools team against the touring Australians with Fleming scoring 11 runs. In 1927 he scored 109 against Charterhouse School, 210 in 200 minutes against Eton College and 110 for the Public Schools against the Army.
Ian Fleming (cricketer) | Introduction
It was a success and three print runs were needed to cope with the demand. The novel centres on the exploits of James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, an expert on Caribbean birds and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies". Fleming, himself a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's guide, and later told the ornithologist's wife, "that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
The central figure in Ian Fleming's work is the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the "Secret Service". Bond is also known by the code number 007 and, like Fleming, was portrayed as a Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and World War II veteran. During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, that Fleming began to write "Casino Royale", to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. Fleming started writing his first book, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica on 17 February 1952, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination.
James Bond (literary character) | Fleming's concept of Bond
He only fought in the war for two months; he later explained tersely,
Alec Campbell | Biography
Just before war was declared, Peter Fleming, then a reserve officer in the Grenadier Guards, was recruited by the War Office research section investigating the potential of irregular warfare (MIR). His initial task was to develop ideas to assist the Chinese guerrillas fighting the Japanese. He served in the Norwegian campaign with the prototype commando units – Independent Companies – but in May 1940 he was tasked with research into the potential use of the new Local Defence Volunteers (later the Home Guard) as guerrilla troops. His ideas were first incorporated into General Thorne's XII Corps Observation Unit, forerunner of the GHQ Auxiliary Units.
Peter Fleming (writer) | Second World War
It was reported that he took the organisers to task for their doctrinaire approach, and was heavily criticised for it.
Chummy Fleming | "Rich Man's War and the Poor Man's Fight"
No", a British agent and a British warship, HMS "Narvik", are sent with British soldiers to the island at the end of the novel to settle the matter. Fleming became increasingly jaundiced about America, and his comments in the penultimate novel "You Only Live Twice" reflect this; Bond's responses to Tanaka's comments reflect the declining relationship between Britain and America—in sharp contrast to the warm, co-operative relationship between Bond and Leiter in the earlier books.
Ian Fleming | Anglo-American relations
Win, Lose or Die, first published in 1989, was the eighth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. Beginning with this novel, and continuing for the remainder of the John Gardner series, Bond is promoted to the Royal Navy rank of Captain.
Win, Lose or Die | Introduction
His friend Ivar Bryce helped find a plot of land in Saint Mary Parish where, in 1945, Fleming had a house built, which he named Goldeneye. The name of the house and estate where he wrote his novels has many possible sources. Fleming himself mentioned both his wartime Operation Goldeneye and Carson McCullers' 1941 novel "Reflections in a Golden Eye", which described the use of British naval bases in the Caribbean by the American navy.
Ian Fleming | T-Force
Ian Fleming, born in 1908, was a son of Valentine Fleming, a wealthy banker and MP who died in action on the Western Front in May 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the Director of Naval Intelligence, to become his personal assistant. Fleming joined the organisation full-time in August 1939, with the codename "17F", and worked for them throughout the war. Early in 1939 he began an affair with Ann O'Neill ( Charteris), who was married to the 3rd Baron O'Neill.
Casino Royale (novel) | Background
Warne-Smith fought in both World War I and World War II.
Ivor Warne-Smith | Introduction
When the Battle of Malaya finally ended and the surviving Allied soldiers retreated across the causeway onto Singapore Island, Stewart and his batman, Drummer Hardy, were the last to cross.
Ian MacAlister Stewart | Second World War
The Bond novels also dealt with the question of Anglo-American relations, reflecting the central role of the US in the defence of the West. In the aftermath of the Second World War, tensions surfaced between a British government trying to retain its empire and the American desire for a capitalist new world order, but Fleming did not focus on this directly, instead creating "an impression of the normality of British imperial rule and action". Author and journalist Christopher Hitchens observed that "the central paradox of the classic Bond stories is that, although superficially devoted to the Anglo-American war against communism, they are full of contempt and resentment for America and Americans".
Ian Fleming | Anglo-American relations
Born in Hampstead, Ian Scott-Kilvert was educated at Harrow School, for whom he played cricket, and Caius College, Cambridge, where he gained a first in English literature. At the start of World War II he was a pacifist, serving in the western desert for the Friends' Ambulance Service. In 1941 he married Elisabeth Dewart. He later joined the army: parachuted into Epirus as a SOE officer in 1944, he successfully took control of his district for the Allies as the Germans retreated. In 1946 he joined the British Council, and from 1962 to 1967 was director of its publications and recorded sound department.
Ian Scott-Kilvert | Life
Instead, they fought separate campaigns.
Albert Kesselring | Battle of Britain
He was the third of nine children of the Rev R. S. Fleming, a Scottish Baptist minister of Pitlochry and later Beckenham in Kent. After a fall as a child, he became deaf in his right ear. He was educated at the City of London School. He saw fighting in France during World War I with the Royal West Kent Regiment, notably the Battle of the Somme, and was wounded three times – a shrapnel wound to the head, a bayonet wound in the knee and gas injuries, which left him with a cough for the rest of his life.
Atholl Fleming | Early life
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Peter Fleming (31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971) was a British adventurer, journalist, soldier and travel writer. He was the elder brother of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond.
Peter Fleming (writer) | Introduction
In May 1939 Fleming was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, to become his personal assistant. He joined the organisation full-time in August 1939, with the codename "17F", and worked out of Room 39 at The Admiralty. Fleming's biographer, Andrew Lycett, notes that Fleming had "no obvious qualifications" for the role. As part of his appointment, Fleming was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in July 1939, initially as lieutenant, but was promoted to lieutenant-commander a few months later. Fleming proved invaluable as Godfrey's personal assistant and excelled in administration. Godfrey was known as an abrasive character who made enemies within government circles.
Ian Fleming | Second World War
MacLennan was enlisted into the RCAF in October 1940. Following training, he graduated from training school in June 1941, arriving in England during that Summer.
Ian Roy MacLennan | Second World War
After the war, he opposed the policies of Governor William G. Brownlow and the Radical Republicans.
John M. Fleming | Introduction
He remained loyal to his 22nd Dragoons wartime comrades, and would present himself for the Remembrance Day service at Helmsley.
Ian Carmichael | Wartime Remembrance
He spent much of the war in training positions at Crowborough and Tunbridge Wells, reaching the rank of acting Major in the 4th Battalion the Royal West Kent Regiment, a reserve formation. He remained in the Territorial Force after the end of the war and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Territorial Reserve in November 1919.
John Le Fleming | Wartime service
Prior to this battle, he was captured by the British and escaped. He was later "run through" by a British Officer's sword.
Daniel Mcjunkin | Introduction
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Fleming enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He saw service in North Africa, Greece, New Guinea and the South-West Pacific, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After the war, he returned to journalism before joining the public sector.
Allan Percy Fleming | World War II service
While in Geneva, Fleming began a romance with Monique Panchaud de Bottens and the couple were briefly engaged in 1931. His mother disapproved and made him break off the relationship. He applied for entry to the Foreign Office, but failed the examinations. His mother again intervened in his affairs, lobbying Sir Roderick Jones, head of Reuters News Agency, and in October 1931 he was given a position as a sub-editor and journalist for the company. In 1933 Fleming spent time in Moscow, where he covered the Stalinist show trial of six engineers from the British company Metropolitan-Vickers. While there he applied for an interview with Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and was amazed to receive a personally signed note apologising for not being able to attend.
Ian Fleming | Education and early life
Ian McKay (1953–1982) was a British soldier who won a posthumous Victoria Cross in the Falklands War. Ian McKay may also refer to:
Ian McKay (disambiguation) | Introduction
He was educated at Eton, and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. An amateur radio ham, he was quickly transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals, and was commissioned, ending up as a Captain. He read Natural Sciences at New College, Oxford, from 1940 to 1942, before returning to Catterick to train for the invasion of France. He landed with his brigade in Normandy three weeks after D-Day, and took charge of a team of signallers. After the war, he chanced to meet Sir Archibald Clerk Kerr, a family friend, on a bus in London.
Ian Anstruther | Education and military career
Rather than court-martial Sassoon, the Under-Secretary of State for War, Ian Macpherson, decided that he was unfit for service and had him sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh, where he was officially treated for neurasthenia ("shell shock").
Siegfried Sassoon | War opposition and Craiglockhart
In 1887, he married Jean Muir, the daughter of a Glasgow businessman. The marriage produced no children. Along with his professional career Hamilton was a prolific writer. He published a volume of poetry and a novel contemporarily described as risqué. Examples of his written works include: "The Fighting of the Future", "Icarus", "A Jaunt on a Junk", "A Ballad of Hadji", and "A Staff Officer's Scrapbook". In the introduction to his "Gallipoli Diary", he stated: "There is nothing certain about war, except that one side won't win". He was a cousin of the diarist James Lees-Milne.
Ian Hamilton (British Army officer) | Personal life
The Man Who Won the War (1936) is a short story by Robert Buckner. The story tells of an exiled British Naval Officer, Roger Bradman, who "really" won the First World War. Before the start of the story, Buckner writes a short paragraph explaining why none of the story can be "legally" proven. This short introduction suggests the story is fictional. Buckner writes "Neither the official records of the Belgian War Office in Brussels nor the British Admiralty Archives in London contain whole proof of what I am about to tell".
The Man Who Won the War | Introduction
He wrote about his life in a book entitled "Guilt-Edged" (published 1975). Its content is summed up by Len Deighton in the foreword: "His mother was an spy in World War I. Ian Fleming was his boss throughout the Second World War. Unwittingly sucked into the world of Nazi espionage during an innocent sailing trip, he was seduced by a lovely but lethal German agent and met Field Marshal Göring face to face. He was the first man to cross the Sahara on a motorcycle and while travelling through the Congo, he accidentally discovered a secret German army. But Romania set the scene for the height of espionage activity – when he single handedly pirated a ship from under Nazi eyes and blew up a vital link in German tanker communications.
Merlin Minshall | Book and life
After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father's school. On his first visit to Paris at the age of 16, Bond loses his virginity, later reminiscing about the event in "From a View to a Kill". Fleming used his own upbringing for his creation, with Bond alluding to briefly attending the University of Geneva (as did Fleming), before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel (as was Fleming) by Hannes Oberhauser, who is later killed in "Octopussy". In 1941 Bond joins a branch of what was to become the Ministry of Defence and becomes a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, ending the war as a commander.
James Bond (literary character) | Background
But still the losses mounted up.
Gerald Stapleton | Battle of Britain
Born in Burnley, England, he studied at Cheltenham College from 1940 to 1944. During World War II, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war, he studied at Clare College, Cambridge and at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital at the University of London.
Ian McWhinney | Early life
The Flemings fought on for three hours despite their increasingly desperate situation, driven by knightly honour. Finally, the wounded and unhorsed Count of Flanders was captured by two French knights, triggering the collapse of his knights' morale.
Battle of Bouvines | Allied left
Francis P. Fleming was a private in the 2nd. Convention delegate Thomas M. Palmer was the 2nd's surgeon.
Florida in the American Civil War | Eastern Theater
Home challenged Fleming to a duel, but the combat was prevented by the citizens of Edinburgh, and the king subsequently reconciled them.
Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home | Opposition to the Earl of Arran
"Ian Fleming wrote as a hedonist who prospered by dramatizing a life's worth of fantasies - acquisitions, indulgences, guilt-free sex and violence. John Gardner writes in "Win, Lose or Die" as a military affairs reporter who describes the operations of a Harrier VTOL aircraft as lovingly as Fleming described Pussy Galore. Gardner is long on facts, short on feelings. This is the eighth of the counterfeit James Bonds by Gardner." Commenting on the villain, Champlin writes, "Its leader, who intends to dispose of practically everyone, is as colorless a supervillain as ever Bond has faced. Call him Drabfinger." The book "is all so unamusing and juicelessly programmatic.
Win, Lose or Die | Reviews
Daglish published several books regarding the British Army's battles in Normandy, visiting the continent often, as a researcher and tour guide. His status as a historian was recognized by the BBC, for whom he gave interviews as a consultant on the subject of military history.
Ian Daglish | Historian
John Scarlett, head of MI6 at the end of that period, said credibility required that Jeffery be given unrestricted access the files for the relevant period (1900–1949). Scarlett also was quite adamant that if James Bond had been real, he would not have been an agent, but a "case officer", and that it was unthinkable that a mere agent would have so much autonomy, including a "license to kill." It was published in 2010. A related study, "The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5" by Christopher Andrew was published in 2009. His "1916: A Global History", published in 2015, looked at how twelve events from different arenas of war, including the Irish rebellion, reverberated around the world.
Keith Jeffery | Career
Le Fleming married Ethel Hall, the daughter of a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army, in 1891. Both of his sons served during the Great War, the eldest, John Neville, as a Lieutenant with 1/1 Kent Cyclists in India and, in 1919, in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The youngest, Roger Eustace, attended Sandhurst and served in France in 1915 with the 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment, fighting at Hill 60 and Second Ypres, before transferring to 102nd Prince of Wales's Own Grenadiers, an Indian Army unit, with whom he fought in Mesopotamia and Palestine and then, in 1919–1920, Somaliland. He was wounded twice, Mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the Military Cross.
John Le Fleming | Family and later life
Between 17 January and 12 April 1918, Fleming scored eight aerial victories (listed below). His exploits gained him the Military Cross, although the award citation did not recognize all his feats. The award was gazetted on 13 May 1918, reading: On 11 September 1918, Fleming was injured.
Austin Lloyd Fleming | First World War
These then turned their arms against Earl Hugh, who, not being strong enough to fight, opened negotiations with his assailants. It is said he bought them off, and at the same time secured a safe passage home for the Flemings in his service.
Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk | The revolt of 1173
He also acted on stage, appearing as Robert Harley in the Norman Ginsbury's historical work "Viceroy Sarah" in the West End. Fleming's later career included appearances in many television series of the 1950s and 1960s, such as "Fabian of the Yard", "Hancock's Half Hour", "Educated Evans", "Dixon of Dock Green", "Dr. Finlay's Casebook", "The Forsyte Saga" and "The Prisoner".
Ian Fleming (actor) | Introduction
As a counterattack, Charles instigated a rebellion against Fleming, the Cudgel War, among the farmers in Ostrobothnia.
War against Sigismund | Background
Ian Callum McGibbon (born 7 December 1947) is a New Zealand historian, specialising in military and political history of the 20th century. He has published several books on New Zealand participation in the First and Second World Wars.
Ian McGibbon | Introduction
It is not clear which war he took part in, or even if Bonham was a real historical person. He has been linked with a Sir John Bonham of Wishford ("fl" 1336–37).
John Bonham (mercer) | Introduction
He was wounded at Blenheim when serving as a captain in the Earl of Derby's regiment (16th Foot, now 1st Bedford). Afterwards for many years, he commanded the Royal Fusiliers, until promoted on 9 January 1741, colonel of the 36th Foot (now 2nd Worcester). He became a brigadier-general in 1745, was present at Falkirk and Culloden, and became major-general in 1747.
James Fleming (British Army officer) | Life
Black contends that the conversation between M and Bond allows Fleming to discuss the decline of Britain, with the defections and the Profumo affair of 1963 as a backdrop. Two of the defections had taken place shortly before Fleming wrote "Casino Royale", and the book can be seen as the writer's "attempt to reflect the disturbing moral ambiguity of a post-war world that could produce traitors like Burgess and Maclean", according to Lycett. By the end of the series, in the 1965 novel, "The Man with the Golden Gun", Black notes that an independent inquiry was undertaken by the Jamaican judiciary, while the CIA and MI6 were recorded as acting "under the closest liaison and direction of the Jamaican CID": this was the new world of a non-colonial, independent Jamaica, further underlining the decline of the British Empire.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
He was still in England when the war ended.
Leslie Andrew | First World War
Ian Cross left school and followed his older brother Kenneth into the Royal Air Force to train as a pilot.
Ian Cross (RAF officer) | Pre-War
It was responsible for securing targets of interest for the British military, including nuclear laboratories, gas research centres and individual rocket scientists. The unit's most notable discoveries came during the advance on the German port of Kiel, in the research centre for German engines used in the V-2 rocket, Messerschmitt Me 163 fighters and high-speed U-boats. Fleming would later use elements of the activities of T-Force in his writing, particularly in his 1955 Bond novel "Moonraker". In 1942 Fleming attended an Anglo-American intelligence summit in Jamaica and, despite the constant heavy rain during his visit, he decided to live on the island once the war was over.
Ian Fleming | T-Force
His body was buried at sea.
George Fleming Davis | Outbreak of World War II
Blair enlisted in 1914 and served in France with the Seaforth Highlanders. He was invalided twice before being discharged in 1917.
Kenneth Blair | World War I
His request for frontline service was eventually accepted and he was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant-colonel before returning to France in June 1917, commanding 9 battalion, East Surreys. His wife became suddenly ill and Le Fleming returned home briefly in July, although when he returned she had already died.
Lawrence Le Fleming | First World War, 1914–1918
After the outbreak of the First World War, Le Fleming resigned his position at Sandhurst to rejoin his regiment in October 1914, serving with 1 battalion in northern France. He fought at the Battle of La Bassée and was wounded in the face at Richebourg-l'Avoué near Bethune towards the end of October. The wound was severe enough for him to be invalided home for treatment and it was during his recovery period that Le Fleming married. Le Fleming returned to active service in March 1915, receiving a promotion to Temporary Major and placed in command of 2 battalion, East Surreys.
Lawrence Le Fleming | First World War, 1914–1918
Ian Hawkins is a British military historian and author and editor of books about World War II.
Ian Hawkins | Introduction
From the opening novel in the series, the theme of treachery was strong. Bond's target in "Casino Royale", Le Chiffre, was the paymaster of a French communist trade union, and the overtones of a fifth column struck a chord with the largely British readership, as Communist influence in the trade unions had been an issue in the press and parliament, especially after the defections of Burgess and Maclean in 1951. The "traitor within" theme continued in "Live and Let Die" and "Moonraker".
Ian Fleming | The "traitor within"
Powrie served as a pilot in the RAF during World War II. In 1946 he went back to work on his father's farm.
Ian Powrie | Wartime service
Nazi Gold Website : 'The Storm of War' and embedded video taken in the Ian Sayer Archive: Raider of the Lost Archive : Financial Times
Ian Sayer | External links
He was sent back to England to the Officers Ward of the London General Hospital and when the bandages were finally removed it was found that he had lost the sight of both his eyes. Sir Arthur Pearson, the Chairman of St Dunstan's (now Blind Veterans UK), the independent charity for blind servicemen and women, wrote Fraser a letter explaining how he had gone blind in middle life and how he had made the best of it. Pearson told how he had established St Dunstan's to train war-blinded men and invited Fraser to go there. The letter was delivered to Fraser by Irene "Chips" Mace whom he later married.
Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale | Early life and war injury
Fleming recruited his brother, Richard, then serving in the Faroe Islands, to provide a core of Lovat Scout instructors to his teams of LDV volunteers. Meanwhile, Fleming wrote a speculative novel called "The Flying Visit" in which he imagined Adolf Hitler flying to Britain to propose peace with that nation, only to have United Kingdom let him return in light of the awkward diplomatic quandary he placed the British government in. It proved bizarrely prescient in 1941 when Hitler's Deputy, Rudolf Hess, did that exact excursion into Britain and Britain found their new high ranked Nazi prisoner cumbersome for their foreign and propaganda policies.
Peter Fleming (writer) | Second World War
Ian Mortimer disagrees with Paul Doherty's thesis that Chirk was mortally wounded, suggesting that Chirk lived on another three years.
Roger Mortimer de Chirk | The Despenser war
But Raoul said that he would serve the Duke that day in other guise, and would fight the English with his hand as long as life should last.
Turstin FitzRolf | In combat at Hastings
The Bond books were written in post-war Britain, when the country was still an imperial power. As the series progressed, the British Empire was in decline; journalist William Cook observed that "Bond pandered to Britain's inflated and increasingly insecure self-image, flattering us with the fantasy that Britannia could still punch above her weight." This decline of British power was referred to in several of the novels; in "From Russia, with Love", it manifested itself in Bond's conversations with Darko Kerim, when Bond admits that in England, "we don't show teeth any more—only gums." The theme is strongest in one of the later books of the series, the 1964 novel "You Only Live Twice", in conversations between Bond and the head of Japan's secret intelligence service, Tiger Tanaka.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
In 1943 Webster joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy as a pilot. In 1944 he became a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He was attached to the first night fighter squadron formed by the Navy and saw active service in the North Atlantic. He left the Navy in 1946.
Ian Stevenson Webster | World War Two
Periodically in the series, the topic of comradeship or friendship arises, with a male ally who works with Bond on his mission. Raymond Benson believes that the relationships Bond has with his allies "add another dimension to Bond's character, and ultimately, to the thematic continuity of the novels". In "Live and Let Die", agents Quarrel and Leiter represent the importance of male friends and allies, seen especially in Bond's response to the shark attack on Leiter; Benson observes that "the loyalty Bond feels towards his friends is as strong as his commitment to his job". In "Dr. No", Quarrel is "an indispensable ally".
Ian Fleming | Comradeship
While expanding on James Bond's back story, Ian Fleming wrote in "You Only Live Twice" that the agent had attended Fettes College, his father Andrew Bond's old school, after having been removed from Eton. "Here the atmosphere was somewhat Calvinistic, and both academic and athletic standards were rigorous. Nevertheless, though inclined to be solitary by nature, he established some firm friendships among the traditionally famous athletic circles, at the school. By the time he left, at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at a British public school." Fleming based his character on Sir Alexander Glen, who died in 2004 and who was Winston Churchill's envoy to Belgrade during the Second World War.
Fettes College | James Bond
After the war he taught in primary school, then studied at the University of London, Institute of Education while teaching at Southlands College (1964–1972).
Eric Austen | Introduction
British losses numbered less than 30.
Murray Maxwell | Napoleonic Wars