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.
Introduction
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming | Introduction
1952 1953 and 1960 1952 1952
who was the james bond character based on
user
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?
user
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?
user
Ian Fleming
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did he fight in any war?
user
Yes, the "Second World War".
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when did he start writing the novels?
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Whilst serving in the Naval Intelligence Division, Fleming had planned to become an author and had told a friend, "I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories." On 17 February 1952, he began writing his first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, where he wrote all his Bond novels during the months of January and February each year. He started the story shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, in order to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. After completing the manuscript for "Casino Royale", Fleming showed it to his friend (and later editor) William Plomer to read.
James Bond | Ian Fleming novels
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
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
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
Plomer liked it and submitted it to the publishers, Jonathan Cape, who did not like it as much. Cape finally published it in 1953 on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother Peter, an established travel writer. Between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books – "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" – published posthumously. All the books were published in the UK through Jonathan Cape.
James Bond | Ian Fleming novels
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
The novel centred on the exploits of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the 00 section of the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the eponymous American ornithologist, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies". Fleming based his creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
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
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
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
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was a British author, creator of James Bond. Ian Fleming may also refer to:
Ian Fleming (disambiguation) | 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
In the late 1950s the author Geoffrey Jenkins had suggested to Fleming that he write a Bond novel set in South Africa, and sent him his own idea for a plot outline which, according to Jenkins, Fleming felt had great potential. After Fleming's death, Jenkins was commissioned by Bond publishers Glidrose Productions to write a continuation Bond novel, "Per Fine Ounce", but it was never published. Starting with Kingsley Amis's "Colonel Sun", under the pseudonym "Robert Markham" in 1968, several authors have been commissioned to write Bond novels, including Sebastian Faulks, who was asked by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel in observance of what would have been Fleming's 100th birthday in 2008.
Ian Fleming | Legacy
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
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
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
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
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
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
By January 1956, Ian Fleming had published three novels—"Casino Royale" in 1953, "Live and Let Die" in 1954 and "Moonraker" in 1955. A fourth, "Diamonds Are Forever", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "From Russia, with Love". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Background and writing history
On 13 April 1953 "Casino Royale" was released in the UK in hardcover, priced at 10s, 6d, with a cover that had been devised by Fleming himself. The first edition of 4,728 copies of "Casino Royale" sold out in less than a month; a second print run the same month also sold out, as did a third run of more than 8,000 books published in May 1954. At the time, Fleming was the Foreign Manager for Kemsley Newspapers, an organisation which owned "The Sunday Times". Upon accepting the job, Fleming requested that he be allowed three months' holiday per year, which allowed him the freedom to write.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
The publishers had passed the manuscript to Kingsley Amis to read on holiday, but did not use his suggestions. Fleming's biographer Henry Chandler observes that the novel "received polite and rather sad reviews, recognising that the book had effectively been left half-finished, and as such did not represent Fleming at the top of his game". The final Bond book, containing two short stories, "Octopussy and The Living Daylights", was published in Britain on 23 June 1966. In October 1975 Fleming's son Caspar, aged 23, committed suicide by drug overdose and was buried with his father. Fleming's widow, Ann, died in 1981 and was buried with her husband and their son.
Ian Fleming | Death
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 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
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
Commander James Bond is a fictional Intelligence Agent created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the "James Bond" series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—"The Man with the Golden Gun" (1965) and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" (1966)—were published posthumously. The character is a Secret Intelligence Service agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commandos whom Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes.
James Bond (literary character) | Introduction
In June 1956 the author Ian Fleming began a collaboration with the producer Henry Morgenthau III on a planned television series, "Commander Jamaica", which was to feature the Caribbean-based character James Gunn. When the project foundered, and Fleming could not fashion a new plot for his next Bond novel, he used the idea as the basis for "Dr. No". By January 1957 he had published four Bond novels in successive years from 1953—"Casino Royale", "Live and Let Die", "Moonraker" and "Diamonds Are Forever". A fifth, "From Russia, with Love", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "Dr.
Dr. No (novel) | Background and writing history
On the morning of 17 February 1952, Ian Fleming started writing what would become his first book, "Casino Royale", at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. He typed out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination and finished work on the manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide "Birds of the West Indies"; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".
Inspirations for James Bond | Origins of the name
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
Working at Goldeneye between January and March 1960, Fleming wrote the novel "Thunderball", based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory. In March 1961 McClory read an advance copy, and he and Whittingham immediately petitioned the High Court in London for an injunction to stop publication. After two court actions, the second in November 1961, Fleming offered McClory a deal, settling out of court. McClory gained the literary and film rights for the screenplay, while Fleming was given the rights to the novel, provided it was acknowledged as "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and the Author".
Ian Fleming | 1960s
In April 2012 Ian Fleming's estate announced that Boyd would write the next James Bond novel. The book, "Solo", is set in 1969; it was published in the UK by Jonathan Cape in September 2013. Boyd used Bond creator Ian Fleming as a character in his novel "Any Human Heart". Fleming recruits the book's protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, to British Naval Intelligence during World War Two.
William Boyd (writer) | "Solo", the James Bond novel
After Ian Fleming's death, Glidrose Productions commissioned Jenkins to write a James Bond novel in 1966. Jenkins claimed that he and Fleming together developed a diamond-smuggling storyline in 1957. After a long period of negotiation, during which Ann Fleming (Ian's widow) raised several objections to the idea of a continuation novel, Jenkins finished the manuscript for Glidrose entitled "Per Fine Ounce", but it was rejected. The novel is believed lost, except for 18 pages now in the hands of Jenkins' son David. Two pages have been released to the public and were exclusively published by the James Bond website MI6-HQ.com.
Geoffrey Jenkins | James Bond
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
In a 1962 interview in "The New Yorker", he further explained: "When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard." Fleming based his creation on individuals he met during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division, and admitted that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".
Ian Fleming | 1950s
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
Fleming also wrote the children's story "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, "The Times" ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Ian Fleming | Introduction
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
During his lifetime Fleming sold thirty million books; double that number were sold in the two years following his death. In 2008 "The Times" ranked Fleming fourteenth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2002 Ian Fleming Publications announced the launch of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award, presented by the Crime Writers' Association to the best thriller, adventure or spy novel originally published in the UK. The Eon Productions series of Bond films, which started in 1962 with "Dr. No", continued after Fleming's death. Along with two non-Eon produced films, there have been twenty four Eon films, with the most recent, "Spectre", released in October 2015.
Ian Fleming | Legacy
Once Fleming and his wife arrived at Goldeneye, he started work on the second Bond novel. In May 1963 he wrote an article for "Books and Bookmen" magazine describing his approach to writing, in which he said: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." As he had done with "Casino Royale", Fleming showed the manuscript to his friend, the writer William Plomer, who reacted favourably to the story, telling Fleming that "the new book held this reader like a limpet mine & the denouement was shattering".
Live and Let Die (novel) | Background
Among important writers of genre fiction in the second half of the twentieth-century are thriller writer Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond 007. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including "Casino Royale" (1953). In contrast to the larger-than-life spy capers of Bond, John le Carré was an author of spy novels who depicted a shadowy world of espionage and counter-espionage, and his best known novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1963), is often regarded as one of the greatest in the genre. Frederick Forsyth writes thriller novels and Ken Follett writes spy thrillers as well as historical novels, notably "The Pillars of the Earth" (1989).
British literature | Later twentieth-century
Between January and March 1952, the journalist Ian Fleming wrote "Casino Royale", his first novel, at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. Fleming conducted research for "Live and Let Die", and completed the novel before "Casino Royale" was published in January 1953, four months before his second book was published. Fleming and his wife Ann flew to New York before taking the Silver Meteor train to St. Petersburg in Florida and then flying on to Jamaica. In doing so, they followed the same train route Fleming had taken with his friend Ivar Bryce in July 1943, when Fleming had first visited the island.
Live and Let Die (novel) | Background
Ian Fleming took these aspects for his "M" from the James Bond novels. In 1914, he was involved in a serious road accident in France in which his son was killed. Legend has it that to escape the car wreck he was forced to amputate his own leg using a pen knife. Hospital records have shown, however, that while both his legs were broken, his left foot was amputated only the day after the accident. Later he often told all sorts of fantastic stories as to how he lost his leg and would shock people by interrupting meetings in his office by suddenly stabbing his artificial leg with a knife, letter opener or fountain pen.
Mansfield Smith-Cumming | Pre-1914
The decline was also reflected in Bond's use of US equipment and personnel in several novels. Uncertain and shifting geopolitics led Fleming to replace the Russian organisation SMERSH with the international terrorist group SPECTRE in "Thunderball", permitting "evil unconstrained by ideology". Black argues that SPECTRE provides a measure of continuity to the remaining stories in the series.
Ian Fleming | Britain's position in the world
In thriller writing, Ian Fleming created the character James Bond 007 in January 1952, while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including "Casino Royale" (1953), "Live and Let Die" (1954), "Dr. No" (1958), "Goldfinger" (1959), "Thunderball" (1961), "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1962), and nine short story works. In contrast to the larger-than-life spy capers of Bond, John le Carré was an author of spy novels who depicted a shadowy world of espionage and counter-espionage, and his best known novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1963), is often regarded as one of the greatest in the genre.
Genre fiction | Later 20th-century
Following Fleming's death in 1964, Glidrose Productions, publishers of the "James Bond" novels and since renamed Ian Fleming Publications, approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined. Glidrose then commissioned Kingsley Amis, who, under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham", wrote "Colonel Sun", which was published on 28 March 1968. In 1973, Glidrose permitted publication of John Pearson's fictional biography of Bond entitled "". This book, written in the first person, posits that Bond was a real person about whom Ian Fleming wrote a series of adventures. This is the only Bond work where the author shares copyright with Glidrose.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | 1968–79
Whilst there he is challenged by the head of the Japanese Secret Service to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. Bond realises that Shatterhand is Ernst Stavro Blofeld and sets out on a revenge mission to kill him and his wife, Irma Bunt. The novel deals on a personal level with the change in Bond from a depressed man in mourning, to a man of action bent on revenge, to an amnesiac living as a Japanese fisherman. Through the mouths of his characters, Fleming also examines the decline of post-World WarII British power and influence, notably in relation to the United States.
You Only Live Twice (novel) | Introduction
Fleming responded to Boothroyd, and their correspondence about weaponry has been reprinted in various places.
Geoffrey Boothroyd | 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
By January 1957 Fleming had decided he would write another story, and began work on "Dr. No" in which Bond recovers from his poisoning and is sent to Jamaica.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Background and writing history
After the publication of "Casino Royale", Fleming used his annual holiday at his house in Jamaica to write another "Bond" story; in total, between 1953 and 1966, two years after his death, twelve "Bond" novels and two short-story collections were published, with the last two books—"The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights"—published posthumously.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Ian Fleming
The James Bond literary franchise is a series of novels and short stories, first published in 1953 by Ian Fleming, a British author, journalist, and former naval intelligence officer. James Bond, often referred to by his code name, 007, is a British Secret Service agent; the character was created by journalist and author Ian Fleming, and first appeared in his 1953 novel "Casino Royale"; the books are set in a contemporary period, between May 1951 and February 1964. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve novels and two collections of short stories, all written at his Jamaican home Goldeneye and published annually.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Introduction
No". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." By the time he returned to London in late February, he had completed a 206-page first draft, which he initially titled "The Wound Man". Although Fleming did not date the event within his novels, John Griswold and Henry Chancellor—both of whom wrote books for Ian Fleming Publications—have identified different timelines based on events and situations within the novel series as a whole.
Dr. No (novel) | Background and writing history
Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories, which is set in London, the United States and Jamaica. It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1954. Fleming wrote the novel at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica before his first book, "Casino Royale", was published; much of the background came from Fleming's travel in the US and knowledge of Jamaica. The story centres on Bond's pursuit of "Mr Big", a criminal who has links to the American criminal network, the world of voodoo and SMERSH—an arm of the Soviet secret service—all of which are threats to the First World.
Live and Let Die (novel) | Introduction
Fleming was born in Augusta, Georgia and lived in that city for most of his life. In 1922 he graduated from Harvard University and in 1923 he worked as a reporter for an Augusta newspaper. In 1924 he moved to New York City to pursue his career as a writer. His first novel, "The Conqueror's Stone", was published in 1927. In the early 1930s Fleming and his wife spent 18 months living in France. They then returned to New York for a few years before returning to Augusta in 1938 where Fleming lived for the rest of his life. He enjoyed a considerable amount of success with a series of novels in the 1930s and 1940s which culminated in his 1943 work "Colonel Effingham's Raid", which was made into a film.
Berry Fleming | Life and career
On 11 April 2012 it was announced that William Boyd would write the next James Bond novel, entitled "Solo", set at the end of the 1960s. The novel was released in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2013, and in the United States and Canada on 8 October 2013.
Ian Fleming Publications | by William Boyd
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"
In the 1968 essay 'A New James Bond', anthologised in "What Became of Jane Austen? And Other Questions" (1970), Kingsley Amis revisits the literary character, and explains why he accepted the commission of writing "Colonel Sun" (1968), discusses the challenge of impersonating the writer Ian Fleming, and explores the stylistic and world-view differences among the spy novels of Ian Fleming, John le Carré, and Len Deighton. Moreover, under the pseudonym 'Lt.-Col. William "Bill" Tanner' — M.'s CoS and 007's best friend in SIS — Amis wrote his second Bond book, "The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007" (1965), a tongue-in-cheek, how-to-manual to help every man find his own inner secret agent.
The James Bond Dossier | Critical endeavours
In the summer of 1958, CBS television commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of "Casino Royale" as an episode of the CBS television series "Climax!". Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of these television plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica and added a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, and the short story collection, "Ian's mood of weariness and self-doubt was beginning to affect his writing" and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.
For Your Eyes Only (short story collection) | Background
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
Zero Minus Ten, published in 1997, is the first novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond following John Gardner's departure in 1996. Published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in America by Putnam, the book is set in Hong Kong, China, Jamaica, England, and some parts of Western Australia. Benson's working title for the novel was "No Tears for Hong Kong"; this was eventually used as the title for the last chapter in the novel.
Zero Minus Ten | Introduction
Following the death of Ian Fleming on 12 August 1964, the rights to the Bond novels were held by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications). After Glidrose released the remaining Fleming works—"The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights"—they decided to commission a sequel in order to retain rights in the Bond product. They chose Amis to write the first continuation Bond novel; Amis had previously produced "The James Bond Dossier"—a critical analysis of the Bond books—under his own name, and "The Book of Bond", a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective agents, using the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William ("Bill") Tanner.
Robert Markham | Kingsley Amis
I don't know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days." Fleming was buried in the churchyard of Sevenhampton, near Swindon. His will was proved on 4 November, with his estate valued at £302,147 (equivalent to £ in ). Fleming's last two books, "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Octopussy and The Living Daylights", were published posthumously. "The Man with the Golden Gun" was published eight months after Fleming's death and had not been through the full editing process by Fleming. As a result, the novel was thought by publishing company Jonathan Cape to be thin and "feeble".
Ian Fleming | Death
Young Bond is a series of young adult spy novels featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s. The series, written by Charlie Higson, was originally planned to include only five novels; however, after the release of the fifth novel, Higson considered the possibility of a second series. In October 2013 it was confirmed that a second series of four novels was in development, with the first novel due for release in Q3 2014, but it would be penned by Steve Cole while Higson continued work on his young adult zombie series, "The Enemy".
Young Bond | Introduction
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
In Bond, he created a Bulldog Drummond for the jet age." Umberto Eco considered Mickey Spillane to have been another major influence. In May 1963 Fleming wrote a piece for "Books and Bookmen" magazine in which he described his approach to writing Bond books: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." Benson identified what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at the end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next.
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
Benson sees no evidence of discrimination in their relationship and notes Bond's genuine remorse and sadness at Quarrel's death.
Ian Fleming | Comradeship
Nobody Lives for Ever (published in American editions as "Nobody Lives Forever"), first published in 1986, was the fifth 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 Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Putnam.
Nobody Lives for Ever | 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
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
The book centers on the battle of wits and the ambiguous relationship developing between U-boat ace Otto Kruger, leader of the captured Germans, and Ian Fleming in his real-life World War II role as an intelligence officer which would later inspire the James Bond books. It ends on December 1941, with an open-ended conclusion clearly leaving the possibility of a sequel. However, for many years afterwards Follet wrote on other subjects, only in 2004 coming up with the long-delayed sequel "A Forest of Eagles" - followed immediately by a final volume of what became a trilogy, "Return of the Eagles".
A Cage of Eagles | Plot introduction
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
According to Bernard Bergonzi "[d]uring the war the preferred form of new fiction for new fiction writers [in Britain] was the short story". Although John Cowper Powys's historical novel "Owen Glendower" is set in the fifteenth century historical parallels exist between the beginning of the fifteenth century and the late 1930s and early 1940s: "A sense of contemporataneousness is ever present in "Owen Glendower". We are in a world of change like our own". The novel was conceived at a time when the "Spanish Civil War was a major topic of public debate" and completed on 24 December 1939, a few months after World War II had begun.
War novel | World War II
Two of his books were published after his death in 1964. Since Fleming's death a number of other authors have written continuation works. Some of these have been novelisations of episodes in the series of "Bond" films, produced by Eon Productions, while others were either continuation novels or short stories. The first author was Kingsley Amis, writing under the pseudonym of "Robert Markham" who produced one novel; then came novelist and biographer John Pearson who wrote a fictional biography of Bond. Novelist and screenwriter Christopher Wood wrote two novelisations in the late 1970s. Writer John Gardner was asked to continue the series by copyright holders Ian Fleming Publications and, between 1981 and 1996, he wrote fourteen novels and two novelisations.
List of James Bond novels and short stories | Introduction
SeaFire, first published in 1994, was the fourteenth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including Gardner's novelization of "Licence to Kill"). Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.
SeaFire | 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
Fleming said of his work, "while thrillers may not be Literature with a capital L, it is possible to write what I can best describe as 'thrillers designed to be read as literature. He named Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Eric Ambler and Graham Greene as influences. William Cook in the "New Statesman" considered James Bond to be "the culmination of an important but much-maligned tradition in English literature. As a boy, Fleming devoured the Bulldog Drummond tales of Lieutenant Colonel H. C. McNeile (aka "Sapper") and the Richard Hannay stories of John Buchan. His genius was to repackage these antiquated adventures to fit the fashion of postwar Britain ...
Ian Fleming | Style and technique
Ian Fleming includes information about Blofeld's background in his novel "Thunderball". According to the novel, Blofeld was born on 28 May 1908 (which is also Fleming's birthday) in Gdingen, Imperial Germany (now Gdynia, Poland); his father Ernst George Blofeld was Polish, and his mother Maria Stavro Michelopoulos was Greek, hence his Greek name Stavro. After World War I, Blofeld became a Polish national. As a young man, he was well-versed in the social science disciplines, but also in the natural science and technology disciplines. He first graduated from the University of Warsaw with a degree in Political History and Economics, and then from the Warsaw University of Technology with a degree in Engineering and Radionics.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld | Character
It was during Benson's six-book run that the company owning the rights to the Bond characters changed names from Glidrose Publications to Ian Fleming Publications; the publisher's new name appeared first in the 1999 book "High Time to Kill". Benson stopped writing Bond books in 2002. On what would have been Fleming's 100th birthday—28 May 2008—the novel "Devil May Care", appeared. Its author, Sebastian Faulks, was true to Bond's original character and background and provided 'a Flemingesque hero' who drove a battleship grey 1967 T-series Bentley. Next, Ian Fleming Publications commissioned Jeffery Deaver to write "Carte Blanche", which was published in May 2011.
Ian Fleming Publications | Publication history
By January 1958 the author Ian Fleming had published five novels in the preceding five years: "Casino Royale" in 1953, "Live and Let Die" (1954), "Moonraker" (1955), "Diamonds Are Forever" (1956) and "From Russia, with Love" in 1957. A fifth, "Dr. No", was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write "Goldfinger". He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in "Books and Bookmen" magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
Goldfinger (novel) | Background and writing history
For Special Services, first published in 1982, was the second 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 Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.
For Special Services | Introduction
The original creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, died in the early morning of 12 August 1964, eight months before the publication of "The Man with the Golden Gun". After his death, Glidrose Productions (now Ian Fleming Publications) held the rights to Fleming's works. The company decided to publish two short stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", on 23 June 1966. As the Bond character could not be copyrighted, and to retain rights in the Bond product, Glidrose decided to commission a sequel. Initially the company approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined. Glidrose then commissioned Amis, who wrote "Colonel Sun".
Colonel Sun | Background
DoubleShot, first published in 2000, was the sixth novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including film novelizations). Carrying the Ian Fleming Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. The novel's working title was "Doppelganger".
DoubleShot | Introduction
The Spy Who Loved Me is the ninth novel (and tenth book) in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published by Jonathan Cape on 16 April 1962. It is the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as a clear departure from previous Bond novels in that the story is told in the first person by a young Canadian woman, Vivienne Michel. Bond himself does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book. Fleming wrote a prologue to the novel giving Michel credit as a co-author. Due to the reactions by critics and fans, Fleming was not happy with the book and attempted to suppress elements of it where he could: he blocked a paperback edition in the United Kingdom and only gave permission for the title to be used when he sold the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Albert R.
The Spy Who Loved Me (novel) | Introduction
Robert Markham is a pseudonym used by author Kingsley Amis to publish "Colonel Sun" in March 1968. The book was the first continuation James Bond novel following the death of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming.
Robert Markham | Introduction
After the war, he ran a fruit farm in Sussex. His wife Victoire Evelyn Patricia "Paddy" Bennett, whom he married in 1942, was then secretary to the writer Ian Fleming. She is reported to have been a model for the character Miss Moneypenny, secretary to James Bond. She was her husband's secretary and chairman of the Conservative MPs' Wives, and was awarded the DBE in 1991.
Julian Ridsdale | Introduction
In January 1954 Fleming and his wife, Ann, travelled to their Goldeneye estate in Jamaica for their annual two-month holiday. He had already written two Bond novels, "Casino Royale", which had been published in April 1953, and "Live and Let Die", whose publication was imminent. He began writing "Moonraker" on his arrival in the Caribbean. He later wrote an article for "Books and Bookmen" magazine describing his approach to writing, in which he said: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ...
Moonraker (novel) | Background and writing history
Fleming based his creation on a number of individuals which he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Among those types were his brother, Peter, whom Fleming worshipped and who had been involved in behind the lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, a skiing spy whom Fleming had met in Kitzbühel in the 1930s, Patrick Dalzel-Job, who served with distinction in 30 AU during the war, and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale, station head of MI6 in Paris, who wore cuff-links and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in a Rolls-Royce.
James Bond (literary character) | Inspiration for the character
From Russia, with Love is the fifth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story in early 1956 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica; at the time he thought it might be his final Bond book. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957. The story centres on a plot by SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency, to assassinate Bond in such a way as to discredit both him and his organisation. As bait, the Russians use a beautiful cipher clerk and the Spektor, a Soviet decoding machine.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Introduction
Fleming had a long-standing interest in trains and, following his involvement in a near-fatal crash in 1927, associated them with danger; they also feature in "Live and Let Die", "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Man with the Golden Gun". Fleming had served in Naval Intelligence in World War Two, but he had never seen action as he knew far too much to run the risk of him being captured. In September 1955, Fleming visited Istanbul, where he witnessed first-hand the bloody pogrom against the Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities organised by the Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes on 6-7 September 1955.
From Russia, with Love (novel) | Plot inspirations
In Ian Fleming's novels, Bill Tanner is MI6's Chief of Staff. He appears infrequently in the novels, but is a regular character in the later continuation series by John Gardner. In 1965, Kingsley Amis wrote "The Book of Bond or Every Man His Own 007", a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective secret agents, illustrated with examples from Fleming's novels. For this work, Amis used the pseudonym "Lt. Colonel William ('Bill') Tanner".
Bill Tanner | Novels
Ian Fleming created the fictional character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division and 30 Assault Unit during the Second World War, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.
James Bond | Creation and inspiration
Moonraker is the third novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. It was published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955 and featured a cover design conceived by Fleming. The plot is derived from a Fleming screenplay that was too short for a full novel so he added the passage of the bridge game between Bond and the industrialist Hugo Drax. In the latter half of the novel, Bond is seconded to Drax's staff as the businessman builds the Moonraker, a prototype missile designed to defend England. Unknown to Bond, Drax is German, an ex-Nazi now working for the Soviets; his plan is to build the rocket, arm it with a nuclear warhead, and fire it at London.
Moonraker (novel) | Introduction