Ian Fleming's James Bond books
James Bond remains a massive influence on favored culture, with 22 official films in the series. However , no matter how well-liked he might be as a big screen hero, many people forget - or are even not aware - the Brit agent with a licence to kill started as a literary character.
Ian Fleming came from a privileged background and although sent to Eton, did not shine academically, though he probably did well at athletics. Following his release from officer coaching at Sandhurst, he joined the city for a spell as a broker at which he was poor, till he finally discovered his feet before the war as a hack with Reuters. His first brush with the intelligence services may have come when he visited Moscow in 1933 to cover the trial of 6 workers of Vickers, who went being attempted for espionage.
When war broke out in 1939, Fleming immediately joined Naval Intelligence, quickly rising to the rank of Commander, as the right hand man to the Director of Naval Intelligence. It was here that he was concerned in some of the most outrageous schemes of the war and met various characters that he was later ready to draw upon when writing the James Bond books.
After the war Fleming became the foreign boss for Kemsley Newspapers, which counted the Sunday Times as one of its titles. He also purchased land in Jamaica, where he then built his home, Goldeneye; it was here that he would vacation every winter to flee the cold of London.
It was also here that he started, in 1952, to pen the first words of Casino Royale. He had needed to write "the spy story to finish all spy stories" and it was made public the next year. Each year after that he broadcast a new book, though he often deviated from formula. Following Goldfinger he revealed For Your Eyes Only , which contained five short stories; The Spy Who Liked Me was written from the standpoint of the Bond girl; and Octopussy & The Living Daylights, printed posthumously, was also short stories.
I originally came across Casino Royale when I was about eight years of age , when I went thru my folks bookcase. My dad owned a paperback edition, which I took up to my room and devoured as best I could. I loved the journey and the way Bond knew what to do in any situation he found himself. Although the literary personality is quite different from the films and regularly shows self doubt, he's employed out the right way to proceed anyway, and his comportment at the betting tables and in fine cafes appeared extraordinarily classy.
Over the years I continued reading the books, everytime I could get my hand on one. The library was a good source and shortly I was collecting 2nd hand paperbacks from our local market. The novels show Bond as regularly feeble, especially his use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Nonetheless he rarely employs the sort of sophisticated device that get him out of difficulty in the films and must get by with his own ingenuity.
The books are still worth reading after more than 50 years since the publication of Casino Royale. And they function to remind us of the times of the cold war, long before the major perceived threat to the western world was terrorism.
Ian Fleming came from a privileged background and although sent to Eton, did not shine academically, though he probably did well at athletics. Following his release from officer coaching at Sandhurst, he joined the city for a spell as a broker at which he was poor, till he finally discovered his feet before the war as a hack with Reuters. His first brush with the intelligence services may have come when he visited Moscow in 1933 to cover the trial of 6 workers of Vickers, who went being attempted for espionage.
When war broke out in 1939, Fleming immediately joined Naval Intelligence, quickly rising to the rank of Commander, as the right hand man to the Director of Naval Intelligence. It was here that he was concerned in some of the most outrageous schemes of the war and met various characters that he was later ready to draw upon when writing the James Bond books.
After the war Fleming became the foreign boss for Kemsley Newspapers, which counted the Sunday Times as one of its titles. He also purchased land in Jamaica, where he then built his home, Goldeneye; it was here that he would vacation every winter to flee the cold of London.
It was also here that he started, in 1952, to pen the first words of Casino Royale. He had needed to write "the spy story to finish all spy stories" and it was made public the next year. Each year after that he broadcast a new book, though he often deviated from formula. Following Goldfinger he revealed For Your Eyes Only , which contained five short stories; The Spy Who Liked Me was written from the standpoint of the Bond girl; and Octopussy & The Living Daylights, printed posthumously, was also short stories.
I originally came across Casino Royale when I was about eight years of age , when I went thru my folks bookcase. My dad owned a paperback edition, which I took up to my room and devoured as best I could. I loved the journey and the way Bond knew what to do in any situation he found himself. Although the literary personality is quite different from the films and regularly shows self doubt, he's employed out the right way to proceed anyway, and his comportment at the betting tables and in fine cafes appeared extraordinarily classy.
Over the years I continued reading the books, everytime I could get my hand on one. The library was a good source and shortly I was collecting 2nd hand paperbacks from our local market. The novels show Bond as regularly feeble, especially his use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Nonetheless he rarely employs the sort of sophisticated device that get him out of difficulty in the films and must get by with his own ingenuity.
The books are still worth reading after more than 50 years since the publication of Casino Royale. And they function to remind us of the times of the cold war, long before the major perceived threat to the western world was terrorism.
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For more information of the James Bond books by Ian Fleming, as well as the arena of James Bond typically see my website - The James Bond Dossier.