Noel Coward was one of the 20th Century’s greatest artist’s in every sense of the word. He was also one of Ian Fleming’s closest friends and each played an important role in each other’s lives. While outwardly different in many ways, they shared much in common and such as a love of Empire, music, art,…
Article by James Abbott “No, no, no, a thousand times, no.” – Noel Coward, on being asked to play Dr. No in the film version of Ian Fleming’s novel. Author Ian Fleming (1908-1964) was often very upfront about his inspirations when writing the James Bond thrillers. Such names as John Buchan (1875-1940), Sapper (1888-1937), and…
This week, our special guest is the actor and playwright Mark Burgess. Mark has an esteemed association with 007 as the man who brought the one-man play about Ian Fleming to the stage and also has adapted Fleming’s works for BBC radio working alongside Ian’s niece Lucy Fleming. What drew you to write the play…
On this day in 2000, the writer and actor Mark Burgess performed a one man show about James Bond’s creator Ian Fleming in Brighton called ‘Fleming’s Bond’. It was well received and toured the UK between 2001 ans 2003, but Mr. Burgess decided to give up acting to concentrate on writing and the play was retired.…
The Man with the Golden Typewriter by Fergus Fleming, contains numerous unpublished letters by Ian Fleming, which have been sourced from the Fleming Archive, the Cape Archive and private collections from around the world On 16 August 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, ‘My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out…
Words by Revelator After reading Mathew Parker’s book it will be impossible to over-estimate the importance of Jamaica to James Bond. Beginning with Fleming’s wartime discovery of the island, Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born is a chronological countdown of his years there, interlaced with a concurrent history of country. Goldeneye, Fleming’s Jamaican residence, mirrored the…
Shortly after handing over an early manuscript of Moonraker to William Plomer, Ian Fleming told him: “In my opinion, it isn’t much of a book, but it should make a good film.” How wrong he was to be as it turned out. A film version never materialized in his lifetime and when it did, it…
Francis Bacon provides an interesting footnote into how Richard Chopping ended up creating the James Bond dust jackets for Ian Fleming; it was at one of Bacon’s art exhibitions that Ann Fleming, a close friend of Bacon, made the introduction. Chopping recalled: “He [Bacon] took her [Ann Fleming] upstairs to see mine, which was very good of him,…
Talk of the Devil is a collection of rarely-seen journalism and other writing by Ian Fleming. It belongs to a special edition of his complete works published in 2008 by Queen Anne Press to commemorate the centenary of his birth. The edition is intended to celebrate Fleming not only as the creator of Bond but as…
Artistic Licence Renewed 