Michael VanBlaricum is the President of the Ian Fleming Foundation and we are delighted to be able to interview him and learn more about what the Foundation does and Mike’s vast personal Bond collection. 1. Can you tell us about how the Ian Fleming Foundation came into being and its mission? The Ian Fleming Foundation…
We are honored to welcome Frank Cottrell Boyce in from the cold to discuss his 3 sequels to Ian Fleming’s (only) children’s book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The first—Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again—was published inOctober 2011. The second, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time was released in September 2012 and the third sequel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang…
Words by Benjamin Welton Ever since Casino Royale first saw publication in 1953, commentators have noted that James Bond began his rise just as the sun was setting on the British Empire. Indeed, worldwide interest in British culture, especially the more garish, almost pulpy elements, found greater appreciation at the same time as Great Britain…
The use of real life people in novels is common so it’s surprising how little Ian Fleming has turned up – that is until fairly recently. His most famous appearance was in Solo author William Boyd’s masterpiece, Any Human Heart – but is that it? Not quite, we did manage to find more: Any Human…
We are privileged to welcome Matthew Parker in from the cold, to discuss his latest book about Ian Fleming and his beloved second home in Jamaica. Matthew is in the unique position as someone who has lived in the Caribbean and is a successful author of many books including about the Battle of Britain, the…
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., The Ian Fleming Estate, the Orion Publishing Group, and HarperCollins US and Canada are delighted to announce that international bestselling and award-winning writer Anthony Horowitz is at work on an official new James Bond novel. Currently dubbed Project One, the novel is due for worldwide release on 8th September 2015. The…
We are delighted to welcome renowned Random House Creative Director Suzanne Dean, whose work has adorned Random House’s recent Vintage Classics Ian Fleming series and William Boyd’s James Bond continuation novel – Solo. 1. How did the Vintage Classics re-issues come about and how did you decide the direction for the artwork? Our deadline was…
This week we welcome Professor James Chapman in from the cold. James is known for many things not least his work on British popular culture and cinema and television in their historical contexts. He is interested in the role of the media as propaganda, the representation of war and history, and the cultural politics of popular fictions.…
Words by Benjamin Welton On Halloween of last year, Gérard de Villiers died at the age of 83. A lifelong Parisian, de Villiers was at the time eulogized for being one of the Francophone world’s most beloved spy fiction writers and the one popular novelist that French intellectuals actually read (although few would ever fess…
We are delighted to get the chance to put some questions to legendary book jacket artist, Bill Botten. Bill’s work has adorned hundred’s of famous author’s novels including Kingsley and Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, William Plomer, Salman Rushdie, Kurt Vonnegut, Michael Crichton and J.G. Ballard. For James Bond fans, Bill’s work is most recognizable from…
The stellar cast that narrated all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books is finally being released in the United States on MP3 by Blackstone Audio. In 2012 Ian Fleming’s Bond novels were released as brand new 007 Reloaded audiobooks by AudioGo, but the company disbanded. The original CD versions are now out of print and scarce, so…
The common perception of a Bond girls, as damsels in distress waiting for our hero James Bond to save from the clutches of the villain and also themselves, is not without its flaws. In a recent interview I did with Robert Caplen, author of Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond, when asked this same question he…
Sold at Christies in 2011 for 500 pounds ($799), this is a beautiful example of Chopping’s Trompe l’oeil style. Not much is known about this painting unfortunately, but perhaps more information will come to light. Several Chopping motifs are present however, including the wood background and the natural world. Botanists out there might be able…
Article by Revelator After For Your Eyes Only Bond was no longer a wonderful machine. Nor was he a fully-dimensional, complex human being—that would involve surrendering his role as a male-fantasy projection—but he was considerably more human than before. Why? Because Ian Fleming failed. He explained why in an interview with Counterpoint: Now, you’ll notice that…
Words by Edward Biddulph Ian Fleming described him as “one of the great secret agents of the last war”, and a man that “has a magnetic personality and the quality of making anyone ready to follow him to the ends of the earth.” No, not James Bond, but Sir William Stephenson, who in 1940 on…
Writer Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, provided an unlikely footnote to Bond lore. In 1975, he was commissioned by Albert R Broccoli to write a screenplay for The Spy Who Loved Me. Fleming’s original novel was considered unsuitable for adaptation but the title was retained with the aim of building a new story around it. Broccoli and…
(Source: The Times, Aug 13, 1964) Mr. Ian Fleming, whose death at the age of 56 is announced on another page was one of the most successful and controversial thriller writers in recent years. Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in 1903, son of Major Valentine Fleming, M.P., D.S.O. He was educated at Eton and Sandhurst.…
In the 1930s, Ian Lancaster Fleming worked in the City of London before he became a wartime spy, then worked in Fleet Street until it started to rain money from his fantasy spy James Bond books and movies. To acknowledge and re-discover the City connections of Ian Fleming, Maxus Walks runs a set of two…
We are delighted to bring Nigel West in from cold and ask him a few questions about his Historical Dictionary of Ian Fleming’s World of Intelligence. This book, published in 2009, is a chronology of hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on actual cases of espionage, real-life spies, MI5, SIS, CIA, KGB, and more. It also contains entries…
On Monday, August 5 1963, Roy Plomley’s castaway was writer Ian Fleming. The clip – not the full broadcast – is the only extract the BBC have, but it is crystal clear and one of the best audio recordings of Fleming’s voice and thoughts on topics ranging from intelligence work during the war, his stint at The…
Artistic Licence Renewed 