Today, Wednesday 5 October, ‘James Bond Day’: Ian Fleming Publications Ltd (IFPL) announces plans to publish Ian Fleming’s books under its own imprint – a move that marks an exciting future for 007. Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, the family company that owns the literary copyright in his books, will be honouring the legacy of James…
2022 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the film Dr. No and the publication of Ian Fleming’s ninth James Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me. Both these works represent watershed moments for the character of James Bond, the film launching the beginnings of Bond mania, and the novel presented from the female perspective, Bond himself absent until the…
The twelfth volume in The Folio Society’s spectacular and best-selling James Bond series, The Man with the Golden Gun sees the world’s greatest super spy tackle his most dangerous assignment. For The Man with the Golden Gun, series artist Fay Dalton returns with her incomparable vision of Bond and his glamorous, deadly and action-packed world. This gorgeous edition…
Newly published by The Queen Anne Press, are the notes that John Pearson made in 1965 while researching The Life of Ian Fleming. They chart not only Fleming’s life – with details that never made it into the finished biography – but John’s own journey while investigating his subject. As such, they form less a…
When You Were Young and Your Heart Was an Open Book…. Ian Fleming’s spy takes on flesh-eating sharks and a diabolical criminal mastermind in Live and Let Die, the eighth volume in Folio’s James Bond collection. This adventure plunges MI6’s best into a desperate fight for survival against the unearthly Mr Big, and not everyone…
Jack Barclay Bentley, the world’s oldest Bentley dealership, is hosting a free James Bond exhibition from 11-16 June in partnership with Peter Harrington Rare Books. The Mayfair dealership will play host to original Bond cars and visitors key objects from the genesis of the James Bond story. The first James Bond cars – from the…
This year’s SAMLA Conference takes place between November 3-5 at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia and this year, the topic is ‘From Russia with Love At 60: Serious Spy novel or popular escapism?‘. Once again Oliver Buckton chairs the event, which proves to be a classic. Friday November 3 10:00AM-11:30AM Elyn Achtymichuk, University of Saskatchewan…
KISS KISS, BANG BANG is a reader’s history of the boom in British thrillers 1953-1975 (roughly, Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed), a period when Britain lost an Empire, was demoted in terms of global power and status and was economically crippled by debt yet its fictional spies, secret agents, soldiers, sailors and even (occasionally)…
Article by David Salter James Bond lived in Chelsea, a pleasant and, these days very expensive, area south-west of Central London. Beyond that the information provided by Ian Fleming is pretty blurred. The most detailed source of information on this subject is “Moonraker”, possibly the most personal of the Bond books, taking place, as it…
Today is the anniversary of the death of the great Richard Burton. Once considered for the role of James Bond, he was a voracious reader and one wonders what he thought of Ian Fleming. The closest we might get is a short diary entry published in ‘Richard Burton: A Life’ (p. 292). On March 28th…
Article by Revelator It’s one of the most obscure mysteries in Bondology. In July 1965 a “magazine for men” named Saga published what it offensively called “Ian Fleming’s Last Interview: How to Take Any Woman…James Bond Style!” The note from the editor read: In the summer of 1964, French journalist Alain Ayache interviewed Ian Fleming, the…
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.…
Article by David Craggs. Much has been written about Ian Lancaster Fleming. The enduring success of the world’s most famous secret agent has ensured that his creator continues to generate unprecedented scrutiny. We have had esteemed biographies. A book about his life in Jamaica. Two screen biopics – with another rumoured to be under development and…
Article by Julian Parrott For writers so inextricably linked to their respective countries and literary genres, Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming had a lot in common. They forever changed the very nature of the literary genres they wrote for: Chandler brought style and respectability to noir detective fiction while Fleming revitalized the moribund spy thriller…
by MW Bewick It is only a matter of time. Sooner or later, if you get talking to the locals in Wivenhoe, Essex, someone will namedrop Richard Chopping: “Oh, Dicky and Denis,” they will say. “You don’t know about Dicky and Denis? If you’d been here when they were here… Wivenhoe was much more, well,…
Article by David A. Reinhardt, Member – Board of Directors, The Ian Fleming Foundation Originally written for the James Bond Classic Charity Golf Tournament for UNICEF, held on Monday June 11th, 2001 at Stoke Poges Golf & Country Club. When Ian Fleming was asked about the source of the name for his suave British Secret…
Additional quotes by Michael May; Illustrations ©George Almond where indicated – Courtesy of http://www.007magazine.com With each new James Bond film (including the upcoming SPECTRE) there is always speculation about how much source material is left to use. In some cases, merely the title of one of Fleming’s books was used, with the original story left…
Article by Benjamin Welton Although the Bond novels officially began with Casino Royale, 1954’s Live and Let Die is the true beginning of the Bond canon. The novel has all the right elements — Jamaica, a whiff of Caribbean culture and superstitions, a larger-than-life villain, and an enchanting female who is Bond’s equal in more…
On this day today, Ian Fleming’s sixth novel, Dr. No, is published. The novel was originally a screenplay written in 1956 for what would have been a television show entitled Commander Jamaica. It also marks the first appearance of both Major Boothroyd and Bond’s signature weapon, the Walther PPK. We examine this in comparions with…
By Jon Pettigrew This Two Act play neatly book ends the start of the James Bond books and the beginning of the end for Ian Fleming. He dies young, but his alter ego lives forever. He only lives twice, you see. The settings make one feel that we are there, in the warmth of Jamaica at Goldeneye and we…
Artistic Licence Renewed 