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…
Words by Jack Lugo In 1940 Ian Fleming, then a Lt. Commander in British Naval Intelligence, designed a secret operation, which if successful might have helped the Allies crack the German naval enigma codes. Famous cryptanalyst Alan Turing had been among the codebreakers working at Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. While…
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…
(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.…
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…
Words by Benjamin Welton Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory? From the pseudo-science of ancient astronauts to Alex Jones’s favorite hobby horse the Illuminati, conspiracy theories surround us, especially within the cold confines of the internet. Just last year, Jesse Walker, an editor at the libertarian Reason magazine, released The United States of Paranoia:…
Article by Benjamin Welton As a general rule, I try to refrain from reading the comments on my articles. But, since I am a glutton for punishment, I read ever single comment that was posted to my last piece in The Atlantic (“James Bond’s World War I Origins,” March 12, 2014). One negative comment stood…
There is a certain paradox about James Bond’s relationship with all things America. Devoted to the Anglo-American war against Communism, there is a level of contempt that runs through the novels during a time when the British Empire was winding up and the new American one was burgeoning. The contempt tended to be about material…
Graham Greene and Ian Fleming are often mentioned in the same breath by espionage fans as two of the most influential of all time. They had many differences in their literature and also shared a personal and slightly fractious relationship. Fleming’s admiration for Greene was there from the beginning, having feasted on novels such as…
Article by Edward Biddulph During his career as the author of the James Bond novels, Ian Fleming received hundreds of letters from his readers. Readers wrote to express their admiration for the latest novel or to point out errors or an incorrect reference to some luxury product. Some readers simply wrote to ask for Fleming’s…
Article by Revelator: Philip Larkin is perhaps was the first critic to connect Major Smythe to Fleming, and at first glance, Smythe’s similarities to Fleming are many and obvious. Both are in their mid-50s and dealing with a sagging belly, heart trouble, and a soured marriage. Either could be described as “the remains of a…
The remarkable lives of Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl criss-crossed each other for many years; the impact of both have and will, be felt for many more years to come. Cut from similar cloth, they had a lot in common and enjoyed each other’s company with a dash of friendly rivalry thrown in. Donald Sturrock author…
There is much more focus on Ann Fleming these days with the airing of the BBC series ‘Fleming’, with Ann portrayed by Lara Pulver. It’s probably time, that Ann got a fair crack at the whip so to speak, but we shall see how accurately this turns out to be. To really get an insight…
by Benjamin Welton I’ve sat in enough literature classrooms to know the refrain well. A young woman full of earnest conviction but enough neo-Marxist and Lacanian theory to sink a dreadnought will speak up and say “I cannot relate to this.” During one such case, a peer of mine took it step further by claiming…
‘The Education of a Poker Player’ is a masterwork of poker lore and advice, with a suitably acerbic introduction from Mr. Fleming, in fine sarcastic form. Ian Fleming was drawn to Herbert O. Yardley not least for gaming and high living, but as an icon in U.S. intelligence. If it were possible to have worse laws…
Ian Fleming as a big influence on Len Deighton and here is a piece written by Deighton about Fleming. It’s fascinating in it’s timing, just as Fleming was finishing You Only Live Twice and Deighton was publishing The Ipcress File, as the torch was being passed on. Deighton provides insight into Fleming’s approach, goals in…
There seems to be a never-ending cycle of Bond and Ian Fleming documentaries and docu-dramas but finding a good one can be tough. Many have missed the mark in terms of accuracy and acting. Making this task even more difficult is the availability of some of them. Well, after exhaustive research and picking up the…
Ian Fleming named his James Bond character’s CIA agent friend after Ivar Bryce’s middle name, Felix. His surname was named after another of Fleming’s friends, Tommy Leiter. Ivar Bryce was born in 1906. His father had made a fortune trading guano, the phosphate-rich deposit of fish-eating seabirds which had been widely used as a natural fertilizer.…
President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Fleming’s books. In March 1961, Hugh Sidey, published an article in Life Magazine, on President Kennedy’s top ten favourite books. It was a list designed to show that Kennedy was both well-read and in tune with popular taste. It included Fleming’s From Russia With Love. Up until this time, Fleming’s books had…
So much for Ian Fleming’s top ten books. What about James Bond’s? Kingsley Amis (writing as Bill Tanner) might have thought it a struggle to find ten books at all, let alone ten of Bond’s favourites, as he considered Bond’s library to be modest. But careful reading of the Bond novels brings up a respectable…
Artistic Licence Renewed 