Article by F. L. Toth Ian Fleming might not sing it out the way they did, but a good case can be made that Ian, like the Schuyler sisters, thought New York City was the “greatest city in the world.” Just look at how much space he devoted to it. Bond is known for jetting…
Article by Frieda Toth “. . . Bond’s refined tastes and effortless embrace of the high life form an important aspect of his image.” JFK and the Masculine Mystique: Sex and Power on the New Frontier In 1962, Ian’s masterpiece came out. The Spy Who Loved Me was everything he had striven for, and he’d jettisoned everything tiresome. …
This week’s castaway is Robert ‘Raki’ Rakison. He is a lifelong aficionado of the spy genre, particularly Ian Fleming and James Bond. He said: ‘I was brought up on Buchan, Rider Haggard, Conan Doyle, Kipling, Tolkien and Dumas. I then became a voracious reader of fiction like Faulkner, Hemingway, Huxley, Orwell, Graves and Waugh, as…
Article by Frieda Toth For armchair traveling, you can’t beat Bond, and there’s no more delightful pastime than retracing the steps of a fictional hero, especially knowing that there is no bad guy trying to kill you during your vacation. In 1955, Diamonds Are Forever took James Bond to Saratoga Springs, New York. Here, Bond…
Additional quotes by Michael May; Illustrations ©George Almond where indicated courtesy of http://www.007magazine.co.uk/ Last month we ran down 10-6 in our series on literary Bond that deserves more screen time. This week, we wrap up our list with 5-1. Let us know if you agree or would suggest more? 5. The Havelock murders in Jamaica and Vermont shoot-out scene…
First published on The Trebuchet Britain – it could be argued – invented the archetypal spy novel. Born out of political fears and insecurities during two World Wars and a subsequent Cold War, heroes and anti-heroes were dreamt up by a distinguished line of novelists including Erskine Childers, John Buchan, Eric Ambler, Somerset Maugham and Graham…
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…
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.…
Ian Fleming had a lifelong fascination with flowers and this motif would permeate many of his books and corresponding artwork for years to come. His first and only poetry collection, privately printed in 1928, was titled The Black Daffodil (unfortunately no copies exist today). His good friend Ivar Bryce remarked on reading The Black Daffodil: “He read me…
Artistic License Renewed was delighted to sit down with Raymond Benson to discuss his memories of Fleming’s favorite comrades Ernest Cuneo and Ivar Bryce, during the researching of his essential James Bond Bedside Companion. 1. Did Cuneo and Bryce have a favorite Fleming novel? Ernest Cuneo, it seemed to me, couldn’t have cared less about…
In August 1954 he flew to the US for research his next novel – Diamonds Are Forever – visiting Saratoga Springs after his friend, William Stephenson, sent him a magazine article about the spa town. In the US, Fleming travelled with two friends, Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo, whose name was changed to ‘Ernie Cureo’ for the role of Bond’s…
Ian Fleming had many homes from home but none more so than at his great friend’s farm in southern Vermont. He used to visit his friend Ivar Bryce at Black Hole Hollow Farm right on the border between New York and Vermont. Fleming’s first visit to Vermont was to visit Bryce who he had first met…
Artistic Licence Renewed 