Historical Figure
Ian Fleming
d. 1964
English author (1908–1964)
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Biography
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
In Their Own Words (5)
You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face.
Ch. 11 : Anatomy Class , 1964
He disagreed with something that ate him.
Ch. 14 , 1954
[In Goldfinger, Pussy Galore] only needed the right man to come along and perform the laying on of hands in order to cure her psycho-pathological malady.
Quoted in "Ian Fleming: Pussy Galore was a lesbian... and Bond cured her", The Guardian (4 November 2015) , 2015
It was the same with the whole Russian machine. Fear was the impulse. For them it was always safer to advance than retreat. Advance against the enemy and the bullet might miss you. Retreat, evade, betray and the bullet would never miss.
Ch. 27 : The Bleeding Heart , 1953
Bond insisted ordering Leiter's Haig-and-Haig "on the rocks" and then he looked carefully at the barman. "A Dry Martini", he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet." "Oui, monsieur." "Just a moment. Three measures of Gordons, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?" "Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
Ch. 7 : Rouge et Noir , 1953
Timeline
The story of Ian Fleming, told in moments.
Recruited into Naval Intelligence. His boss, Admiral Godfrey, uses him to dream up schemes. Fleming invents plans to plant false documents on dead bodies, feed misinformation to the Abwehr, and create commando units. Some of it works.
Writes Casino Royale in six weeks at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. He's 44, about to get married, and anxious. He types the manuscript on a gold-plated typewriter. Bond is a composite of agents he knew in the war.
Dr. No opens in London cinemas. Sean Connery plays Bond. Fleming had wanted David Niven. The film earns $59 million worldwide against a $1 million budget. A franchise is born.
Dies of a heart attack in Canterbury at 56. He'd been a heavy smoker and drinker his whole adult life. His last novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, is published posthumously. Bond outlives him by decades.
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