James Bond - Ian Fleming

007

‘A man with years of dirty, dangerous memories – a spy.’ On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
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BOND, JAMES BOND

Name: Bond, James.
Height: 183cm
Weight: 76 kilograms
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

• Slim build, scar down right cheek and on left shoulder
• Signs of plastic surgery on back of right hand
• All-round athlete; expert pistol shot, boxer
• Knife-thrower; does not use disguises

Languages: French and German

Smokes heavily (NB: special cigarettes with three gold bands); vices: drink, but not to excess, and women. Not thought to accept bribes.’

From Russia with Love

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1953

Secret Agent, James Bond, was first introduced to the world.
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A HERO IS BORN

Inspired by his experiences in Naval Intelligence during the Second World War and his passion for travelling the world, Ian Fleming sat down at his typewriter at Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica, to write ‘the spy story to end all spy stories’.

The result was Casino Royale which was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 1953.

Through twelve original novels and nine short stories, Fleming’s James Bond became the most famous fictional spy, spanning both literature and cinema.

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Where It All Began

‘You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face.’ You Only Live Twice
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BOND’S ORIGINS

Ian Fleming’s James Bond was born in the early 1920s to a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix. Tragically, when he was only eleven years old, both James’s mother and father died in a climbing accident whilst on holiday in France.

After this devastating misfortune, James lived with his aunt Charmian in Kent and went to school at Eton College. After only two halves there he was expelled due to an alleged incident with one of the boys’ maids, and he saw out the rest of his education at his father’s school, Fettes, in Scotland.

At the age of seventeen, an old friend of his father’s sent a letter of introduction for Bond to the Admiralty, where he began work shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. During the War, Bond was enrolled in the secret service and undertook missions abroad for several years before being reassigned to London in 1949. Shortly after his return to London, James Bond was awarded a licence to kill and from that moment on became known as Agent 007.

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Global Espionage

A new kind of warfare, a new kind of hero
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A war in the shadows

Following the close of the Second World War, the building tension of the forthcoming Cold War brought with it a renewed emphasis on global espionage.

This was a war with a frontline populated by spies rather than soldiers and the atmosphere of uncertainty during the ensuing nuclear arms race was fertile ground for stories of clandestine villainy and secret heroism.

This led to a rise in the popularity of spy fiction through the 50s and 60s, and Ian Fleming’s British hero soon became one of the most recognisable figures of this ‘spy-mania’. 007 first proved popular with readers in Britain but was soon celebrated in Europe and the United States, where a glowing endorsement for From Russia with Love from President John F. Kennedy helped boost Fleming’s agent to international fame.

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Bond Villains

'You are right. Mister Bond. That is just what I am, a maniac.’ Dr. No
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FORMIDABLE FOES

Fleming pitted Bond against a host of dangerous enemies including the Russian anti-espionage department, SMERSH, and the global criminal organisation, SPECTRE – The Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion.

Fleming’s sinister villains became characters as unforgettable as Bond, from his first adversary Le Chiffre, to the avaricious Goldfinger and of course Bond’s recurring nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

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Bond Girls

‘And who in heaven's name was Miss Pussy Galore?’ Goldfinger
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LEADING LADIES

Each of Fleming’s novels features a strong female counterpart for Bond, sometimes as paramour, sometimes as femme fatale – sometimes both. Readers came to expect a vivacious leading lady at Bond’s side and found her in the form of memorable characters like Pussy Galore, Vesper Lynd and Honey Rider.

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The World Of James Bond

‘There are moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent’ Live and Let Die
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LUXURY AND TRAVEL

Along with battling malevolent villains and romancing beautiful women, James Bond became synonymous with the lavish and exotic. In post-war Britain where most people were restricted by rationing and austerity, Fleming’s novels transported readers to warmer climates and introduced them to sensations they had never experienced.

Bond adopted Fleming’s own penchant for supreme cuisine, the best champagnes, the finest tailoring and nail-biting pursuits such as skiing and scuba diving, offering an escape from the grey and frugal world of 1950s Britain.

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Bond Films

From the golden typewriter to the silver screen
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EON’S 007

Ian Fleming’s sixth James Bond book, Dr No, was filmed by legendary producers Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1962, starring Sean Connery as 007.

Since then the James Bond films, now produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, make up the longest running franchise in film history.

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Literary Legacy

The story continues
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BOND LIVES ON

Since Ian Fleming’s death in 1964, several writers have been invited to continue James Bond’s legacy in literature. Beginning in 1968 with Kingsley Amis’s Colonel Sun, Bond has gone on to appear in books by John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd and Anthony Horowitz.

There are also two series of Young Bond adventures for teenagers written by Charlie Higson and Steve Cole, and old and new Bond stories have been adapted for comic books.

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Prev Next

Ian Fleming's original series of twelve novels and two short story collections featuring Agent 007. Discover where Bond began

Before the man became the legend, before the boy became the man. Follow James Bond's teenage years in the 1930s through these young adult adventures by Charlie Higson and Steve Cole.

Bond brought to life through exciting new comic book releases, collections of remastered 1950s newspaper strips and the Young Bond graphic novel of SilverFin.

The secret diaries following the adventures of James Bond's right-hand woman.

Beginning with Kingsley Amis in 1968 and with the most recent novel published in 2018 by Anthony Horowitz, discover the new 007 adventures by celebrated authors following in the footsteps of Fleming.

Casino Royale

In the novel that introduced James Bond to the world, Ian Fleming’s agent 007 is dispatched to a French casino in Royale-les-Eaux.