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Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was an English author and journalist, best remembered for writing the James Bond series of novels as well as the children's story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Biography Ian Fleming was born in Mayfair, London, to Valentine Fleming, a Member of Parliament, and his wife Evelyn Beatrice Ste Croix Fleming (née Rose). Ian was the younger brother of the travel writer Peter Fleming and the older brother of Michael and Richard Fleming. One of the sons of Richard (1910-77) is the novelist James Fleming (born 1944). Ian Fleming also had an illegitimate half-sister, the cellist Amaryllis Fleming. He was the grandson of Scottish financier Robert Fleming, founder of the Scottish American Investment Trust and of merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. (since 2000 part of Chase Manhattan). Fleming was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He won the Victor Ludorum at Eton two years running, something that had only been achieved once before him. After an early departure from Sandhurst, which he found uncongenial, his mother sent him to study languages on the continent, first at Kitzbühel, Austria, at a small private establishment run by the Adlerian disciples, Ernan Forbes Dennis and his American wife, the novelist Phyllis Bottome, to improve his German and prepare him for the Foreign Office exams, then to Munich University, and, finally, to improve his French at the University of Geneva. He was unsuccessful in joining the Foreign Office, and subsequently worked first as a sub-editor and journalist for the Reuters news service, including time in 1933 in Moscow, and later as a stockbroker with Rowe and Pitman, in Bishopsgate. World War II In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, recruited Fleming (then a reserve subaltern in the Black Watch) as his personal assistant. Commissioned as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve lieutenant, he was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant Commander, then Commander. In Naval Intelligence, Fleming conceived and was author of Operation Ruthless, a plan – not executed – for capturing the German naval version of the Wehrmacht's Enigma communications encoder. He also conceived an attempt to use British occultist Aleister Crowley to trick Rudolph Hess into attempting to contact a faux cell of anti-Churchill Englishmen in Britain, but this plan was not used as Rudolph Hess had flown to Scotland in an attempt to broker peace behind Hitler's back. Anthony Masters's book The Man Who Was M: The Life of Charles Henry Maxwell Knight asserts Fleming conceived the plan that lured Hess into flying to Scotland, in May 1941, to negotiate Anglo–German peace with Churchill, and his consequent capture: this claim has no other source. Fleming also formulated Operation Goldeneye, a plan to maintain communication with Gibraltar as well as a plan of defence if Spain had joined the Axis Powers and along with Germany had invaded it. In June 1941 General William Donovan requested that Fleming write a memorandum describing the structure and functions of a secret service organisation; for that, Fleming was rewarded with a .38 Police Positive Colt revolver pistol inscribed, "For Special Services." Parts of this memorandum were later used in the official charter for the OSS, which was dissolved after World War II in 1945; the OSS's successor, the Central Intelligence Agency, was proposed and created two years later. In 1942 Fleming formed an Auxiliary Unit known as 30AU or 30 Assault Unit which he nicknamed his own "Red Indians"; it was specifically trained in lock-picking, safe-cracking, forms of unarmed combat, and other techniques and skills for collecting intelligence. He meticulously planned all their raids, along side Patrick Dalzel-Job (Inspirations for James Bond) going so far as to memorize aerial photographs so that their missions could be planned in detail; although very successful, 30AU was greatly enlarged and direct control was taken from Fleming on D-Day. Although he still had a lot to say about planning, especially after Cherbourg attack where he felt that the unit had been used as frontline force rather than Intelligence gathering unit and from then on tactics were revised. It is often reported, and perpetuated by Fleming, that he travelled to Whitby, Ontario to train at Camp X, a top secret training school for Allied forces, however, it most likely is untrue, as no evidence of Fleming having been at Camp X has ever been retrieved, nor do any of the staff recall Fleming ever having been there.• Writing career As the DNI's personal assistant, Fleming's intelligence career was the background and experience for the James Bond novels. The first published was Casino Royale in 1953. Its anti-heroine, Vesper Lynd, is believed to have been inspired by real-life SOE agent Christine Granville; likewise, various inspirations have been suggested for the hero, James Bond. Besides writing 12 novels and nine short stories featuring James Bond, secret agent 007, Fleming also wrote the children's novel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The James Bond books were very successful and became a part of 1950s popular culture, even before they were adapted to cinema. This enabled Fleming to retire comfortably to his cottage in Jamaica, 'Goldeneye', where he wrote all of the Bond novels. Why Fleming chose that name for his house is unknown. Several reasons are suggested, including: that the house is in Oracabessa, which some believe is derived from the Spanish for 'golden head' (Cabeza de oro); reportedly, Fleming read Carson McCullers' novel Reflections In A Golden Eye around the time he bought the house in Jamaica; or, more notably, when Fleming was charged with defending Gibraltar during the Second World War he dubbed the operation Operation Goldeneye. The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) departs stylistically from the other novels of the series as it was written in the first person perspective of Vivienne Michel, the female protagonist, whom Fleming credited as co-author. In 1961 Fleming sold the film rights to his extant and future James Bond novels and short stories to Harry Saltzman, who, with Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli, co-produced a film version of Dr. No (1962). For its cast, Fleming suggested his neighbour, Sir Noël Coward, to portray Dr. Julius No and David Niven as James Bond. Some sources speculate Roger Moore as another Fleming favourite for the role of Bond, and Fleming's cousin Christopher Lee as Dr. No or even James Bond. Although Lee was not selected for either role, he was later cast as the eponymous villain, The Man with the Golden Gun, Francisco Scaramanga. The successful Dr. No was followed by From Russia with Love (1963), the last James Bond movie Ian Fleming saw released. During the Istanbul Pogroms, for which many Greek and some Turkish scholars blamed Britain's secret orchestration, Fleming's account, "The Great Riot of Istanbul", was published in the Sunday Times, on 11 September 1955. Later life
James Bond novels Notes 1 First U.S. paperback edition was retitled You Asked for It. 2 First U.S. paperback edition was retitled Too Hot to Handle. 3 Short story collection: (i) "From a View to a Kill," (ii) "For Your Eyes Only," (iii) "Risico," (iv) "Quantum of Solace", and (v) "The Hildebrand Rarity." 4 Subject of a legal battle over story credit which led to the book's storyline also being credited to Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham; see the controversy over ''Thunderball'' 5 Fleming gives co-author credit to "Vivienne Michel", the fictional heroine of the book; Fleming refused to allow a paperback edition to be published in the UK, but one was eventually published after his death. His agreement with Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman only allowed the use of the title for a movie. 6 For years, it has been alleged that Kingsley Amis, and/or others, completed this novel as Fleming died before a finished manuscript was created. Many Fleming biographers dispute this; see the controversy over ''The Man with the Golden Gun. 7 Posthumously compiled short story collection. Originally published with two stories: (i) "Octopussy" and (ii) "The Living Daylights". The 1967 paperback edition's title was shortened to Octopussy and a third story, "The Property of a Lady", increased its page count. In the 1990s, the collection's longer, original title was restored, and with the 2002 edition, the story, "007 in New York" (originally published in some editions of Thrilling Cities (see below) was added. Childrens story Non-fiction Unfinished/unpublished works Biographical films See also | ||||||||||
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