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James Bond (character)
Encyclopedia
Royal Navy
Commander James Bond, CMG
, RNVR is a fictional character
created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming
in 1953. He is the main protagonist
of the James Bond
series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections before his death, although the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun
and Octopussy and The Living Daylights
—were published posthumously.
The Bond character is a Secret Service
agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commando
s who Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division
during World War II
, to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes; Bond's name was appropriated from American ornithologist James Bond
. Bond has a number of character traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food and drink, and an average intake of sixty custom-made cigarettes.
Since Fleming's death in 1964, there have been other authorised writers of Bond material, including John Gardner
, who wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations and Raymond Benson
, who wrote six novels, three novelizations and three short stories. There have also been three authors who wrote one book each, Kingsley Amis
(writing as Robert Markham), Sebastian Faulks
and Jeffrey Deaver. Additionally there has also been a series of novels based on Bond's youth—Young Bond
—written by Charlie Higson
.
As spin-offs from the literary works, there was a television adaptation of the first novel
, Casino Royale
, in which Bond was played as an American agent. A comic strip
series also ran in the Daily Express
newspaper. There have also been twenty-four Bond films, with a twenty-fifth due for release on 26 October 2012; seven actors have played Bond in these films.
in the "Secret Service
". Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve
Commander
.
During World War II
, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, that Fleming began to write Casino Royale, to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. Fleming started writing on his first book, Casino Royale
, at his Goldeneye estate
in Jamaica on 17 February 1952, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination. He finished work on the script in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Describing the work as his "dreadful oafish opus", Fleming showed it to an ex-girlfriend, Clare Blanchard, who advised him not to publish it at all, but that if he did so, it should be under another name. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels and two short story collections; he died on the morning of 12 August 1964. The last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun
and Octopussy and The Living Daylights
—were published posthumously.
during World War II, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Amongst those types were his brother, Peter, who Fleming worshipped, and who had been involved in behind the lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.
Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench
, a skiing spy whom Fleming had met in Kitzbühel
in the 1930s, Patrick Dalzel-Job
, who served with distinction in 30 AU during the war, and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale
, station head of MI6 in Paris, who wore cufflinks and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in a Rolls-Royce
. Sir Fitzroy MacLean was another figure mentioned as a possibility, based on his wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans
, as was the MI6 double agent
Dušan Popov
.
, a Caribbean
bird expert and author of the definitive field guide
Birds of the West Indies
; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher
himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist’s wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". He further explained that:
On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, "James Bond" was much better than something more interesting, like "Peregrine Carruthers". Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." After Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as "a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke".
Bonds number—007—comes from the first English spy and polymath, John Dee
, who would sign his letters to Elizabeth I
with 00 and an elongated 7, to signify they were for her eyes only. The number was also assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of World War I
: the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram
, which was coded 0075, and which was one of the factors that led the US entering the war.
. In Casino Royale
Vesper Lynd
remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch
Officer Gala Brand
thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking . . . Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold." Others, such as journalist Ben Macintyre
, identify aspects of Fleming's own looks in his description of Bond. General references in the novels describe Bond as having "dark, rather cruel good looks".
In the novels (notably From Russia, with Love), Bond's physical description has generally been consistent: slim build; a three-inch long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel" mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead. Physically he is described as 183 centimetres (6 feet) in height and 76 kilograms (167 lb) in weight. After Casino Royale, Bond also had the faint scar of the Russian cyrillic letter "Ш" (SH) (for Shpion: "Spy") on the back of one of his hands, carved by a SMERSH
agent.
's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007
, gives him a birth date on 11 November 1920, whilst a study by Bond scholar John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921. According to Griswold, the Fleming novels take place between around May 1951, to February 1964, by which time Bond was aged 42.
It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice, that Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background, using a fictional obituary, purportedly from The Times
. The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No
in cinemas and Sean Connery
's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond both a sense of humour and Scottish antecedents that were not present in the previous stories. The novel reveals Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, of Glencoe
, and a Swiss
mother, Monique Delacroix, of the Canton de Vaud
. The young James Bond spends much of his early life abroad, becoming multilingual in German and French because of his father's work as a Vickers
armaments company representative. When his parents are killed in a mountain climbing accident in the Aiguilles Rouges
near Chamonix
, eleven-year-old James is orphaned.
After the death of his parents, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom
, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College
at "12 or thereabouts", but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College
in Scotland, his father's school. On his first visit to Paris at the age of sixteen, Bond lost his virginity
, later reminiscing about the event in "From a View to a Kill". After leaving Fettes, Fleming used his own upbringing for his creation, with Bond alluding to briefly attending the University of Geneva
, (as did Fleming) before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel
(as was Fleming) by Hannes Oberhauser, who was later killed in "Octopussy".
In 1941, Bond joined the Ministry of Defence
and became a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, ending the war as a Commander. Bond applied to M for a position within the "Secret Service", part of the Civil Service, and rose to the rank of Principal Officer.
At the start of Fleming's first book, Casino Royale, Bond is already a 00 agent having been given the position after killing two enemy agents, a Japanese spy on the thirty-sixth floor of the RCA Building
at Rockefeller Center
in New York City and a Norwegian double agent who had betrayed two British agents; it is suggested by Bond scholar John Griswold that these were part of Bond's wartime service with Special Operations Executive
, a British World War II covert military organisation. In 1954, according to the Soviet file on him in From Russia, With Love, Bond is made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.
Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett
noted that, "within the first few pages [of Casino Royale
] Ian had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks", which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits. The full details of Bond's martini were kept until chapter seven of the book and Bond eventually named it "The Vesper
", after Vesper Lynd.
Bond's drinking habits run throughout the series of books. During the course of On Her Majesty's Secret Service alone, Bond consumes forty-six drinks: Pouilly-Fuissé
, Riquewihr
and Marsala wines, most of a bottle of Algerian wine, some 1953 Château Mouton Rothschild
claret, along with Taittinger and Krug
champagnes and Babycham
; for whiskies he consumed three bourbon
and waters, half a pint of I.W. Harper bourbon, Jack Daniel's
whiskey, two double bourbons on the rocks, two whisky and sodas, two neat scotches and one glass of neat whisky; vodka consumption totalled four vodka and tonics and three double vodka martinis; other sprits included two double brandies with ginger ale, a flask of Enzian Schnaps and a double gin: he also washed this down with four steins of German beer.
For his non-alcoholic drinks Bond eschews tea, calling it "mud", and blaming it for the downfall of the British Empire
and instead prefers to drink coffee.
Food
When in England and not on a mission, Bond dined as simply as Fleming did on dishes such as grilled sole, oeufs en cocotte and cold roast beef with potato salad. When on a mission, however, Bond ate more extravagantly. This was partly because in 1953, when Casino Royale was published, many items of food were still rationed, and Bond was "the ideal antidote to Britain's postwar austerity, rationing and the looming premonition of lost power". This extravagance was more noteworthy for Bond eating exotic, local foods when abroad, at a time when most of his readership did not travel abroad.
On 1 April 1958 Fleming wrote to The Manchester Guardian
in defence of his work, referring to that paper's review of Dr. No. Whilst referring to Bond's food and wine consumption as "gimmickery", Fleming bemoaned that "it has become an unfortunate trade-mark. I myself abhor Wine-and-Foodmanship. My own favourite food is scrambled eggs." Fleming was so keen on scrambled eggs that he used his short story, "007 in New York" to provide his favourite recipe for the dish: this came from the housekeeper of his friend Ivar Bryce, May, who gave her name to Bond's own housekeeper.
Smoking
Bond is a heavy smoker, at one point reaching 70 cigarettes a day. Bond has his cigarettes custom-made by Morland of Grosvenor Street, mixing Balkan and Turkish tobacco and having a higher nicotine content than normal; the cigarettes showed three gold bands on the filter. Bond carried his cigarettes in a wide gunmetal
cigarette case which carried fifty; he also used a black oxidised Ronson lighter. The cigarettes were the same as Fleming's, who had been buying his at Morland since the 1930s; the three gold bands on the filter were added during the war to mirror his naval Commander's rank. On average, Bond smokes sixty cigarettes a day, although he cut back to around twenty five a day after his visit to a health farm in Thunderball: Fleming himself smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day.
Drugs
Bond occasionally supplements his alcohol consumption with the use of other drugs, for both functional and recreational reasons: Moonraker sees Bond consumes a quantity of the amphetamine
benzedrine
accompanied by champagne, before his bridge game with Sir Hugo Drax
(also consuming a carafe of vintage Riga vodka and a vodka martini); he also uses the drug for stimulation on missions, such as swimming across Shark Bay in Live and Let Die
, or remaining awake and alert when threatened in the Dreamy Pines Motor Court in The Spy Who Loved Me.
, Bond is written as a complex character, even though he was also often the voice of Fleming's prejudices. The output of the prejudices, combined with the tales of Bond's actions, led journalist Yuri Zhukov
to write an article in 1965 for the Soviet
daily newspaper Pravda
, describing Bond's values:
Bond is not the unthinking wild beast Zhukov writes about, however, and does not kill without thinking. From Russia, with Love saw Bond watching Kerim Bey shoot the Bulgarian killer Krilencu and Bond observing that he had never killed anyone in cold blood. In "The Living Daylights" Bond deliberately misses his target, realising the sniper he has been sent to kill was a beautiful female cello player. Bond settles this in his mind by thinking that "It wasn't exactly murder. Pretty near it, though." Goldfinger opens with Bond thinking through the experience he has been through of killing a Mexican killer days earlier. He is philosophical about it:
Another general attitude and prejudice of Fleming's that Bond gives voice to, includes his approach to homosexuality. Despite a number of gay friends, including Noel Coward
and his editor, William Plomer
, Fleming said that his books were "written for warm-blooded heterosexuals". His attitude went further, with Bond opining that homosexuals were "a herd of unhappy sexual misfits – barren and full of frustrations, the women wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied", adding that "he was sorry for them, but he had no time for them."
in Chelsea
. His flat is looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper named May. May's name was taken from May Maxwell, the housekeeper of Bond's close friend, the American Ivar Bryce. In 1955 Bond earned around £2,000 a year net
(£ in pounds), although when on assignment he worked on an unlimited expense account. Much of Fleming's own daily routine whilst working at The Sunday Times
was woven into the Bond stories and he summarised it at the beginning of Moonraker, when he described the:
Only once in the series does Fleming install a partner for Bond in his flat, with the arrival of Tiffany Case
, following Bond's mission to the US in Diamonds Are Forever
. By the start of the following book, From Russia, With Love, Case had left to marry an American. Bond was married only once, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, to Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo
, but their marriage was short-lived as she was killed on their wedding day by Ernst Stavro Blofeld
.
In the penultimate novel of the series, You Only Live Twice, Bond suffers from amnesia
and has a relationship with an Ama diving girl, Kissy Suzuki
. As a result of the relationship Kissy becomes pregnant, although she does not reveal this to Bond before he leaves the island.
From Casino Royale to From Russia, with Love Bond's preferred weapon was a .25 ACP
Beretta
automatic pistol carried in a light-weight chamois leather
holster. However Fleming was contacted by a Bond enthusiast and gun expert, Geoffrey Boothroyd
, who criticised Fleming's choice of firearm for Bond and suggested a Walther PPK 7.65mm instead. Fleming used the suggestion in Dr. No, also taking advice that it should be used with the Berns-Martin
triple draw shoulder holster. By way of thanks, the MI6 Armourer who gave Bond his gun was given the name Major Boothroyd, and was introduced by M as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world".
Kingsley Amis, in The James Bond Dossier
, noted that although Bond was a very good shot and the best in the Secret Service, he was still beaten by the instructor, something that added realism to Bond's character. Amis identified a number of skills where Bond is very good, but is still beatable by others. These included skiing, hand-to-hand combat, underwater swimming and golf. Driving was also an ability Amis identified where Bond was good, but others were better; one of those who was a better driver than Bond was Sir Hugo Drax
, who caused Bond to write off his battleship-grey Bentley 4½ Litre with an Amherst Villiers
supercharger
. Bond subsequently drove a Mark II Continental Bentley, which he used in the remaining books of the series, although he was issued with an Aston Martin DB Mark III
with a homing device, during the course of Goldfinger.
in 1981 and COLD
in 1996. With the influence of the American publishers, Putnam's
, the Gardner novels showed an increase in the number of Americanisms used in the book, such as a waiter wearing "pants", rather than trousers, in The Man from Barbarossa
. James Harker, writing in The Guardian
, considered that the Gardner books were "dogged by silliness", giving examples of Scorpius
, where much of the action is set in Chippenham
, and Win, Lose or Die
, where "Bond gets chummy with an unconvincing Maggie Thatcher". Ill-health forced Gardner to retire from writing the Bond novels in 1996.
Gardner stated that he wanted "to bring Mr Bond into the 1980s", although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them. Even though Gardner kept the ages the same, he made Bond grey at the temples as a nod to the passing of the years. Other 1980s effects also took place, with Bond smoking low-tar cigarettes and being increasingly health conscious.
The return of Bond in 1981 saw media reports on the more politically correct Bond and his choice of car—a Saab 900
Turbo; he later put him in a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. Gardner also updated Bond's firearm: under Gardner, Bond was initially issued with the Browning 9mm
before changing to a Heckler & Koch VP70
and then a Heckler & Koch P7. Bond was also revealed to have taken part in the 1982 Falklands War
. Gardner updated Fleming's characters and used contemporary political leaders in his novels; he also used the high-tech apparatus of Q Branch from the films, although Jeremy Black observed that Bond is more reliant on technology than his own individual abilities. However Gardner's series linked Bond to the Fleming novels, rather than the film incarnations and referred to events covered in the Fleming stories.
took over as Bond author in 1996; as the first American author of Bond it was a controversial choice. Benson had previously written the non-fiction The James Bond Bedside Companion
, first published in 1984. Benson's first work was a short story
, "Blast From the Past", published in 1987. By the time he moved on to other projects in 2002, Benson had written six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories. His final Bond work was The Man with the Red Tattoo
, published in 2002.
Benson followed Gardner's pattern of setting Bond in the contemporary timeframe of the 1990s and, according to Jeremy Black, had more echoes of Fleming's style than John Gardner, he also changed Bond's gun back to the Walther PPK
, put him behind the wheel of a Jaguar XK8
and made him swear more. James Harker noted that "whilst Fleming's Bond had been an Express
reader; Benson's is positively red top
. He's the first to have group sex...and the first to visit a prostitute", whilst Black notes an increased level of crudity lacking in either Fleming or Gardner.
In 1967, four years after Fleming's death, his literary executors, Glidrose Productions
, approached Kingsley Amis
and offered him £10,000 (£ in pounds) to write the first continuation Bond novel. The result was Colonel Sun
published in 1968 under the pen-name Robert Markham. Journalist James Harker noted that although the book was not literary, it was stylish. Raymond Benson noted that Bond's character and events from previous novels were all maintained in Colonel Sun, saying "he is the same darkly handsome man first introduced in Casino Royale.
Sebastian Faulks
After Gardner and Benson had followed Amis, there was a gasp of six years until Sebastian Faulks
was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the one hundredth anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth. The book—entitled Devil May Care
—was published in the UK by Penguin Books and by Doubleday in the US.
Faulks ignored the timeframe established by Gardner and Benson and instead reverted to that used by Fleming and Amis, basing his novel in the 1960s; he also managed to use a number of the cultural touchstones of the sixties in the book. Faulks was true to Bond's original character and background too, and provided "a Flemingesque hero" who drove a battleship grey 1967 T-series Bentley.
Jeffrey Deaver
On 26 May 2011, American writer Jeffery Deaver
, commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, released Carte Blanche
. Deaver restarted the chronology of Bond, separate from the timelines any of the previous authors, by stating he was born in 1980; the novel also saw Bond in a post-9/11 agency, independent of either MI5
or MI6.
Whilst the chronology changed, Deaver included a number of elements from the Fleming novels, including Bond's tastes for food and wine, his gadgets and "the rather preposterous names of some of the female characters."
released SilverFin
, the first of five novels and one short story in the life of a young James Bond; his final work was the short story "A Hard Man to Kill", released as part of the non-fiction work, Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier
, the companion book to the Young Bond series. Young Bond is set in the 1930s, which would fit the chronology with that of Fleming. As journalist Janice Turner
noted about the series, "To imagine the invulnerable man as a vulnerable boy messes with a potent masculine myth".
Higson stated that he was instructed by the Fleming estate to ignore all other interpretations of Bond, except the original Fleming version. As the background to Bond's childhood, Higson used Bond's obituary in You Only Live Twice as well as his own and Fleming's childhoods. In forming the early Bond character, Higson created the origins of some of Bond's character traits, including his love of cars and fine wine.
Adaptations of Bond started early in Fleming's writings, with CBS paying him $1,000 ($ in dollars) to adapt his first novel, Casino Royale, into a one-hour television adventure; this was broadcast on 21 October 1954. The Bond character, played by Barry Nelson
, was changed to "Card Sense" Jimmy Bond, an American agent working for "Combined Intelligence".
In 1957 the Daily Express
newspaper adapted Fleming's stories into comic strip
format. In order to help the artists, Fleming commissioned a sketch to show how he saw Bond; illustrator John McLusky
considered Fleming's version too "outdated" and "pre-war" and changed Bond to give him a more masculine look.
In 1962 Eon Productions, the company of Canadian Harry Saltzman
and American Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli
released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, Dr. No
, featuring Sean Connery
as 007. Connery was the first of seven actors to play Bond on the cinema screen, six of whom appeared in the Eon series of films. As well as looking different, each of the actors have interpreted the role of Bond in a different way.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Commander James Bond, CMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, RNVR is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
in 1953. He is the main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections before his death, although the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (novel)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth novel of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of books. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite...
and Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Octopussy and The Living Daylights is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series...
—were published posthumously.
The Bond character is a Secret Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond was a composite character who was based on a number of commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
s who Fleming knew during his service in the Naval Intelligence Division
Naval Intelligence Division
The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, to whom Fleming added his own style and a number of his own tastes; Bond's name was appropriated from American ornithologist James Bond
James Bond (ornithologist)
James Bond was a leading American ornithologist whose name was appropriated by writer Ian Fleming for his fictional spy, James Bond.-Biography:...
. Bond has a number of character traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food and drink, and an average intake of sixty custom-made cigarettes.
Since Fleming's death in 1964, there have been other authorised writers of Bond material, including John Gardner
John Gardner
John Champlin Gardner, Jr. was an American novelist, essayist, literary critic and university professor. He is perhaps most noted for his novel Grendel, a retelling of the Beowulf myth from the monster's point of view....
, who wrote fourteen novels and two novelizations and Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
, who wrote six novels, three novelizations and three short stories. There have also been three authors who wrote one book each, Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
(writing as Robert Markham), Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks
-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
and Jeffrey Deaver. Additionally there has also been a series of novels based on Bond's youth—Young Bond
Young Bond
Young Bond is a series of five young adult spy novels by Charlie Higson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s...
—written by Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
.
As spin-offs from the literary works, there was a television adaptation of the first novel
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (Climax!)
Casino Royale is a 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre...
, in which Bond was played as an American agent. A comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
series also ran in the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
newspaper. There have also been twenty-four Bond films, with a twenty-fifth due for release on 26 October 2012; seven actors have played Bond in these films.
Fleming's concept of Bond
The central figure for Ian Fleming's work was the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officerIntelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
in the "Secret Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
". Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
Commander
Commander (Royal Navy)
Commander is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, that Fleming began to write Casino Royale, to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials. Fleming started writing on his first book, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
, at his Goldeneye estate
Goldeneye (estate)
Goldeneye was the name given by Ian Fleming to his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He purchased the land next door to Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach. The original house was a modest structure consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming...
in Jamaica on 17 February 1952, typing out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination. He finished work on the script in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Describing the work as his "dreadful oafish opus", Fleming showed it to an ex-girlfriend, Clare Blanchard, who advised him not to publish it at all, but that if he did so, it should be under another name. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels and two short story collections; he died on the morning of 12 August 1964. The last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (novel)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth novel of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of books. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite...
and Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Octopussy and The Living Daylights
Octopussy and The Living Daylights is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series...
—were published posthumously.
Inspiration for the character
Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence DivisionNaval Intelligence Division
The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence...
during World War II, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war". Amongst those types were his brother, Peter, who Fleming worshipped, and who had been involved in behind the lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.
Aside from Fleming's brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond's make up, including Conrad O'Brien-ffrench
Conrad O'Brien-Ffrench
Conrad Fulke Thomond O’Brien-ffrench , was a distinguished British Secret Intelligence Officer, Captain in the Tipperary Rangers of the Royal Irish Regiment and 16th The Queen's Lancers in World War I, and Mountie for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
, a skiing spy whom Fleming had met in Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
in the 1930s, Patrick Dalzel-Job
Patrick Dalzel-Job
Patrick Dalzel-Job , was a distinguished British Naval Intelligence Officer and Commando of World War II. He was also an accomplished linguist, author, mariner, navigator, parachutist, diver and skier....
, who served with distinction in 30 AU during the war, and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale
Wilfred Dunderdale
Wilfred Albert Dunderdale was a British spy and intelligence officer. It has been suggested that Dunderdale was used by Ian Fleming as a basis for the character of James Bond.-Life:...
, station head of MI6 in Paris, who wore cufflinks and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in a Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
. Sir Fitzroy MacLean was another figure mentioned as a possibility, based on his wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, as was the MI6 double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
Dušan Popov
Dušan Popov
Dušan "Duško" Popov OBE was a double agent working for MI6 during World War II under the cryptonym Tricycle.-Origins of Tricycle:...
.
Origins of the name
Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James BondJames Bond (ornithologist)
James Bond was a leading American ornithologist whose name was appropriated by writer Ian Fleming for his fictional spy, James Bond.-Biography:...
, a Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
bird expert and author of the definitive field guide
Field guide
A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife or other objects of natural occurrence . It is generally designed to be brought into the 'field' or local area where such objects exist to help distinguish between similar objects...
Birds of the West Indies
Birds of the West Indies
Birds of the West Indies is a book containing exhaustive coverage of the 400+ species of birds found in the Caribbean Sea, excluding the ABC islands, and Trinidad and Tobago, which are considered bio-geographically as part of South America.Written by ornithologist James Bond, the book was first...
; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist’s wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". He further explained that:
On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, "James Bond" was much better than something more interesting, like "Peregrine Carruthers". Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department." After Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as "a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke".
Bonds number—007—comes from the first English spy and polymath, John Dee
John Dee
John Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
, who would sign his letters to Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
with 00 and an elongated 7, to signify they were for her eyes only. The number was also assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
: the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram
Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States. The proposal was caught by the British before it could get to Mexico. The revelation angered the Americans and led in part to a U.S...
, which was coded 0075, and which was one of the factors that led the US entering the war.
Looks
Facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy CarmichaelHoagy Carmichael
Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
. In Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
Vesper Lynd
Vesper Lynd
Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale. The name is a pun on "West Berlin". It has been claimed that Fleming based Lynd on the real life Special Operations Executive agent Christine Granville. In the 1967 film of Casino Royale, she is played by...
remarks, "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless." Likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
Officer Gala Brand
Gala Brand
Gala Brand is a fictional character in the James Bond novel Moonraker. She does not appear in the movie version of the novel, however, as the film is an almost total rewrite of the novel. The only other Bond girl of the Ian Fleming novels to share this fate is Vivienne Michel of the novel The Spy...
thinks that Bond is "certainly good-looking . . . Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold." Others, such as journalist Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre is a British author, historian, and columnist writing for The Times newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies.- Author :...
, identify aspects of Fleming's own looks in his description of Bond. General references in the novels describe Bond as having "dark, rather cruel good looks".
In the novels (notably From Russia, with Love), Bond's physical description has generally been consistent: slim build; a three-inch long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel" mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead. Physically he is described as 183 centimetres (6 feet) in height and 76 kilograms (167 lb) in weight. After Casino Royale, Bond also had the faint scar of the Russian cyrillic letter "Ш" (SH) (for Shpion: "Spy") on the back of one of his hands, carved by a SMERSH
SMERSH (James Bond)
SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" meaning "Death to Spies"...
agent.
Background
In Ian Fleming's stories, James Bond is in his mid-to-late thirties, but does not age. In Moonraker, he admits to being eight years shy of mandatory retirement age from the 00 section—forty-five—which would mean he was thirty-seven at the time. Fleming did not provide Bond's date of birth, but John PearsonJohn Pearson (author)
John Pearson is a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.Pearson was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming....
's fictional biography of Bond, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 , by John Pearson, is a fictional biography of James Bond; Pearson also wrote the biography The Life of Ian Fleming ....
, gives him a birth date on 11 November 1920, whilst a study by Bond scholar John Griswold puts the date at 11 November 1921. According to Griswold, the Fleming novels take place between around May 1951, to February 1964, by which time Bond was aged 42.
It was not until the penultimate novel, You Only Live Twice, that Fleming gave Bond a sense of family background, using a fictional obituary, purportedly from The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. The book was the first to be written after the release of Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
in cinemas and Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
's depiction of Bond affected Fleming's interpretation of the character, to give Bond both a sense of humour and Scottish antecedents that were not present in the previous stories. The novel reveals Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, of Glencoe
Glencoe, Scotland
Glencoe Village is the main settlement in Glen Coe, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It lies at the north-west end of the glen, on the southern bank of the River Coe where it enters Loch Leven a salt-water loch off Loch Linnhe)....
, and a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
mother, Monique Delacroix, of the Canton de Vaud
Vaud
Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...
. The young James Bond spends much of his early life abroad, becoming multilingual in German and French because of his father's work as a Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
armaments company representative. When his parents are killed in a mountain climbing accident in the Aiguilles Rouges
Aiguilles Rouges
The Aiguilles Rouges are a crystalline mountainous massif of the French Prealps, opposite the Mont Blanc massif. The color of the iron rich gneiss mountains gives the range its name. The highest summit is the Aiguille du Belvédère at...
near Chamonix
Chamonix
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the 1924 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics...
, eleven-year-old James is orphaned.
After the death of his parents, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmian Bond, in the village of Pett Bottom
Pett Bottom
Pett Bottom is a small settlement about five miles south of Canterbury, Kent, England. The nearest village is Lower Hardres.James Bond lived here with his aunt after his parents died, in the fictional books by Ian Fleming....
, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
at "12 or thereabouts", but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
in Scotland, his father's school. On his first visit to Paris at the age of sixteen, Bond lost his virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
, later reminiscing about the event in "From a View to a Kill". After leaving Fettes, Fleming used his own upbringing for his creation, with Bond alluding to briefly attending the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
, (as did Fleming) before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
(as was Fleming) by Hannes Oberhauser, who was later killed in "Octopussy".
In 1941, Bond joined the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
and became a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, ending the war as a Commander. Bond applied to M for a position within the "Secret Service", part of the Civil Service, and rose to the rank of Principal Officer.
At the start of Fleming's first book, Casino Royale, Bond is already a 00 agent having been given the position after killing two enemy agents, a Japanese spy on the thirty-sixth floor of the RCA Building
GE Building
The GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
in New York City and a Norwegian double agent who had betrayed two British agents; it is suggested by Bond scholar John Griswold that these were part of Bond's wartime service with Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
, a British World War II covert military organisation. In 1954, according to the Soviet file on him in From Russia, With Love, Bond is made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.
Tastes and style
DrinkFleming biographer Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett is an English biographer and journalist.He was educated at Charterhouse School and studied history at Christ Church, Oxford University. He then worked for a while for The Times as a correspondent in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia...
noted that, "within the first few pages [of Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
] Ian had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks", which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits. The full details of Bond's martini were kept until chapter seven of the book and Bond eventually named it "The Vesper
Vesper (cocktail)
The Vesper or Vesper Martini is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet.-Origin:The drink was invented and named by fictional secret agent James Bond in the 1953 novel Casino Royale....
", after Vesper Lynd.
Bond's drinking habits run throughout the series of books. During the course of On Her Majesty's Secret Service alone, Bond consumes forty-six drinks: Pouilly-Fuissé
Pouilly-Fuissé
Pouilly-Fuissé is an appellation for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré...
, Riquewihr
Riquewihr
Riquewihr is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.A popular tourist attraction for its historical architecture, Riquewihr is also known for the Riesling and other great wines produced in the village...
and Marsala wines, most of a bottle of Algerian wine, some 1953 Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild is a wine estate located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France. Its red wine of the same name is regarded as one of the world's greatest clarets. Originally known as Château Brane-Mouton it was renamed by Nathaniel...
claret, along with Taittinger and Krug
Champagne Krug
Champagne Krug—a "négociant-manipulateur" with offices in Reims, the main city in Champagne—was one of the famous Champagne houses who formed part of the membership of the Grande Marques. Krug Grande Cuvée is one of the crown jewels in the LVMH wine division, placed alongside the Moët et Chandon's...
champagnes and Babycham
Babycham
Babycham is the trade name of a light, sparkling perry invented by Francis Edwin Showering , a brewer in Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England; the name is now owned by Constellation Europe Limited. Launched in the United Kingdom in 1953, the drink was marketed with pioneering television...
; for whiskies he consumed three bourbon
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
and waters, half a pint of I.W. Harper bourbon, Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of sour mash Tennessee whiskey that is among the world's best-selling liquors. It is known for its square bottles and black label. As of November, 2007, one blogger was claiming that it was the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee by...
whiskey, two double bourbons on the rocks, two whisky and sodas, two neat scotches and one glass of neat whisky; vodka consumption totalled four vodka and tonics and three double vodka martinis; other sprits included two double brandies with ginger ale, a flask of Enzian Schnaps and a double gin: he also washed this down with four steins of German beer.
For his non-alcoholic drinks Bond eschews tea, calling it "mud", and blaming it for the downfall of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and instead prefers to drink coffee.
Food
When in England and not on a mission, Bond dined as simply as Fleming did on dishes such as grilled sole, oeufs en cocotte and cold roast beef with potato salad. When on a mission, however, Bond ate more extravagantly. This was partly because in 1953, when Casino Royale was published, many items of food were still rationed, and Bond was "the ideal antidote to Britain's postwar austerity, rationing and the looming premonition of lost power". This extravagance was more noteworthy for Bond eating exotic, local foods when abroad, at a time when most of his readership did not travel abroad.
On 1 April 1958 Fleming wrote to The Manchester Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in defence of his work, referring to that paper's review of Dr. No. Whilst referring to Bond's food and wine consumption as "gimmickery", Fleming bemoaned that "it has become an unfortunate trade-mark. I myself abhor Wine-and-Foodmanship. My own favourite food is scrambled eggs." Fleming was so keen on scrambled eggs that he used his short story, "007 in New York" to provide his favourite recipe for the dish: this came from the housekeeper of his friend Ivar Bryce, May, who gave her name to Bond's own housekeeper.
Smoking
Bond is a heavy smoker, at one point reaching 70 cigarettes a day. Bond has his cigarettes custom-made by Morland of Grosvenor Street, mixing Balkan and Turkish tobacco and having a higher nicotine content than normal; the cigarettes showed three gold bands on the filter. Bond carried his cigarettes in a wide gunmetal
Gunmetal
Gunmetal, also known as yellow brass in the United States, is a type of bronze – an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc. Originally used chiefly for making guns, gunmetal was eventually superseded by steel...
cigarette case which carried fifty; he also used a black oxidised Ronson lighter. The cigarettes were the same as Fleming's, who had been buying his at Morland since the 1930s; the three gold bands on the filter were added during the war to mirror his naval Commander's rank. On average, Bond smokes sixty cigarettes a day, although he cut back to around twenty five a day after his visit to a health farm in Thunderball: Fleming himself smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day.
Drugs
Bond occasionally supplements his alcohol consumption with the use of other drugs, for both functional and recreational reasons: Moonraker sees Bond consumes a quantity of the amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
benzedrine
Benzedrine
Benzedrine is the trade name of the racemic mixture of amphetamine . It was marketed under this brandname in the USA by Smith, Kline & French in the form of inhalers, starting in 1928...
accompanied by champagne, before his bridge game with Sir Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by...
(also consuming a carafe of vintage Riga vodka and a vodka martini); he also uses the drug for stimulation on missions, such as swimming across Shark Bay in Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (novel)
Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1954, where the initial print run of 7,500 copies quickly sold out. As with Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die was broadly well received by the critics...
, or remaining awake and alert when threatened in the Dreamy Pines Motor Court in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Attitudes
According to academic Jeremy BlackJeremy Black (historian)
Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute...
, Bond is written as a complex character, even though he was also often the voice of Fleming's prejudices. The output of the prejudices, combined with the tales of Bond's actions, led journalist Yuri Zhukov
Yuri Zhukov
Yuri Georgy Aleksandrovich Zhukov was a prominent journalist and political figure in the Soviet Union.Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Around 1938-1945 he toured Dalkrai and wrote books on Soviet Far East and Japan....
to write an article in 1965 for the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
daily newspaper Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
, describing Bond's values:
Bond is not the unthinking wild beast Zhukov writes about, however, and does not kill without thinking. From Russia, with Love saw Bond watching Kerim Bey shoot the Bulgarian killer Krilencu and Bond observing that he had never killed anyone in cold blood. In "The Living Daylights" Bond deliberately misses his target, realising the sniper he has been sent to kill was a beautiful female cello player. Bond settles this in his mind by thinking that "It wasn't exactly murder. Pretty near it, though." Goldfinger opens with Bond thinking through the experience he has been through of killing a Mexican killer days earlier. He is philosophical about it:
Another general attitude and prejudice of Fleming's that Bond gives voice to, includes his approach to homosexuality. Despite a number of gay friends, including Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
and his editor, William Plomer
William Plomer
William Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE was a South African author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He was educated mostly in the United Kingdom...
, Fleming said that his books were "written for warm-blooded heterosexuals". His attitude went further, with Bond opining that homosexuals were "a herd of unhappy sexual misfits – barren and full of frustrations, the women wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied", adding that "he was sorry for them, but he had no time for them."
Personal life
Bond lives in a flat off the King's RoadKing's Road
King's Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England.King's Road or Kings Road may also refer to:* King's Road * King's Road * King's Road * King's Road...
in Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. His flat is looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper named May. May's name was taken from May Maxwell, the housekeeper of Bond's close friend, the American Ivar Bryce. In 1955 Bond earned around £2,000 a year net
Net income
Net income is the residual income of a firm after adding total revenue and gains and subtracting all expenses and losses for the reporting period. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings...
(£ in pounds), although when on assignment he worked on an unlimited expense account. Much of Fleming's own daily routine whilst working at The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
was woven into the Bond stories and he summarised it at the beginning of Moonraker, when he described the:
Only once in the series does Fleming install a partner for Bond in his flat, with the arrival of Tiffany Case
Tiffany Case
Tiffany Case is a fictional character in the James Bond novel and film Diamonds Are Forever. For the 1971 film she was portrayed by Jill St. John...
, following Bond's mission to the US in Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (novel)
Diamonds Are Forever is the fourth of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 26 March 1956 and the first print run of 12,500 copies sold out quickly...
. By the start of the following book, From Russia, With Love, Case had left to marry an American. Bond was married only once, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, to Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo
Tracy Bond
Teresa "Tracy" Bond is a fictional character and the main Bond girl in the James Bond film and novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service...
, but their marriage was short-lived as she was killed on their wedding day by Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...
.
In the penultimate novel of the series, You Only Live Twice, Bond suffers from amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
and has a relationship with an Ama diving girl, Kissy Suzuki
Kissy Suzuki
Kissy Suzuki is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's 1964 James Bond novel, You Only Live Twice. Despite Bond's womanizing, Kissy Suzuki remains the only character known to the reader who bears a child by him...
. As a result of the relationship Kissy becomes pregnant, although she does not reveal this to Bond before he leaves the island.
Abilities
.25 ACP
The .25 ACP centerfire pistol cartridge is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled pistol cartridge introduced by John Browning in 1905 alongside the Fabrique Nationale model 1905 pistol...
Beretta
Beretta
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is an Italian firearms manufacturer. Their firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and military purposes. It is also known for manufacturing shooting clothes and accessories. Beretta is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the...
automatic pistol carried in a light-weight chamois leather
Chamois leather
Chamois leather , sometimes known as a shammy, is a type of porous leather that is favored for its gentle, non-abrasive composition and exceptional absorption properties...
holster. However Fleming was contacted by a Bond enthusiast and gun expert, Geoffrey Boothroyd
Geoffrey Boothroyd
Geoffrey Boothroyd was a Scottish firearms expert and author of several works on the subject, who is best known as giving weapons advice to James Bond author Ian Fleming...
, who criticised Fleming's choice of firearm for Bond and suggested a Walther PPK 7.65mm instead. Fleming used the suggestion in Dr. No, also taking advice that it should be used with the Berns-Martin
Berns-Martin
-Development and functionality:The Berns-Martin was first developed in the 1930s because of a need for a secure holster for large frame revolvers; it was later modified for medium and small frame revolvers. When used in a hip holster, the revolver is drawn by pushing down on the revolver grip...
triple draw shoulder holster. By way of thanks, the MI6 Armourer who gave Bond his gun was given the name Major Boothroyd, and was introduced by M as "the greatest small-arms expert in the world".
Kingsley Amis, in The James Bond Dossier
The James Bond Dossier
The James Bond Dossier , by Kingsley Amis, is a critical analysis of the James Bond novels. Amis dedicated the book to friend and background collaborator, the poet and historian Robert Conquest...
, noted that although Bond was a very good shot and the best in the Secret Service, he was still beaten by the instructor, something that added realism to Bond's character. Amis identified a number of skills where Bond is very good, but is still beatable by others. These included skiing, hand-to-hand combat, underwater swimming and golf. Driving was also an ability Amis identified where Bond was good, but others were better; one of those who was a better driver than Bond was Sir Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by...
, who caused Bond to write off his battleship-grey Bentley 4½ Litre with an Amherst Villiers
Amherst Villiers
Amherst Villiers was an English automotive, aeronautical and astronautic engineer and portrait painter.He designed a land speed record-breaking car for Malcolm Campbell, and developed the supercharged "Blower Bentley", driven by Henry Birkin and by James Bond.-Early life:Charles Amherst Villiers...
supercharger
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
. Bond subsequently drove a Mark II Continental Bentley, which he used in the remaining books of the series, although he was issued with an Aston Martin DB Mark III
Aston Martin DB Mark III
The DB Mark III is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from 1957 through 1959. It was an evolution of the DB2/4 Mark II model it replaced, using an evolution of that car's W.O...
with a homing device, during the course of Goldfinger.
John Gardner
In 1981 writer John Gardner was approached by the Fleming estate and asked to write a continuation novel for Bond. Although he initially almost turned the series down, Gardner subsequently wrote fourteen original novels and two novelizations of the films between Licence RenewedLicence Renewed
Licence Renewed , first published in 1981, is the first novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. It was the first proper James Bond novel since Kingsley Amis's Colonel Sun in 1968...
in 1981 and COLD
COLD (novel)
COLD, first published in 1996, was the sixteenth and final novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond...
in 1996. With the influence of the American publishers, Putnam's
G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
, the Gardner novels showed an increase in the number of Americanisms used in the book, such as a waiter wearing "pants", rather than trousers, in The Man from Barbarossa
The Man from Barbarossa
The Man from Barbarossa, first published in 1991, was the eleventh novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.More so than...
. James Harker, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, considered that the Gardner books were "dogged by silliness", giving examples of Scorpius
Scorpius (novel)
Scorpius, first published in 1988, is the seventh novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.Considered one of the most...
, where much of the action is set in Chippenham
Chippenham
Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...
, and Win, Lose or Die
Win, Lose or Die
Win, Lose or Die, first published in 1989, was the eighth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.Beginning with this...
, where "Bond gets chummy with an unconvincing Maggie Thatcher". Ill-health forced Gardner to retire from writing the Bond novels in 1996.
Gardner stated that he wanted "to bring Mr Bond into the 1980s", although he retained the ages of the characters as they were when Fleming had left them. Even though Gardner kept the ages the same, he made Bond grey at the temples as a nod to the passing of the years. Other 1980s effects also took place, with Bond smoking low-tar cigarettes and being increasingly health conscious.
The return of Bond in 1981 saw media reports on the more politically correct Bond and his choice of car—a Saab 900
Saab 900
The Saab 900 was a car produced by Saab Automobile from 1978 until 1998 in two generations. The first generation from 1978 to 1993 is known as the "classic"; the generation from 1994 to 1998 is known as the "new generation" ....
Turbo; he later put him in a Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. Gardner also updated Bond's firearm: under Gardner, Bond was initially issued with the Browning 9mm
Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized...
before changing to a Heckler & Koch VP70
Heckler & Koch VP70
The VP70 is a 9 mm, 18-round, double action only, semi-automatic/three-round burst capable polymer frame pistol manufactured by German arms firm Heckler & Koch GmbH...
and then a Heckler & Koch P7. Bond was also revealed to have taken part in the 1982 Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
. Gardner updated Fleming's characters and used contemporary political leaders in his novels; he also used the high-tech apparatus of Q Branch from the films, although Jeremy Black observed that Bond is more reliant on technology than his own individual abilities. However Gardner's series linked Bond to the Fleming novels, rather than the film incarnations and referred to events covered in the Fleming stories.
Raymond Benson
Following the retirement of John Gardner, Raymond BensonRaymond Benson
Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
took over as Bond author in 1996; as the first American author of Bond it was a controversial choice. Benson had previously written the non-fiction The James Bond Bedside Companion
The James Bond Bedside Companion
The James Bond Bedside Companion is a non-fiction book written by the official James Bond author, Raymond Benson, first published in 1984. It was later updated in 1988...
, first published in 1984. Benson's first work was a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, "Blast From the Past", published in 1987. By the time he moved on to other projects in 2002, Benson had written six Bond novels, three novelizations and three short stories. His final Bond work was The Man with the Red Tattoo
The Man with the Red Tattoo
The Man with the Red Tattoo, first published in 2002, was the sixth and final original novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Ian Fleming Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United...
, published in 2002.
Benson followed Gardner's pattern of setting Bond in the contemporary timeframe of the 1990s and, according to Jeremy Black, had more echoes of Fleming's style than John Gardner, he also changed Bond's gun back to the Walther PPK
Walther PPK
The Walther PP series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols.They feature an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism, a single-column magazine, and a fixed barrel which also acts as the guide rod for the recoil spring...
, put him behind the wheel of a Jaguar XK8
Jaguar XK (X100)
The Jaguar XK8 is a grand tourer car that was launched by Jaguar Cars in 1996, and was the first generation of a new XK series. The XK8 was available in coupé or convertible body styles and with the new 4.0 litre Jaguar AJ-V8 engine. In 1998 the XKR was introduced with a supercharged version of...
and made him swear more. James Harker noted that "whilst Fleming's Bond had been an Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
reader; Benson's is positively red top
Red top
Red Top, Red-top or Redtop may refer to*Agrostis gigantea - known as "Black Bent" or "redtop grass"*Red tops, a United Kingdom tabloid newspaper*The Hawker Siddeley Red Top air-to-air missile...
. He's the first to have group sex...and the first to visit a prostitute", whilst Black notes an increased level of crudity lacking in either Fleming or Gardner.
Others
Kingsley AmisIn 1967, four years after Fleming's death, his literary executors, Glidrose Productions
Ian Fleming Publications
Ian Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose...
, approached Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
and offered him £10,000 (£ in pounds) to write the first continuation Bond novel. The result was Colonel Sun
Colonel Sun
Colonel Sun , by Kingsley Amis, is the first James Bond continuation novel published after Ian Fleming's death in 1964; Glidrose Productions used the collective pseudonym "Robert Markham", for British novelist Kingsley Amis, with the intent of so publishing other novels by different writers...
published in 1968 under the pen-name Robert Markham. Journalist James Harker noted that although the book was not literary, it was stylish. Raymond Benson noted that Bond's character and events from previous novels were all maintained in Colonel Sun, saying "he is the same darkly handsome man first introduced in Casino Royale.
Sebastian Faulks
After Gardner and Benson had followed Amis, there was a gasp of six years until Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks
-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications to write a new Bond novel, which was released on 28 May 2008, the one hundredth anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth. The book—entitled Devil May Care
Devil May Care (novel)
Devil May Care is the thirty-sixth original James Bond novel. Written by Sebastian Faulks , it was published on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming, creator of Bond.-Background:...
—was published in the UK by Penguin Books and by Doubleday in the US.
Faulks ignored the timeframe established by Gardner and Benson and instead reverted to that used by Fleming and Amis, basing his novel in the 1960s; he also managed to use a number of the cultural touchstones of the sixties in the book. Faulks was true to Bond's original character and background too, and provided "a Flemingesque hero" who drove a battleship grey 1967 T-series Bentley.
Jeffrey Deaver
On 26 May 2011, American writer Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery/crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He later practiced law before embarking on a successful career as a best-selling...
, commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, released Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche (novel)
Carte Blanche is a James Bond novel written by Jeffery Deaver. Commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications, it was published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton on 26 May 2011 and was released in the United States by Simon & Schuster on 14 June 2011...
. Deaver restarted the chronology of Bond, separate from the timelines any of the previous authors, by stating he was born in 1980; the novel also saw Bond in a post-9/11 agency, independent of either MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
or MI6.
Whilst the chronology changed, Deaver included a number of elements from the Fleming novels, including Bond's tastes for food and wine, his gadgets and "the rather preposterous names of some of the female characters."
Young Bond
In 2005 author and comedian Charlie HigsonCharlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
released SilverFin
SilverFin
SilverFin is the first novel in the Young Bond series that depicts Ian Fleming's superspy James Bond as a teenager in the 1930s. It was written by Charlie Higson and released in the UK on March 3, 2005 by Puffin Books in conjunction with a large marketing campaign; a Canadian release of the same...
, the first of five novels and one short story in the life of a young James Bond; his final work was the short story "A Hard Man to Kill", released as part of the non-fiction work, Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier
Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier
Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier is a non-fiction companion to the Young Bond series of novels written by Charlie Higson. The book contains in-depth character profiles to the cars, the weapons and the exotic locations, plus facts, statistics, photographs, maps, and illustrations by Kev Walker...
, the companion book to the Young Bond series. Young Bond is set in the 1930s, which would fit the chronology with that of Fleming. As journalist Janice Turner
Janice Turner
Janice Turner is a columnist and feature writer for The Times. Previously she was a magazine editor for several women's titles, and wrote a column about magazines for UK Press Gazette. She was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire...
noted about the series, "To imagine the invulnerable man as a vulnerable boy messes with a potent masculine myth".
Higson stated that he was instructed by the Fleming estate to ignore all other interpretations of Bond, except the original Fleming version. As the background to Bond's childhood, Higson used Bond's obituary in You Only Live Twice as well as his own and Fleming's childhoods. In forming the early Bond character, Higson created the origins of some of Bond's character traits, including his love of cars and fine wine.
Adaptations
Barry Nelson
Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.-Early life:...
, was changed to "Card Sense" Jimmy Bond, an American agent working for "Combined Intelligence".
In 1957 the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
newspaper adapted Fleming's stories into comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
format. In order to help the artists, Fleming commissioned a sketch to show how he saw Bond; illustrator John McLusky
John McLusky
John McLusky is a former comics artist best known as the original artist of the comic strip featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond.-Biography:...
considered Fleming's version too "outdated" and "pre-war" and changed Bond to give him a more masculine look.
In 1962 Eon Productions, the company of Canadian Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
and American Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
released the first cinema adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
, featuring Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
as 007. Connery was the first of seven actors to play Bond on the cinema screen, six of whom appeared in the Eon series of films. As well as looking different, each of the actors have interpreted the role of Bond in a different way.