Ian Fleming

At 56 years old, Ian Fleming has this physical status:

Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1928) was an English writer, journalist, and naval intelligence officer best known for his James Bond series of spy books.

Fleming was a wealthy family linked to Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was Henley's Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1917, when he died on the Western Front in 1917.

Fleming went to many jobs before starting to write, educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva. Fleming, who was serving with the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, was involved in the preparation and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit, and T-Force.

Much of the James Bond books' history, breadth, and depth can be found in his wartime service and his career as a journalist. In 1952, Fleming wrote his first Bond book, Casino Royale.

It was a success, with three print runs being ordered to satisfy the demand.

Between 1953 and 1966, eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories were published.

The books revolve around James Bond, an agent with the Secret Intelligence Service also known as MI6.

Bond is also known by his code number 007 and he served as a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve.

The Bond novels are one of the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, with over 100 million copies sold around the world.

Fleming wrote Chitty-Bang-Bang, a children's book, as well as two non-fiction works.

The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945." Ann Charteris married Fleming, who was estranged from the second Viscount Rothermere due to her affair with the author.

Caspar, the son of Fleming and Charteris, was born.

Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for the majority of his life and died of heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56.

Two of James Bond's books were published posthumously; other writers have since published Bond books.

Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-six times, as the main protagonist, seven actors.

Education and early life

Fleming was enrolled in Durnford School, a preparatory school on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, in 1914. He didn't enjoy his time at Durnford; he was starving, physical pain, and bullying.

Fleming, 1921, was accepted at Eton College. He excelled in athletics and held the trophy of Victor Ludorum ("Winner of the Games") for two years from 1925 to 1927, not a high achiever academically. The Wyvern is also a school magazine that was edited by him. Fleming's lifestyle brought him into conflict with his housemaster, E. V. Slater, who disapproved of his hair oil, his ownership of a car, and his dealings with women. Slater begged Fleming's mother to suspend him from Eton a term early for a crammer course in order to gain admission to Sandhurst's Royal Military College. He spent less than a year there before moving to 1927 without receiving a commission, in 1927. Contracting gonorrhea is the oldest known source of gonorrhea.

His mother sent him to the Tennerhof in Kitzbühel, Austria, which was a small private school run by Adlerian disciple and former British spy Ernan Forbes Dennis and his novelist wife, Phyllis Bottome, in 1927, to prepare him for potential admission to the Foreign Office. He spent a short time at Munich University and the University of Geneva, improving his language skills there. When Fleming first met Monique Panchaud de Bottens in Geneva, the pair became engaged shortly before he returned to London in September 1931 to take the Foreign Office exam. He had a pass grade but was unable to get a job offer. In October 1931, his mother intervened in his affairs, lobbying Sir Roderick Jones, the company's president, and giving him a job as a sub-editor and journalist. Fleming spent time in Moscow in April 1933, where he covered the Stalinist trial of six engineers from British company Metropolitan-Vickers. While waiting for an interview with Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin, he was delighted to receive a personally signed note apologizing for his inability to attend. When returning from Moscow, he ended his relationship with Monique after his mother threatened to withhold his trust fund allowance.

Fleming bowed to family distress once more in October 1933, taking the lead at Cull & Co. He moved to Rowe and Pitman on Bishopsgate in 1935 as a stockbroker. In both cases, Fleming was unsatisfied. Fleming began a long-term friendship with Muriel Wright while skiing in Kitzbuhel, Austria, in the same year. Fleming was overcome with guilt and regret after her death in 1944 during a bombing raid, and it is widely believed that she inspired the girls he was to write for. Ann O'Neill, née Charteris, was married to 3rd Baron O'Neill, and she was also dealing with Esmond Harmsworth, the heir to Lord Rothermere, the owner of the Daily Mail, beginning in 1939.

Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, had Fleming recruited him as his personal assistant in May 1939. He joined the company full time in August 1939 with the codename "17F" and worked out of Room 39 at the Admiralty, now known as the Ripley Building. Andrew Lycett, Fleming's biographer, notes that the job had "no apparent qualifications" for the position. Fleming was initially deployed as lieutenant, but he was promoted to lieutenant-commander a few months later as part of his service.

Fleming served as Godfrey's personal assistant and excelled in administration. Godfrey was known as a brusive character who made enemies within government circles. Fleming was often used as a liaison with other parts of the government's wartime administration, including the Secret Intelligence Service, the Political Warfare Executive, the Joint Intelligence Committee, and the Prime Minister's staff.

Godfrey issued a note on September 29 1939, shortly after the war began, "bore all the characteristics of a... According to historian Ben Macintyre, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming. It was called the Trout Memo, and it likened the deception of an enemy in wartime to fly fishing. Many options had to be explored against the Axis powers to lure U-boats and German surface ships into minefields. Number 28 on the list was an attempt to print misleading papers on a body that would be discovered by the enemy; the plan is similar to Operation Mincemeat, the 1943 effort to conceal the alleged invasion of Italy from North Africa, which was initiated by Charles Cholmondoley in October 1942. "A Suggestion (not a nice one)" was the Trout Memo's title, and it continued: "A Suggestion (not a nice one)" was included in a book by Basil Thomson: A corpse dressed as an airman with despatches in his pockets could be dropped on the coast, possibly from a parachute that has failed." I know it's no problem to obtain corpses at the Naval Hospital, but it will have to be a new one."

Kenneth Mason, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, was consulted by Fleming and Godfrey in 1940. These studies were the precursors to the Naval Intelligence Division Geographical Handbook Series, which was published between 1941 and 1946.

Operation Ruthless, a project aimed at obtaining information of the German Navy's Enigma codes, was sparked by a memo sent by Fleming to Godfrey on September 12, 1940. The plan was to "obtain" a Nazi bomber, along with a German-speaking crew dressed in Luftwaffe uniforms, and crash it into the English Channel. The crew would then assault their German rescuers and transport their boat and Enigma machine back to England. The mission was never carried out, much to Alan Turing and Peter Twinn's annoyance at Bletchley Park. Lucy, a Royal Air Force official, in Fleming, said it would likely sink rather quickly if they were to drop a downed Heinkel bomber in the English Channel.

Fleming also worked with Colonel "Wild Bill" Donovan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special advisor on intelligence cooperation between London and Washington. Fleming accompanied Godfrey to the United States in May 1941, where he helped draft a blueprint for the Office of the Coordinator of Information, the department that later became the CIA and later became the CIA.

Admiral Godfrey's command of Operation Goldeneye, 1941- 1942; Goldeneye was a scheme to keep an intelligence framework in Spain in case of a German takeover of the territory. Fleming's scheme called for continuing contact with Gibraltar and the launch of sabotage operations against the Nazis. He liaised with Donovan over America's involvement in a bill that was not designed to ensure that the Germans did not control the seaways in 1941.

In 1942, Fleming established No. 2 commandos, which became known as No. 1 on the commando unit. 30 Commando or 30 Assault Unit (30AU), which is made up of specialist intelligence forces, is the 30 Commando or 30 Assault Unit (30AU). 30AU's job was to be near the front line of an advance, often in front of it, in order to capture enemy information from previously targeted headquarters. The unit was based on a German group led by Otto Skorzeny, who had been involved in similar operations in the Battle of Crete in May 1941. The German unit was regarded as one of the most "most innovative advancements in German intelligence" by Fleming.

Fleming did not fight in the field with the unit, but rather selected goals and directed operations from the rear. On its inception, the unit was 30 strong but it grew to five times its size. The SOE units were loaded with men from other commando units, as well as being trained in unmanned combat, safe-cracking, and lockpicking at the SOE units. Edmund Rushbrooke, a senior admiral of the Rear-Admiral, was promoted to Godfrey as the head of the Naval Intelligence Division in late 1942, although Fleming's position in the company decreased, although he retained control over 30AU. Fleming was unpopular with the unit's members, who feared him by referring to them as his "Red Indians" rather than "Red Indians."

The majority of 30AU's operations were in the Mediterranean before the 1944 Normandy landings, although it is likely that it was involved in the Dieppe Raid, which was unsuccessful pinch raid for an Enigma machine and similar items. The raid was carried out by HMS Fernie, 700 yards offshore. 30AU gained a large following in Sicily and Italy as a result of its successes in Sicily and Italy, and naval intelligence has been widely relied on by naval intelligence.

In March 1944, Fleming oversaw the delivery of intelligence to Royal Navy units in preparation for Operation Overlord. On June 6, 1944, he was dismissed as the head of 30AU, but he maintained some involvement. He spent 30AU in the field during and after Overlord's victory in Cherbourg, in which he was worried that the unit had been incorrectly used as a regular commando force rather than an intelligence-gathering unit. This wasted the men's specialist knowledge, put them in jeopardy on missions that did not justify the use of such specialized agents, and put the men's intelligence in jeopardy, jeopardizing the critical gathering of intelligence. The unit's leadership was reformed afterwards. Since being located in Tambach Castle, the German naval archives from 1870, he followed the unit into Germany.

Fleming's Director of Naval Intelligence was sent by in December 1944 on a knowledge fact-finding trip to the Far East. The bulk of the trip was spent investigating opportunities for 30AU in the Pacific; the unit saw no movement as a result of the Japanese surrender.

The success of 30AU resulted in the establishment of a "Target Force" in August 1944, which became T-Force. After capture of large towns, ports, etc., the official memorandum, which is on display at The National Archives in London, details the unit's primary function: "T-Force = Target Force" to guard and locate documents, personnel, and intelligence with combat and Intelligence forces. "In a free and hostile world," the el and the enemy territories are liberated.

Fleming served on the commission that selected the T-Force unit's goals and listed them in the unit's "Black Books," which were sent to the unit's officers. The infantry component of T-Force was a component of the 5th Battalion, King's Regiment, which was mainly funded by the Second Army. It was responsible for securing British military targets of interest, including nuclear labs, gas research centers, and individual rocket scientists. Messerschmitt Me 163 fighters and high-speed U-boats were among the unit's most important discoveries made during the siege on Kiel, Germany's research center for German engines used in the V-2 rocket. Fleming's writing, particularly in his 1955 Bond novel Moonraker, would include elements of T-Force's activities.

Fleming attended an Anglo-American intelligence summit in Jamaica in 1942, and, amid the constant rain during his visit, he decided to stay on the island once the war was over. Ivar Bryce helped locate a plot of land in Saint Mary Parish, where Fleming had a house built in 1945, which he described as Goldeneye. Several possible sources point to the name of the house and estate where he wrote his books. Fleming himself addressed the use of British naval bases in the Caribbean by the American navy in the wartime Goldeneye and Carson McCullers' 1941 book Reflections in a Golden Eye.

Fleming was demoteged in May 1945 but stayed in the RNVR for several years, receiving a rank to substantive lieutenant-commander (Special Branch) on July 26, 1947. He was given the King Christian X's Liberty Medal in October 1947 for his part in assisting Danish officers in escaping from Denmark to Britain during Denmark's reign. He ceased his service on August 16, 1952, when he was barred from the active list of the RNVR with the rank of lieutenant-commander.

He became the foreign manager in the Kemsley newspaper company, which at the time owned The Sunday Times, following Fleming's demobilization in May 1945. He oversaw the newspaper's global network of correspondents. His job enabled him to take three months' holiday every winter, which he took in Jamaica. Fleming served full time for the paper until December 1959, but she continued to write essays and attend the Tuesday weekly meetings until at least 1961.

Ann Charteris' first husband died in the war, but she planned to marry Fleming, but he refused to marry a bachelor. She married Viscount Rothermere on June 28, 1945, the second Viscount Rothermere of London. Despite this, Charteris continued her Fleming affair by heading to Jamaica to see him under the pretense of visiting his brother and neighbor No.l Coward. Mary, Fleming's daughter who was alsoborn in 1948, was the firstborn. Rothermere divorced Charteris in 1951 because of her friendship with Fleming, and the couple married in Jamaica on March 24, 1952, a few months before their son Caspar was born in August. Both Fleming and Ann had affairs during their marriage, she with Hugh Gaitskell, the Labour Party leader and Opposition leader. Fleming was involved in a long-running affair in Jamaica with Blanche Blackwell, the mother of Island Records' Chris Blackwell.

Fleming was also a collaborator of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, who was able to remain at Goldeneye in late November 1953 due to Eden's declining health.

Fleming had first told family that he wanted to write a spy book, which he accomplished within two months with Casino Royale. On February 17, 1952, he began writing the book at Goldeneye, drawing inspiration from his own experiences and imagination. He recalled later that he wrote the book to distract himself from his impending marriage to the pregnant Charteris, calling the book his "dreadful oafish opus." Joan Howe (mother of travel writer Rory MacLean) and Fleming's red-haired secretary, on whom the character Miss Moneypenny was partially based, typed his manuscript in London. Clare Blanchard, a former boyfriend, told him not to publish the book or at least do so under a pseudonym.

Fleming allowed his friend William Plomer to view a copy during Casino Royale's final draft stages, but "the element of suspense is utterly absent." Despite this, Plomer thought the book had enough promise and sent a copy to Jonathan Cape, the publishing house. They were initially unimpressed with the book, but Fleming's brother, whose books they edited, begged the company not to publish it. Casino Royale was released in the United Kingdom in hardcover, priced at tens of 6d, with a Fleming cover. It was a success, and three print runs were needed to deal with the demand.

The novel follows James Bond, an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service also known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number 007 and as a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve, and he served as a commander. Fleming derived the name for his person from that of American ornithologist James Bond, an expert on Caribbean birds and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. Fleming, himself a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's book and told the ornithologist's wife "that this short, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine name was just what I wanted," and so a second James Bond was born. "I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom life took place," he said in a 1962 interview with The New Yorker. "I wanted him to be a blunt instrument." "I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest word I've ever heard."

Fleming based his creation on people he encountered during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division, and he confirmed that Bond "was a network of all the classified agents and commando types I encountered during the war." Among those were his brother Peter, who adored him, and who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war. Fleming expected that Bond would match composer, singer, and actor Hoagy Carmichael; some, such as author and scholar Ben Macintyre, would identify elements of Fleming's own appearance in his description of Bond. Bond has "dark, rather cruel good looks," according to the novel's general descriptions.

Fleming also modeled elements of Bond on Conrad O'Brien-ffrench, a spy who was credited with distinction in 30AU during the war, Patrick Dalzel-Job, who wore cufflinks and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in a Rolls-Royce, and Bill "Biffy" Dunderdale, station head of MI6 in Paris, a French spy who was chauffeured around Paris in a Rollseming Sir Fitzroy Maclean was another potential Bond model, based on his wartime service behind enemy lines in the Balkans, as had MI6 double agent Duko Popov. Bond was also endowed by Fleming with certain of his own characteristics, such as the same golf handicap, his obsession with scrambled eggs, his obsession with gambling, and the use of the same brand of toiletries.

Fleming wrote another Bond story after the publication of Casino Royale. Twelve Bond novels and two short-story collections were published between 1953 and 1966, the two (The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights) were published posthumously. The bulk of the tales were based on Fleming's previous work in the Naval Intelligence Division or incidents related to the Cold War. The plot of From Russia to Love uses a fictional Soviet Spektor decoding device to lure Bond; the Spektor had its roots in the German Enigma machine, which was built in the wartime. Eugene Karp, a US naval attaché and intelligence agent based in Budapest who took the Orient Express from Budapest to Paris in February 1950, was based on the novel's plot device, which contained information about blown US spy networks in the Eastern Bloc. The conductor was revived by Soviet assassins while on the train, and Karp's body was discovered in a railway tunnel south of Salzburg just after.

Many of the Bond villains were known as people Fleming, and the main villain in The Man with the Golden Gun, Reginald Goldfinger, was named after Fleming's acquaintance, Helen Johnson-Ernle-Drax, and one of the eight homosexual villains from Diamonds Are Forever, "Boofy" Kidd, who died before the patrons were identified.

The Diamond Smugglers, Fleming's first non-fiction book, was released in 1957 and was based partly on background information for his fourth Bond book, Diamonds Are Forever. The bulk of the content appeared in The Sunday Times and was based on John Collard's interview with him, a director of the International Diamond Security Organisation who had previously worked in MI5. Both in the United Kingdom and the United States, the book has received mixed reviews.

Fleming's first five books (Casino Royale, Live and Let Die), Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever and Love From Russia) received largely positive feedback. Bernard Bergonzi, a writer for the Twenty-Century, attacked Fleming's work as having "a strong streak of voyeurism and misogyny" and said that the books showed "the complete lack of any moral frame of reference." The essay compared Fleming unfavourably with John Buchan and Raymond Chandler on both moral and literary criteria. Dr. No was published a month ago, and Fleming was strongly chastised by reviewers who, in the words of Ben Macintyre, "rounded on Fleming, almost as a pack." Paul Johnson of the New Statesman, who wrote "Sex, Snobbery, and Sadism," described the novel as "the nastiest book I have ever read." "I was a third of the way through when I was a third of the way through," Johnson continued. Johnson acknowledged that there was "some basic ingredient" in Bond, but that it was viewed as a negative aspect: the sadism of a schoolboy bully, the chemical, two-dimensional snob snolescent's snob-cravings of a suburban adult, and a crude, snob-cravings of a suburban adult." "Mr Fleming has no literary talent, the book's construction is chaotic, and complete events and situations are introduced and then forgotten in a haphazard way," Johnson said.

After marital breakdowns and assaults on his work, Lycett says Fleming "went into a personal and creative decline." Before the publication of Dr. No, Goldfinger had been published; the next book Fleming was titled For Your Eyes Only, a collection of short stories derived from outlines created for a television series that never came to fruition. "Ian's mood of exhaustion and self-doubt was beginning to influence his writing," Lycett wrote while writing the television scripts and short stories.

The Kuwait Oil Company had hired Fleming in 1960 to write a book about the country and its oil industry. The Kuwaiti government had disapproved of the typescript, State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait, and it had never been revealed. According to Fleming: "The Oil Company stated their acceptance of the book but felt it was their responsibility to submit the typescript to Kuwait government officials for their approval." The Sheikhs were worried that particular light remarks and critiques, especially the passages referring to the country's turbulent past, "civilized" in every respect and forgetting its romantic roots."

Fleming came after the disappointment of For Your Eyes Only with Thunderball, the film script on which he had collaborated with others. Ivar Bryce, a young Irish writer and director, introduced him to Kevin McClory, and the three, along with Fleming and Bryce's friend Ernest Cuneo, worked on a script. Jack Whittingham, a veteran screenwriter, joined the newly formed team in October, and McClory and Whittingham delivered a script by December 1959. Fleming had second thoughts about McClory's involvement, and he had announced that he intended to hand over the screenplay to MCA with a suggestion from him and Bryce that McClory act as producer. McClory also told McClory that if MCA decided against the film due to McClory's presence, McClory would either sell himself to MCA, back out of the contract, or file a lawsuit in court.

Fleming wrote the book Thunderball, which was based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham, and McClory. McClory read an advance copy in March 1961 and Whittingham immediately petitioned the High Court in London for an injunction to prevent publication. Fleming agreed to a deal, the second in November 1961, settling out of court. McClory obtained the screenplay's literary and film rights for the film, while Fleming was given the right to the book if it was described as "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and the Author."

Fleming's books had always sold well, but 1961-1961 sales soared sharply. On March 17, 1961, four years after its publication and three years after Dr. No, a major critique of Life, with Love as one of US President John F. Kennedy's top books. Kennedy and Fleming had met in Washington before. This award and the accompanying media all resulted in a rise in sales that made Fleming the best-selling crime writer in the United States. Fleming's "Love to be his best book" is a bestseller, according to him, "the good thing is that each one of the books appears to have been a favorite with one or another segment of the public, and no one has been completely condemned."

During a Sunday Times regular weekly meeting, Fleming had a heart attack shortly before the second court case on Thunderball. As he was convalescing, Duff Dunbar, one of Fleming's friends, gave him a copy of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirn's Squirming Nutkin and suggested that he write up the bedtime tale that Fleming used to tell his son Caspar every evening. Fleming sparked the cause with a ferocious ode to his publisher, Michael Howard of Jonathan Cape, saying, "There is not a moment, even on the edge of the tomb, where I am not slaving for you."

Harry Saltzman's published and future James Bond books and short stories in June 1961. Saltzman and Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli developed Eon Productions, which was later reduced to five with Sean Connery on a six-film contract, which was later reduced to five with Dr. No (1962). Bond's portrayal by Connery influenced the literary style; in You Only Live Twice, the first book published after Dr. No. No was published, Bond gave Bond a sense of humour that was not present in previous books.

Thrilling Cities, a reprint of a series of Sunday Times articles based on Fleming's impressions of world cities in trips between 1959 and 1960, was published in November 1963. Fleming suggested several ideas, including the names of characters Napoleon Solo and April Dancer, who were approached by producer Norman Felton in 1964 to produce a spy series for television, for the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. However, Fleming withdrew from the venture following a suggestion from Eon Productions, who were keen to prevent any legal issues from occurring if the project overlapped with Bond's.

Fleming wrote the first draft of The Man with the Golden Gun in January 1964, marking his last holiday. He was dissatisfied with it and wrote to William Plomer, the copy editor of his books, asking that it be rewritten. Fleming grew dissatisfie with the novel and considered rewriting it, but Plomer, who refused to make it available for publication, was dissatisfied.

Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker throughout his adult life and suffered from heart disease. He suffered a heart attack and then failed to recover in 1961, aged 53. Fleming and his friends dined at his hotel on August 11, 1964, while staying at a hotel in Canterbury. The day had been exhausting, and he died after a second heart attack shortly after the meal. Fleming died in Kent and Canterbury Hospital in the early morning of 12 August 1964 — his son Caspar's 12th birthday. His last recorded words were an apology to the ambulance drivers for being inconvenienced, adding, "I am sorry to bother you chaps." I'm not sure how you get along so quickly with the traffic on the highways these days." Fleming was buried in the churchyard of Sevenhampton, near Swindon. His will was confirmed on November 4th, with his estate worth being equal to £6,513,997 in 2021).

The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy, and The Living Daylights were published posthumously. The Man with the Golden Gun was released eight months after Fleming's death and did not go through the entire editing process by Fleming. As a result, Jonathan Cape's publishing company was expected to be thin and "feeble." The publishers had sent the manuscript to Kingsley Amis for reading on holiday, but did not use his ideas. Henry Chandler, a biographer for Fleming, claims that the book "received polite and even sad comments, acknowledging that the book had largely been unfinished, and that does not represent Fleming at the top of his game." The last Bond book, which included two short stories, Octopussy and The Living Daylights, was released in the United Kingdom on June 23, 1966.

Caspar's son, who was 23 years old at the time, committed suicide by opioid overdose and was buried with his father. Ann Fleming's widow died in 1981 and was buried with her husband and their son.

Source