May 28 is the 115th birthday of writer Ian Fleming, who invented James Bond.
British writer Ian Fleming (1908-1964) He served in military intelligence during World War II. He was an intellectual strategist: he developed operations. According to one legend, it was Ian Fleming who developed the operation to kidnap the Reichsleiter and Hitler’s personal secretary, Martin Bormann, in exchange for information on Nazi Party gold. It seems that everything went well, and Bormann later “thawed” in South America. Fleming named one of his operations “James Bond” – after the ornithologist who wrote a book about West Indies birds, which caught the author’s attention.
Ian Fleming: scout, reveler and lover
He came from a noble and wealthy family – his father was a member of parliament and was listed as a friend of Winston Churchill. The parents broke up, but the mother supported her son in all his endeavors.
Jan was a reveler and rake: he had dozens of novels with married women, some of which ended in scandals.
He married “with a scratch” and, to amuse himself, began writing a novel about a super spy who fought right and left while living in a big way. The plot was almost parody, but the canvas was real – Ian Fleming knew a lot about British intelligence.
The first novel “Casino Royale” about James Bond was published on April 13, 1953 and was not in great demand: only 12 thousand copies were sold per year. USA. Moreover, American publishers demanded what was called in the “American” style – Jimmy. In the 1950s, films about agent 007 began to be made in the USA under this name. But later – already in canonical versions – they returned to the original name: “Bond. James Bond!”
As soon as Fleming felt success, he immediately began to write new stories rather quickly – one novel a year. He was “full” in his youth, when he managed to work under the auspices of his mother as a reporter for the legendary Reuters news agency.
The author found his ideal in this “spy fiction,” as Fleming called his wife’s literary work. A total of 14 Bond novels will be published, they crystallized the image of the “unsinkable” super agent 007. The style of the book cycle is a mix of the pathetic and the grotesque.
The author led no less turbulent life than James Bond in terms of love affairs and drinking. The health of the master could not stand it: he left at the age of 56, having suffered a second heart attack. However, the hero he created was successfully transferred to the screen and attained immortality. He has been portrayed in 25 films by six actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig. Everyone contributed something – one Bond was more aggressive, the other kinder, but overall the super spy turned out to be a solid and memorable personality.
Each legendary hero has their own unique characteristics and attributes. Superman has a red cloak, a yellow “S” on a blue suit, and the ability to fly. Batman has a bat mask, a Batmobile and a high sense of justice. Focus super agent 007 described such features that Bond is not Bond.
Superspy 007 James Bond’s Top 10 Features
1. Cult phrase salutation: “Bond. James Bond.” If you repeat your last name like this with your first name when meeting, you’re introducing yourself explicitly or implicitly in the style of a famous super-spy.
2. The habit of drinking too much strong alcohol. 007 drinks on screen 120 times in 25 movies. In movies, James Bond prefers different cocktails, but the vodka martini is his alcoholic business card. In a word: “Shake but don’t stir.” It is estimated that he drank an average of 4.5 liters per photo. So Bond consumed an average of 112 liters of hard liquor.
3. Wearing the perfect tuxedo. Of course, wearing a tuxedo under a diving suit is more effective, as Sean Connery did in the movie “Goldfinger”.
And here is a segment where Daniel Craig’s “late” Bond shows his respectful attitude towards this quality of aristocrats. Your girlfriend’s super spy jokes aren’t working. The tuxedo is somewhere nearby, if not sacred to him.
4 Magnificent gesture. The habit of throwing a hat on a hanger from at least two or three meters away.
5. Large-scale enemies. At the height of the Cold War between the USSR and the West, Soviet General Orlov, almost like Putin, would do: “With any resistance from the enemy, we will conquer Europe in five days.” But later Bond’s ally, a Ukrainian general with the surname Gogol, objected to him: “Don’t you think this is pure madness? It’s clear to anyone that NATO will certainly respond with a nuclear strike!” – “Never. The West is rotting and divided” – Orlov was excited. “I see no reason to start a war for your manic thirst for conquest,” Gogol reasoned with him.
It’s surprising that it sounds so relevant today. Putin’s plan to “take Kiev in three days” immediately comes to mind. And after the failure of this plan – nuclear blackmail.
It is a pity that in the circle of the President of the Russian Federation there is no such person as General Gogol.
6. The girl named Spy. The category “James Bond girls” is very prestigious. They include the world’s first beauties: Monica Bellucci, Olga Kurylenko, Eva Green, Halle Berry, Ursula Andress. “Bond Girl” is a kind of mark of quality for an actress in terms of excessive external data.
James Bond only seriously decided to marry once (just like Ian Fleming), but his bride was shot (aimed at him) while the super-agent was driving with him. James Bond has had 54 daughters to date.
7. Gadgets and supercars. A mousetrap in a jacket pocket: in case someone climbs up to check their documents or weapons. A magnetic watch that can attract the “dog” on a girl’s jacket to undress her.
James Bond had a lot of luxury cars: Sunbeam Alpine Bentley 3.5 Liter, Aston Martin DB5. But the most unusual is the Spy Who Loved Me’s 1977 Lotus Esprit underwater car: it also launches rockets out of the water. And a trip to a crowded beach in such a unit instantly made a splash among vacationers. Bond loves effects.
8. James Bond is estimated to have killed 362 villains in 25 scenes. Sometimes the method of killing was quite exotic. For example, in the movie “Live and Let Die,” Bond dropped a drug lord killer from a helicopter into the mouth of a factory chimney.
9. The ability to disguise and take risks. One day, James Bond swam silently, for example, on a stuffed crocodile (“Octopus”). And when necessary, he wasn’t afraid to jump over a group of real crocodiles that flapped their greedy toothy mouths (“Live and let die”).
10. Bond movie entry To a characteristic musical introduction, in which we see Bond through the barrel of the enemy, and then – a shot from 007 and the screen fills with blood. It has long become a meme and a design and cinematic classic.
Source: Focus
Mary Moore is an accomplished author and journalist known for her engaging and informative writing on trending topics. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a keen interest in current events and a talent for finding the human angle in stories, Mary’s writing is always engaging, insightful and informative.