Ian Fleming: The Notes - some questions

May saw the publication by Queen Anne Press of John Pearson's Ian Fleming - The Notes, literally a volume of the notes that John Pearson wrote up after his interviews while preparing his biography of Ian Fleming, published in 1966. John Pearson has called it a book about writing a book, but it is more than that. Packed with candid reflections by those who knew Ian Fleming that didn't necessarily appear in the biography, as well as John Pearson's initial thoughts and queries, the book is, in essence, the reading between the lines. 

The book is a perfect companion to the 1966 biography, adding detail and putting people, events, and places into better context. There are aspects, too, notably Fleming's wartime experiences, that evidently could not be properly addressed by John Pearson, but have since been examined more fully by subsequent accounts by Andrew Lycett, Nicholas Rankin, Henry Hemming and others. The book also alluded to other points of interest, mainly relating to Ian Fleming's writing, that don't appear to have been followed up in John Pearson's or subsequent biographies, but are nevertheless very intriguing. If anyone can supply any answers to my questions raised by these matters, I'd be extremely grateful.

001. Ian Fleming had once said to fellow author Eric Ambler that he (Fleming) had written some 250 television scripts while in the US. Presumably Ambler meant television treatments, of which we know of ten or so, some of which were recycled by Fleming for short stories or have now seen the light of day in Anthony Horowitz's continuation Bond novels. I'm assuming that 250 scripts is a gross exaggeration or that the number was misremembered by Ambler. But is there a chance that Fleming wrote many more than those we know about?

002. Hugh Vivian-Smith told John Pearson that, while at City stockbrokers Rowe & Pitman, Ian Fleming contributed to the firm's newsletters. Do these newsletters exist still in the company's archives? Can they be accessed?

003. John Pearson makes a note to himself that among the items of Fleming's writing to dig out is an adaption of One Arabian Night, a television script by Sydney Carroll for Cary Grant. Does this piece of writing exist? If so, what form of adaptation does it take - a novel, a short story?

004. Al Hart, Ian Fleming's editor at the publishers Macmillans, recounted a story that Ian Fleming had told Princess Margaret. The story was about a traveller that had arrived at a castle. He is welcomed in by the owner and stays the night. While in bed, the traveller is visited by a beautiful woman who sleeps with him. In the morning, the guest says to his host that he's sorry he didn't meant the host's wife. His host tells him that, to his great sorrow, his wife is a leper. This story sounds remarkably like 'The Visitor', a short story by Roald Dahl that was published in Playboy in 1965. In his interview with John Pearson, Roald Dahl said that Fleming came up with several story ideas, but the only one that Dahl took was 'Lamb to the Slaughter'. Might there in fact have been more, 'The Visitor' being one, or did Fleming take the story from Dahl before it was published?

005. Finally, the volume reminded me that John Pearson assisted Ian Fleming with his 'Atticus' column at the Sunday Times and on occasion wrote some of the copy. The dates of Fleming's tenure as Atticus remains a little fuzzy, and it's not always clear which entries he was responsible for. To the powers that be, would it be possible to have an edited volume of Ian Fleming's 'Atticus' containing a selection of his best or most interesting pieces (like this or this) and a precise chronology? 

Whatever the answers to these questions, Ian Fleming - The Notes is fascinating read and an essential addition to the Fleming scholar's library. 

No Time To Die in the Gleaner

Back in 2013, during the 40th anniversary of the release of Live and Let Die (1973), I trawled through the archives of the Gleaner, probably Jamaica's best-known newspaper which James Bond reads from time to time in the novels, to find out how the newspaper covered the filming of Roger Moore's first Bond film, much of which was set on the island. 

The previous year, I delved into the Gleaner's archives to find out how the paper covered the filming of Sean Connery's first outing as Bond, Dr No (1962).  

Last year, Eon Productions returned to Jamaica to begin filming on Daniel Craig's final Bond effort (probably), No Time To Die. How did the coverage compare with that for Live and Let Die and Dr No? Did the presence of the film crew generate as much interest? Did James Bond still have a place in Jamaica's cultural environment? Once again, I took a look through the archives. 

The day after Eon's press conference to at Ian Fleming's former winter home, Goldeneye, James Bond was on the front page of the Gleaner on 26th April 2019. '007 comes home', ran the headline, with the article beginning with the familiar phrase: 'We've been expecting you, Mr Bond.' There was more inside the paper, with the item about the event taking up almost half a page. Apart from reporting what was revealed at the press conference, the article focused on the impact that the filming would have on the local economy; it was expected, the paper reported, that the filming would be mean employment for nearly a thousand Jamaicans, gaining work as extras, film crew and in support services, such as accommodation and transportation.

The Gleaner, 26th April 2019

The following day, the Gleaner published another photo of the launch event, this time of Daniel Craig, Naomi Harris and director Cary Joji Fukunaga being interviewed. 

In its entertainment pages on 15th May 2019, the Gleaner reported that Daniel Craig had been injured during filming in Portland at the eastern end of the island. The paper's coveraged remained positive, however, stating that such injuries are par for the course. The article also spoke to Jamaican radio celebrity Nikki Z, who, it was reported, might share some screentime with Daniel Craig in the film. Recounting her experience filming on set, she praised the way that the film had represented African-Americans: 'It wasn't something where you saw a lot of us "Europeaned" out.' Nikki Z continued: 'You saw so much culture from what I was involved in, it made me feel proud.'

The Gleaner returned to Bond on 26th June 2019. Kimberley Small reported on the release of a behind-the-scenes look at the filming in Jamaica. Though not a trailer, the video, accompanied by a 'groovy dancehall rhythm', was hugely welcomed, especially coming after a string of negative events, including news of a peeping tom in the women's toilets at Pinewood, and an explosion at the studio. The article also highlighted the incongruous appearance of Heineken, rather than Red Stripe beer in the Jamaican scenes. However, the article concluded that fans will nevertheless be getting 'giddy with excitement, to see their beloved MI5 (sic) agent having a romp on the Caribbean shoreline.'  

The Gleaner, 26th June 2019

An article on 25th July 2019 reported on the resurgence of the Jamaican film industry, thanks in part to the presence of the 'Bond 25' crew in the country. The article stated that the film had resulted in 400 jobs for Jamaicans. 

On 5th January, the Gleaner ran through the list of big cinema releases expected in 2020. Accompanied by a photo of Daniel Craig, the piece noted that Bond 25, now called No Time To Die, was scheduled for release in April. Since then, of course, Covid-19 arrived. January's piece won't be the end of the Gleaner's coverage, but for now everything is on hold. 

Comparing the coverage in 2019 with that for Dr No and Live and Let Die, it is striking how similar it is. For all three films, the Gleaner reflected interest in the jobs that the filming would generate, and the duration and location of the filming. Ian Fleming, who created James Bond at Goldeneye, was not forgotten either. 

What is different, though, is the more critical look at how Jamaica is being represented in No Time To Die. When the film crew touched down in April, they arrived in a very different country to that in 1962, when Jamaica had just become independent, and to a lesser extent in 1972, when the legacy of colonial rule (which never fully disappears) still cast a long shadow. One thing is certain, however: James Bond retains the power to generate headlines in Jamaica. 

From The Property of a Lady to Octopussy: Snowman's Art of Carl Fabergé

This Easter, my thoughts turn to one man - James Bond and the part that a 'suberb green-gold Imperial Easter egg by Carl Fabergé' played in the film of Octopussy (1983). The egg and the auction in which it (or, rather, a fake) is sold are, of course, taken from Ian Fleming's short story, 'The Property of a Lady'.

Writing the story, Fleming turned to Kenneth Snowman's The Art of Carl Fabergé for inspiration and information. The 'Property of a Lady' of the story is a 'terrestrial globe designed in 1917 by Carl Fabergé'. This fictional piece is based on two separate works. One of them is an Easter egg in the form of a clock, which was never produced, but exists as a watercolour design. This was reproduced in Snowman's volume and also accompanied Fleming's story in The Ivory Hammer, Sotherby's yearbook in which the story was first published. The other is a miniature terrestrial globe, an early work that Fleming mentions in his story and is described in Snowman's volume (which Fleming also references).

Perhaps to acknowledge Kenneth Snowman's help in Fleming's research, the art expert himself appears as a character in the story. 

Kenneth Snowman's volume was also a sourcebook for the film's screenwriters (Richard Maibaum and George MacDonald Fraser) and prop-makers. 

During his briefing with M, with art expert Jim Fanning in attendance, James Bond is handed an auction catalogue, turned to the page in which egg, known as 'The Property of a Lady', is described. One can just about make out the text, which begins: '[Imperial] Easter Egg, known as the Coronation Egg, by Carl Fabergé. Presented to Her Imperial Highness the Tsarina Feodorovna by the Tsar Nicholas II in the year 1897.' The prop egg is indeed based on the real Coronation Egg (right down to the model of the imperial state coach), and the introductory words in the catalogue are taken almost verbatim from the entry for the Coronation Egg in Kenneth Snowman's volume: 'Coronation Egg. Presented to Alexandra Feodorovna by Nicholas II. Dated 1897.'

Much of the remaining part of the catalogue entry is based on Kenneth Snowman's text, but his description is also used in the film's dialogue. At the auction, the auctioneer describes the egg as: 'A superb green-gold lmperial Easter egg by Carl Fabergé. Enamelled in translucent green, enclosed by gold laurel-leaf trellis. Set with blue sapphires and four petalled gold flowers with diamonds.' Compare this to Kenneth Snowman's text: 'This superb red gold Egg, enamelled translucent lime yellow on an engraved field, is enclosed by a green gold laurel leaf trellis work cage.' 

In its adaptation of Ian Fleming's 'The Property of a Lady', Octopussy is remarkably faithful, not only to the short story itself, but also to its source material.  

Le Touquet: The final model for Royale-les-Eaux

Back in 2015, I explored the possible inspirations for the fictional seaside resort of Royale-les-Eaux, introduced in the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953) and revisited in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963). I noted that the location had shifted between novels, being first on the Côte Picarde on the south side of the Somme estuary before moving north to the Côte d'Opale in Pas-de-Calais.

A trip last year to explore the French locations in Goldfinger (1959) took me first to Le Touquet, from where James Bond begins his pursuit of the gold-obsessed villain. The idea that Royale-les-Eaux is based, at least in part, on Le Touquet is not new. Jon Gilbert, for example, suggests as much in his 2012 volume, Ian Fleming: The Bibliography. However, a few days on Le Touquet's beach brought home to me just how closely some aspects of the fictional town, as described in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, were modelled on the French resort. 

Take the swimming pool mentioned by Ian Fleming in the opening chapter of the novel: 'Music, one of those lilting accordion waltzes, blared from the loudspeakers around the Olympic-sized piscine.' Le Touquet's beach-side piscine was certainly large enough to qualify as 'Olympic-sized' and could well have been what Fleming (a frequent visitor to the resort) had in mind as he wrote those words. 

The swimming pool, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, in 1965

Ian Fleming then descibes three childrens' play areas on the beach of Royale-les-Eaux: Joie de Vivre, Helio and Azur. Today, there are six children's play areas on Paris-Plage, among them Joie de Vivre and Helio Plage. Whether these existed in Fleming's day, I can't be certain, but clearly Fleming had not conjured up the names purely from his own imagination.

Then there is the length of the promenade at Royale-les-Eaux: a full five miles, which is pretty much the length of the beach of Le Touquet-Paris Plage. 

While Ian Fleming did not base Royale-les-Eaux entirely on Le Touquet (Trouville and Forges-les-Eaux, I think, were equally important sources of inspiration), the descriptions of the fictional town, in its later incarnation, owed much to the resort. If you were to look at images of Le Touquet in the 1960s, then you could well be looking at how Ian Fleming pictured his creation and the opening scenes of one his finest novels.     

Interviews about James Bond – a review of two recent books

Books in which the authors talk to people about James Bond are like buses. You wait ages for one, then two show up at once. The first to arrive, slightly ahead of the second, is The Many Lives of James Bond: How the Creators of 007 Have Decoded the Superspy, by Mark Edlitz. The second is Nobody Does it Better: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond, by Mark A Altman and Edward Gross.

Mark Edlitz’s book is the slimmer of the two, but is no less interesting or insightful. The book contains interviews conducted by the author with individuals who in one way or another have created incarnations of James Bond or otherwise interpreted the character. In the book, you’ll find interviews with film directors (such as Martin Campbell), writers of Bond stories (Anthony Horowitz and Mike Grell), illustrators (among them John McLusky and Dan Goozee), computer game designers (Glen A Schofield), and, in a series of particularly absorbing interviews, people who have actually been Bond in some way, including Corey Burton (James Bond Jr), Dietmar Wunder (the German voice of Daniel Craig) and Simon Vance (audiobook reader). 

These are fascinating interviews. We get a wonderful sense of the craft required to create aspects of James Bond and the professionalism of the individuals concerned. Take the author’s interview with Jany Temime, for example. We learn that the clothes worn by Daniel Craig’s Bond when he arrives at Skyfall in the film of the same name were designed to evoke the gentleman farmer, as befitting the owner of a country pile, while Bond’s scarf was based on that worn by Field Marshal Montgomery. I’ll never look at the costumes in the films in quite the same way again.

And we get the definitive answer to a question that until now as never been fully resolved: are the lyrics to Thunderball about James Bond or the villain? Lyricist Don Black is unequivocal: James Bond. (I still feel, though, that they suit the villain better. I’d also like to add that the word ‘thunderball’ isn’t entirely meaningless, as is usually implied – it refers to the mushroom cloud created by an atomic bomb.)

Returning to the book, what is less successful, I feel, is the author’s attempt to gain insight through these interviews about the character of James Bond himself and find out what makes Bond tick. Questions about what motivates Bond (which Bond? There have been so many), whether Bond would still be Bond were he not a spy and other, similar questions, though philosophically interesting to an extent, seem tacked-on, while the answers are somewhat unconvincing.

Nevertheless, the book is a page-turner and deserves a place in every Bond fan’s bookshelf.

Altman and Gross’s effort is a somewhat different beast. Within the sizable tome (over 700 pages), the authors have assembled a comprehensive selection of quotations from many of the people connected with the James Bond films. Much of the content is based on interviews conducted by the authors, but the book includes material taken from other sources.

Arranged by film, including the two non-EON productions, the book takes a look the scriptwriting, casting, filming, publicity and reception of each release through the eyes of the people who were involved – directors, producers, actors, screenwriters and so on. The authors also talk to critics and popular culture commentators, who place the films in context and offer views on the impact that the films have had on them and society more generally in subsequent years.

The authors provide some linking text, but most passages are without any introduction or commentary. While this certainly gives readers a sense of that the views expressed are uncensored and ‘from the horse’s mouth’, the approach taken does present some difficulties. The historian, for example, might bemoan the lack of dates and sources. Which passages are taken from original interviews and which are reproduced second-hand? What are the dates of the quotations? Are they contemporary with the events being described or were they said years later? If the latter, might there be an issue with reliability? Sometimes we are presented with contradictory statements and, even after reading the various passages, remain none-the-wiser about the truth. (Were George Lazenby and Peter Hunt on speaking terms during the filming of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or not? It seems we will never know.)

More serious is the absence of editorial intervention where what has been said is just plain wrong. Terence Young’s assertion that Ian Fleming died during a swim, hinting heavily that he committed suicide, is factually incorrect and should have been challenged by the authors, at least by way of a footnote. 

All that said, the book is an invaluable sourcebook of views and facts from the people who were closest to the production of the Bond films. The authors are to be congratulated for assembling such a useful resource. This is a book designed to be savoured, to dip in and out of, ideally with a vodka martini by one’s side.

Our Man in New York - a review

Hear the words ‘America First’, ‘fake news’ and ‘agents of influence’, we would probably think of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan, the pernicious spread of disinformation via traditional news outlets and social media, and Russian interference in the US presidential election. To Ian Fleming, these phrases would have meant one thing – the British campaign, led by William Stephenson, to bring the United States into the Second World. In his new book, Henry Hemming reveals the full story of MI6’s head of station in New York and his audacious campaign, which till now has only partially been told.  

By June 1940, Britain was in trouble. France had fallen to the German forces as thousands of allied soldiers were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. Merchant shipping, carrying vital supplies to the country across the Atlantic, faced constant threat from U-boat attack, and a German invasion of Britain seemed imminent. Winston Churchill knew that Britain would not win the war without America’s help. President Roosevelt was sympathetic to the cause, but his hands were tied; America was officially neutral and its population heavily anti-interventionist. Britain somehow had to overcome public opinion and break down powerful lobby groups. One man, MI6’s agent in New York, recognised that it had to be done by any means necessary. 

William Stephenson, a Canadian businessman and unlikely-looking spymaster, having brought himself to the attention of ‘C’, the head of MI6, was appointed to run an influence campaign in America. The work began uncertainly, but soon Stephenson knew what he had to do and in time built up an organisation – eventually given the cover name ‘British Security Coordination’ – that occupied an entire floor of New York’s Rockefeller Center. 

Henry Hemming has trawled through the archives and examined recently declassified files to reveal the full extent of Stephenson’s racket. The organisation run by Stephenson began rumours to discredit individuals sympathetic to Germany, devised opinion polls so that the results would appear more favourable, fed propaganda (and entirely false) stories to newspapers and radio stations, infiltrated campaign groups, set honey-traps and faked plans that seemed to put the Nazi threat on America’s doorstep. Stephenson himself cultivated a friendship with people close to the president, most importantly William Donovan, who would head-up the forerunner to the CIA.

As personal assistant to the Director of the Naval Intelligence, Ian Fleming weaves in and out of the narrative. Fleming’s part in the creation of what would become the CIA can be overplayed, and though Fleming was a key player, Hemming duly sets the record straight.
Hemming has not forgotten the Bond connection either. One of the two kills that earn James Bond his double-O status takes place at the Rockefeller Center. It’s worth noting, too, that William Stephenson would often meet people at the St Regis Hotel; James Bond stays there in the novel of Live and Let Die (1954).

There’s room, too, for other individuals who in time would leave a mark on James Bond lore. Ivar Bryce, Fleming’s friend and financial backer of the early attempts to bring Bond to the big screen, used his South American expertise during his time with BSC to fake a map that was almost decisive in bringing America into the war. (Interestingly, the same map is described as genuine in Room 3603, an earlier account of William Stephenson and the BSC. It’s fascinating to consider that Ian Fleming wrote a foreword to a book that he knew was far from the full story, as had been claimed on the dustjacket.) Roald Dahl, responsible for the screenplays of You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also worked for the BSC. I would like to have read more about Roald Dahl’s knack for digging out scandal that could be used to Britain’s advantage, as well the adventures he and Fleming enjoyed during their time together in New York and Washington away from the office, but perhaps that’s another story.

Our Man in New York is a fascinating read as thrilling as any work of fiction. There aren’t many history books that you’ll want to read in one sitting, but this is one of them. Henry Hemming has written a superb book that deserves a place on every Fleming aficionado’s bookshelf. 

Our Man in New York by Henry Hemming is published by Quercus in the UK and in the US (as Agents of Influence) by PublicAffairs.

On the trail of Goldfinger

During the summer, I went on an epic road-trip and retraced James Bond’s route in pursuit of Goldfinger from Le Touquet on the north coast of France to Geneva in Switzerland, as described in Ian Fleming’s 1959 novel. 

For just a few days I became Bond as I followed the same roads, drove through the same towns and villages, stopped at the same hotels and ate the same food mentioned in the novel. Along the way, I re-discovered a France before the construction of the motorway network and sights and places away from the usual tourist routes. 

An article about my journey has just been published in issue 53 of MI6 Confidential. Click here to find out more. 

I’ve also put together a short video, accompanied by a rocking soundtrack, that shows the route that Bond takes. Check it out! 

Atticus and Bond: the inspiration for Rosa Klebb?

Another titbit from the Sunday Times's Atticus archive: in July 1954, Ian Fleming wrote about a Madame Rybkin, a forbidding figure in Russian Intelligence who held the rank of colonel and, Fleming claims, was the most powerful woman in the world of espionage. Sounds familiar?

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 23, 2019

In From Russia, With Love (1957), Rosa Klebb holds the rank of colonel and is 'one of the most powerful women in the [Soviet] state, and certainly the most feared'.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 23, 2019

Interestingly, Fleming links Colonel Rybkin to the Khokhlov case [a Russian assassin who defected to the CIA in 1954], which is alluded to several times in From Russia, With Love.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 23, 2019

Atticus and Bond: the most beautiful money in the world

In Goldfinger (the novel, 1959), James Bond tells Colonel Smithers of the Bank of England that he thinks the old £5 was the most beautiful money in the world. Colonel Smithers agrees with him.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 2, 2019

And so did Ian Fleming. In his Sunday Times Atticus column of 30th May 1954, Fleming wrote that to his mind, the £5 note (of that period) was the handsomest banknote in the world.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 2, 2019

At the time, the £5 note was considered high denomination. Fleming tells us that anyone presenting such a note was required to write their name and address on the back.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 2, 2019

Fleming wrote with experience. He had had to sign a £5 note when he presented it at a railway station.

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) September 2, 2019

James Bond in Biarritz?

During the summer, I took a road-trip from Le Touquet on the north French coast to Coppet in Switzerland, just north of Geneva, following the route that James Bond takes in the novel of Goldfinger (1959). At various points, James Bond consults a Michelin guide, and so to give me further insight into Bond's journey, I acquired a copy of a vintage edition of the guide, specifically the 1958 edition, the year in which Fleming wrote the novel.

When I returned to England, I watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), having also visited Piz Gloria while in Switzerland. It was then that I noticed for the first time that the book that Bond (George Lazenby) has on the passenger seat of his Aston Martin at the beginning of the film is the Michelin guide to France. Presumably, the edition used in the film is a more recent edition than mine, but it was nevertheless instantly recognisable. 

The Michelin guide, as seen on On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that the guide is open at a town plan that extends across two pages. Obviously, the map could not be of Estoril in Portugal, where the hotel scenes were shot and where Bond was presumably heading to in the film. Nor is the map that of Le Touquet or any other coastal town on the north French coast that inspired the fictional seaside resort of Royale-les-Eaux that appears in Casino Royale and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. So, what place does the map show?

After consulting my Michelin, carefully studying the maps that cover two facing pages and comparing them with a screenshot of the Aston's passenger seat, I can reveal that the map is of... Biarritz, the fashionable resort on France's south-western coast that has long been popular with the international jet-set. 

The plan of Biarritz, from the 1958 edition of the Michelin guide

While Biarritz the sort of place where James Bond would feel at home, it's unlikely that he's making his way there in the film. That said, Biarritz is not without a Bondian connection. In his biography of Ian Fleming, Andrew Lycett records that during a holiday there in the 1950s, Fleming decided to write a piece about casinos. The resulting article, 'How to win at roulette with only £10' was published in various forms, appearing, for example, along with references to James Bond, within the Monte Carlo chapter of Thrilling Cities.

Returning to OHMSS, I imagine that the set dressers simply required a town plan - any plan would do - that covered two pages and had relatively little text. They chose well. It's impossible to make out the name of the town on the screen and none of the other text is legible. And though film viewers can see that the book is open at a plan, the shot is gone in a blink of an eye. Details can only be made out after pausing the film.

Whether intentional or not, the appearance of the Michelin guide in the film provides a nice link to the literary 007, serving as a nod to James Bond's adventures in France in the novels. 

James Bond Food website launched

A website that explores the food of Ian Fleming’s James Bond has been launched. James Bond Food accompanies the James Bond cookbook, Licence to Cook, which is packed full of recipes inspired by the food James Bond eats in the novels of Ian Fleming. 

The website contains Bondian recipes not in the book, as well as articles about Bond’s food from the books and films. The website is being updated constantly, so be sure to visit regularly to read the latest post, find out how to eat like James Bond, or to get inspired for your next recipe idea.

Click here to visit James Bond Food.

On location: a visit to the College of Arms

Last week, I was privileged to visit the College of Arms in London. The principal roles of this world-famous institution are to grant coats of arms, investigate rights to existing ones, and undertake genealogical research. However, to Bond fans, it is best known as a location in both the book and the film of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. James Bond visits the college to learn about Blofeld’s request for its services to support his claim to the title of Count Balthazar de Bleuchamp (or Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, as it is in the book). Naturally, I took the opportunity to investigate the some of the spaces that inspired Fleming’s writing and the college scenes in the film.
 

The College of Arms

In the film, we are introduced to the college by means of an exterior shot of the front of the building, which is on Queen Victoria Street; Bond arrives in his Aston Martin and parks in the courtyard. This scene was shot on location and the building today is little changed.
 
The film cuts to an interior view of a hall, where Bond meets a porter in a cherry-red uniform (still worn today, a real-life porter at the college told me), who takes him through a side door to Sable Basilisk’s office. The hall is in fact the Earl Marshal’s Court, which may still, in theory, sit in order to hear and resolve heraldic disputes. The court in the film is a studio recreation, but apart from being larger and having more doors (through the long walls), it is a fair depiction of the real thing. The throne, enclosing rail, wall panelling, portraits, and flags present in the actual court are all represented on screen. The attention to detail is such that the screen court even depicts the crests and other devices above the doors and the radiators along the wall.
 

The court room in the College of Arms (top) and as depicted in OHMSS (below)

In the novel, Fleming describes the hall as gloomy, with ‘dark panelling…lined with musty portraits of proud-looking gentlemen in ruffs and lace’, and flags of the Commonwealth hanging from the cornice. Clearly, Fleming had visited the college himself.
 
During my visit, I got talking to one of the officers of the college, the York Herald. We chatted about the film, and he revealed that part of what would become the rooftop chase scene that was later deleted was filmed inside the college. A smaller room off the hall has a door in the corner. In the missing scene, Bond goes through this door ultimately to reach the roof.
 

Bond goes through this door on his way to the roof

The York Herald also pointed out that a few pages of the original script are on display in the corner of the court under a window. I eagerly went over to have a look and found that they featured dialogue from the deleted scene. (Photography of these pages is, incidentally strictly forbidden.)

Returning to the film, the porter leads Bond through a corridor to the door of Sable Basilisk. It is an ornate door, with an even more ornate name plate to the side. As I discovered as I explored some of the corridors after answering a call of nature, all the heralds’ office doors are rather elaborate. The office of Portcullis, for example, has a golden portcullis within a carved rosette-type device above the door. In the novel, Fleming describes the decoration above Sable Basilisk’s ‘heavy door’ as a nightmare black monster with a vicious beak, accompanied by a name plate in gold.
 

Doors of the heralds' offices

Today, the College of Arms is open to public enquiries, and I’m told that tours are occasionally given. The Bond connection is very much alive. Apart from the script, Bond-related books are on display on a table in the court room and available to purchase from the receptionist. The York Herald also told me that the college receives regular enquiries from Bond fans.

Who matches up with Bond?

Being a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books, I was recently given a copy of Match Up, an anthology of short stories that pair up well-established characters from thrillers and crime fiction. The volume is edited by Lee Child, and naturally Jack Reacher makes an appearance, teaming up with Kathy Reichs' forensic anthropologist, Dr Temperance Brennan.

The idea of character crossovers is nothing new, though is largely restricted to television, films and comics, especially of the superhero kind (though I remember a somewhat bizarre episode of Murder She Wrote in which amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher joins forces with Magnum PI). Characters from different novels rarely share the page together.

Unsurprisingly, Match Up got me thinking about James Bond and which other character he could join in an adventure. There are plenty to choose from – the many rivals in 1960s spy fiction for Bond's crown, for example – but there are two characters I'd put on my shortlist: Philip Marlowe and Jules Maigret. Their respective authors, Raymond Chandler and Georges Simenon, both have a connection to Ian Fleming. Fleming certainly admired their work. He knew Chandler well and had met and conversed with Simenon about their respective books. 

I would also like to find out the answer of an intriguing question. Raymond Chandler was once asked who would win if they found themselves up against each other, Bond or Marlowe? With a story featuring both characters, we might have a chance of finding out.

Actually, come to think of it, there is already a ‘match up’ of sorts – Clive Cussler’s Night Probe, featuring marine adventurer Dirk Pitt and a British agent called Brian Shaw. Clive Cussler based Shaw on Bond and indeed is reported to have intended the character to be Bond but was prevented by legalities.

There was another aspect about Match Up that interested me. In Lee Child and Kathy Reichs' story, Brennan is framed for the murder of a journalist, who had been investigating the suicide of an air force officer, one Calder Massee. It was believed that journalist had evidence that supported claims that Massee had in fact been murdered and that Brennan was part of the cover-up. But Reacher knows that it was a case of suicide and joins Brennan to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. 

How does Reacher know? The air force officer had been exposed as a spy, having passed secrets to the Russians (the back story is set during the 1980s at the tail end of the Cold War). As an officer in the military police, Reacher is sent to confront and arrest Massee. When they meet, they talk. Reacher later recounts, 'I laid out the situation. He begged me to let him shoot himself. He wanted to spare his family the disgrace.' 

Suicide to avoid dishonour is a familiar trope in fiction, but I couldn't help thinking of Ian Fleming's Octopussy, in which James Bond, investigating the theft of gold and the death of a mountain guide in Austria at the end of the war, catches up with the perpetrator, Major Dexter Smythe, and offers him the chance to put his affairs in order and commit suicide, thus sparing Smythe the disgrace of a trial.

It's time for a station break

Time for a station break (Tomorrow Never Dies)

After almost eight years, I've decided to hang up my metaphorical Walter PPK (or should that be put away my golden typewriter?) and call it a day with James Bond memes. In that time, I've somehow managed to publish a blog post on an aspect of James Bond almost every week. It's been a lot of fun and I've discovered stories, facts, and connections that demonstrate, if nothing else, that the cultural impact of Ian Fleming's creation is profound and far-reaching. James Bond is alive and well. I've also enjoyed reading the comments (well, most of them), and am grateful for the opportunities that the blog has given me to connect with fellow Bond enthusiasts and make life-long friendships.

While this will be my last post on James Bond memes, I won't be leaving the world of James Bond. I'll continue to write occasionally about James Bond for other outlets (check out my article on Ian Fleming and golf in the latest MI6 Confidential) and post on Twitter (@bondmemes). I also have an idea for another Bond-related blog that might see the light of day.

Though I'm taking a 'station break', James Bond memes will stay on the air, and so all my articles will remain available to read. If you'd like to get in touch, look me up on the 'contact information page'. So, in the immortal words of James Bond in Thunderball, 'See you later, alligator.'

James Bond: licensed to sell cleaning products

Harpic UK has turned to James Bond to help sell one of its products, Harpic Fresh Power 6, a toilet cleaner and freshener.

Its current television advert shows a man who immediately evokes James Bond by wearing a bow tie and a white dinner jacket and raising his arm and hand as if holding a gun.
 

From the latest Harpic Fresh Power 6 advert

‘You know how to press a button,’ the narrator says as the man pushes a doorbell. ‘You know how to keep your toilet clean.’ A toilet is flushed, and we see the power of Harpic Fresh demonstrated. Apparently, the toilet block boasts a cleaning foam, it removes dirt, it’s anti-limescale, it creates shine and freshness, and is long-lasting. All good Bondian qualities, I’m sure you’ll agree.

We return to the man in the dinner jacket, who blows across the top of his finger, as if blowing the smoke away from a gun that’s just been fired (symbolising, I imagine, the killing of germs and the power of the product), and he raises a satisfied smile and eyebrow.

The advert is short and sweet, but several traits or memes closely associated with James Bond are evident in the advert: the dinner suit (white in this case, presumably to convey the idea of cleanliness and freshness), the pose with the gun seen on many classic Bond posters, and the raised eyebrow commonly attributed to Roger Moore’s portrayal of Bond.

It’s not the first time that Bond memes have been used to sell cleaning products, and Harpic Fresh joins a long line of other products, among them Lenor fabric softener and Cillit Bang dirt remover.

The gunbarrel sequence is back! In the latest Cillit Bang advert #007 pic.twitter.com/Oa67bCg1JF

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) April 27, 2015

Why Bond is so attractive to the makers of cleaning products is a matter of debate. If the adverts are aimed at women, who might be perceived as the main users of the products, the creators of the adverts presumably hope that women will respond positively to an image of a strong, sophisticated manly figure like Bond. Or possibly the depiction of a Bond-like figure is a way of encouraging men to do more of the housework. Alternatively, the advert subverts the image of Bond by poking gentle fun at the character and placing him in unfamiliar situations.

But maybe we shouldn’t overanalyse the adverts. It could be that Bond is simply (and is still) a cool character and any manufacturer that attaches its products to him has the advantage among its competitors.

Whatever the case, I’m sure the Harpic Fresh advert won’t be the last cleaning product campaign to recruit James Bond.

Finding Bond in the Imperial War Museum's Secret War exhibition

During a recent visit to the Imperial War Museum in London, I made a bee-line for the fascinating Secret War exhibition, where I saw some of the gadgets, weapons and other tricks of the trade of covert operations, and read of the exploits of SOE agents, special forces, and Cold War spies.

Even in an exhibition of real-life agents, James Bond is never far away. Visitors entering the exhibition are met by a display that includes a poster of Casino Royale (2006), which is accompanied by the words, 'It's easy to mistake spy fiction for reality'. Turning the corner takes visitors to a short film, in which the real begins to be separated from the fictional; the video is soundtracked by music from the Bond films, and various images from the films appear on screen.
 

At the entrance to the Secret War exhibition

The exhibition displays gadgets – many designed for use in the Second World War – that are echoed in the Bond films and to a much lesser extent in the books (although the name of Q Branch may well owe something to the 'Q gadgets’ created for SOE agents by Charles Fraser-Smith). Ordinary items such as fountain pens, clothes brushes, razors, shoes and so on were used to conceal maps, secret messages, compasses, invisible ink, wire, tools and much more, and can be seen in the display cases.
 

Some of the everyday objects used for secret work in WW2

There is information too on Second World War agents who become famous for their remarkable wartime stories, among them Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas and Fitzroy Maclean, both of whom have been claimed as inspirations for James Bond.

There was one other aspect that had a vague Bond link. During the Cold War, agents resident in the USSR and elsewhere and preparing to spy for Britain were provided with recognition guides to the weapons, equipment and other strategic features of those territories. One handbook, for example, is called 'A pictorial guide to bridge recognition'. I was especially interested in two other handbooks on display. Both, in brown covers and ring-bound, are decorated with a silhouette of a gun. 

Looking at image on the handbook intended for agents in the Middle East, I was naturally reminded of the gun symbol that was used on the posters of the early Bond films and adapted for the Pan paperbacks published in 1962 and 1963.
 

Spy manual (left) and 007 logo from 1963

It seems highly unlikely that Joseph Caroff of United Artists, who had the idea for superimposing an image of a gun on the number 007, had seen the agents' handbooks, access to which was highly restricted. However, given that the handbooks were produced from the mid-1950s and into the 70s, it's not entirely impossible that the compilers of the handbooks were inspired by the posters. 

Whatever the case, the coincidence of practically the same device being used in relation to fictional and real-life spies is very pleasing.

Babchenko plot - a case of events imitating Bond film?

In dramatic style, the assassination of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was revealed to have been staged by the Ukrainian authorities (apparently with the involvement of the security services) when Mr Babchenko emerged live and well at a press conference the day after his death had been announced in the media. We heard that the plan was designed to foil a real attempt on his life by Russian agents.  

Reading about the events, I couldn’t help thinking about James Bond and wondering if life was imitating art. In the film of You Only Live Twice, the Secret Service pretends to kill Bond, whose ‘death’ is subsequently announced in the press, in order to trick his enemies into thinking that he’s dead. 

Then, in The Living Daylights, James Bond stages the fake death of KGB spy chief General Pushkin, shooting him with blanks in an auditorium. The plan is to make Brad Whitaker and General Koskov think Pushkin dead and allow Bond to get to the bottom of their plot. And, in apparently shooting him, Bond also saves Pushkin’s life, as Pushkin was about to be killed by henchman Necros.

As soon as I heard the news about Mr Babchenko, I tweeted a couple of images from The Living Daylights to make the connection between the events and Bond, and judging by the newspaper headlines the next day, the UK press also made the link. 

Fake assassination plot revealed. pic.twitter.com/A99koYXFl7

— Edward Biddulph (@bondmemes) May 30, 2018

The story was front-page news in The Sun, which featured the headline, ‘You Only Live Twice’. The Daily Star used the same headline on its front-page, and in a short column beside the headline, described the events as ‘Bond-style’. There was a second Bond-inspired headline was inside the paper: ‘I think I’ll die another day’. The words ‘You only live twice’ appeared inside the Daily Mail. These Bond-related headlines and descriptions appealed to the BBC News website, which highlighted them in its daily newspaper roundup.

The Bond films are of course fantastic in more ways than one, but events like the fake assassination in Ukraine suggest that the plots aren’t necessarily so far-fetched (or else the films have inspired real-life intelligence agencies). The headlines demonstrate that Bond-film titles – memes that can used without reference to Bond – continue to inspire newspaper editors.

Bond at Bletchley Park - a report

Inside Hut 12 at Bletchley Park

I was lucky enough to have been at Bletchley Park yesterday to attend a special press view of the new exhibition of artwork inspired by the James Bond novels: 'Bond at Bletchley Park: Illustrations and Inspirations'. The exhibition, which also explores Ian Fleming's connection to the World War Two codebreaking centre, was opened by Anthony Horowitz, who spoke about his introduction to James Bond, his interest in the wartime work at Bletchley, and his latest Bond novel, Forever and a Day. 

Click here to read my report on the event on the James Bond Dossier website.

Does James Bond eat Jell-O? Historical menu collection provides food for thought

Can the James Bond novels be used as historical documents, a reliable source of information on people, places, and events? Almost certainly, given Ian Fleming’s journalistic background and his determination to get factual details right. Take the food represented in the novels as an example. I was recently alerted to the existence of ‘What’s on the Menu’, an online collection of historical menus, largely of American restaurants, hosted by the New York Public Library (NYPL). One can search by restaurant, meal or food type, and decade or year, and even download the entire dataset. Browsing through the vast collection, it’s clear that the meals Bond eats or considers during his American adventures accurately reflect what was served and consumed at the time.
 

Cover of 1958 menu from Voisin. Image: NYPL 'What's on the Menu' collection

For instance, in Diamonds are Forever (1956), we read that Bond has a meal of two vodka martinis, Oeufs Benedict and strawberries at Voisin’s in New York. One of the menus available in the NYPL collection is a lunchtime menu from Voisin’s (closed Mondays) dating to 1958. The menu doesn’t offer eggs Benedict as such, but it does list Oeuf Poché à la Reine (priced at $2.50). Berries in season with cream (presumably including strawberries if available) are also listed and would have cost Bond $1.75. The menu doesn’t show drinks, but a martini from the Hotel Astor (where Bond stays in Diamonds are Forever) cost 90 cents. 

I’ve tended to think of Bond’s choice of camembert, which Bond orders on the train to Jacksonville in Live and Let Die (1954), as being somewhat incongruous. However, browsing through contemporary menus, it’s clear that the cheese was a standard option in American restaurants. Bond regards domestic camembert as ‘one of the most welcome surprises on American menus.’ It was a surprise to me too: from low-price diners to fancy restaurants, it seems that there aren’t many restaurants where it wasn’t available. 

Another curiosity for me is the fact that the only meals for which prices are given in the Bond books are chicken dinners. At Sugar Ray’s in New York in Live and Let Die, Bond notes that the special fried chicken dinner cost $3.75. In an eatery near his hotel in Saratoga Springs in Diamonds are Forever, Bond orders a chicken dinner for $2.80. Looking through the menus, the prices are pretty accurate, although Sugar Ray’s appears to be on the pricier side. Perhaps its special was something very special.  

For contemporary British readers, a chicken dinner would have conjured up images of roast chicken served with roast potatoes, stuffing and vegetables and smothered in gravy, and was what people could win at village fetes and association raffles. Something approaching an English-style roast dinner was of course available in America. A menu dated to 1958 from Chickland, a chicken restaurant based in Massachusetts, lists among its many items a ‘roast turkey dinner’, comprising turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables and gravy. But, as we know from Sugar Ray’s, a chicken dinner could also involve fried chicken. Chickland naturally also served several fried chicken specials, such as the ‘General Lee Special’, comprising southern fried chicken, French fired potatoes and, to follow, ice-cream and coffee, all for $2.50. The celebrated Knotts Berry Farm restaurant in California offered a fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as a pudding and drink, for $2.25 in 1956 [menu not in the collection].
 

Cover of 1958 menu from Chickland restaurant. Image: NYPL 'What's on the Menu' collection

Interestingly, Bond declines another opportunity to have fried chicken. He rejects the chicken ‘French fried to a golden brown, served disjointed’, listed on the menu on the train to Jacksonville, as ‘eyewash’.

Puddings served with chicken dinners, incidentally, could include fruit pie, ice-cream, a hot biscuit or Jell-O. I wonder which one Bond had with his chicken dinner in Saratoga Springs. (My bet’s on ice-cream.)   

The NYPL’s ‘What’s on the Menu’ collection is a treasure trove of information on dining and food culture mainly in the US from the 19th century to the present day. For the Bond aficionado, the resource provides useful background and context to Bond’s American adventures. The collection isn’t comprehensive; so far, the collection does not include many restaurants and hotels that Bond frequents and even fewer menus from those establishments that date to the year of publication. However, there is more than enough information from contemporaneous menus to show that Bond’s food choices (probably based on Fleming’s own experiences) accurately reflect the cultural environment around him. Time to go back to the online resource for a second helping!

James Bond volcano erupts

The stack of rock that featured in The Man With The Golden Gun has long been known as James Bond Island, and it seems as if another natural feature is swiftly gaining a similar name, at least unofficially.
 

The crater of Mount Shinmoedake. Photo: Motamota [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

The eruption of the Mount Shinmoedake volcano in Japan in March captured the attention of the world’s press. The sight was spectacular, of course, and it was the first time the volcano had erupted for seven years, but the event was also notable because the volcano doubled as the exterior view of Blofeld’s subterranean lair in You Only Live Twice (1967). Activity has continued, and this week the eruption has again featured in the press and other media outlets. 

Many of the articles published since last month have mentioned the volcano’s connection to James Bond, and inevitably the words ‘James Bond volcano’ have been used. ABC News had the headline, ‘Lightning seen over Japan's so-called James Bond volcano’. Jakarta Post ran with a story with the headline, ‘”James Bond” volcano erupts in Japan, no-go warning issued’. BBC News headlined its story with ‘Mount Shinmoedake: Warning over Japan's James Bond volcano’. The headline on the Forbes website was ‘Japan's 'James Bond' volcano erupts in a spectacular display of fire and smoke’. The Telegraph simply wrote: ‘Shinmoedake, Japan's 'James Bond volcano' erupts.’ Yahoo News reported that ‘Smoke Billows from Japan's 'James Bond' volcano’. The Sun didn’t use the phrase, ‘James Bond volcano’ in its headline, but still referenced James Bond: ‘Japanese volcano used in classic 007 movie starring Sean Connery erupts.’

While Mount Shinmoedake is unlikely to be renamed officially, the references to the James Bond volcano show that You Only Live Twice and SPECTRE’s secret base continue to have a significant place in the cultural environment across the world.