A dish for James Bond

As a foodie and keen amateur chef, I have quite a few cookbooks at home. I was sorting my library  and rediscovered a booklet of recipes that came with Tex's range of seasonings, which, according to the brand's website, provide a 'taste of the Caribbean.' One of the recipes caught my eye: 007's Jamaican Curry Mutton.

You can find the recipe on Tex's website. The method is very simple. Cut the mutton into cubes, rub in Tex's Jamaican Style Curry Powder and Tex's Tropical Multi-Purpose Seasoning, and leave to marinate for an hour. Then, fry some onion and garlic, add the mutton and other ingredients (red pepper, tomatoes, lemon juice and hot pepper sauce), and stir. Cover the pan, turn the heat to low, and let the curry simmer until the mutton is cooked.

Curried mutton – actually goat in Jamaica – isn't an obvious dish to be associated with James Bond. He eats a shrimp curry during dinner with Goldfinger, but in Jamaica he dines on fish, eggs and vegetables (Live and Let Die, chapter 17), sucking pig and avocado salad (LALD, chapter 23), lamb cutlets (Dr No, chapter 16), and a roast chicken and more fish (The Man with the Golden Gun, chapter 10).

But Ian Fleming is likely to have eaten curried goat during his stays at Goldeneye, and perhaps often. Noël Coward recalls that when he rented the house for a time (at the rate of £50 per week), his meals gradually changed from sumptuous dinners to a diet of salt fish and ackee or curried goat. Presumably the cook was Fleming's cook, and if curried goat was a staple meal for Coward, then it probably was for Fleming as well. That said, the letters of Ann Fleming give the impression that the Flemings survived solely on lobster, which Ian Fleming caught in the bay by the house.

Returning to 007's Jamaican Curry Mutton, it seems that the association between James Bond and Jamaica is still strong, 50 years after Dr No was released, and 48 years after Ian Fleming's death. The memes that associate Bond with Jamaica are perpetuated in ways that go beyond the books and the films, being expressed in, for example, songs (such as '007 Shanty Town' by Desmond Dekker), airport names (Ian Fleming International Airport, formerly Boscobel Aerodrome), and, as we have now seen, recipes.

Reference:

Amory, M, 1985 The letters of Ann Fleming, Collins Harvill, London

James Bond in 1969 - an update

In a recent post, I speculated about the events William Boyd might refer to in his forthcoming James Bond novel in order to root the narrative to 1969, the year in which the novel will be set. I wonder whether the author's 2002 novel, Any Human Heart, provides a little more insight.

The novel takes the form of a journal, which is written intermittently by the protagonist Logan Mountstuart between the early 1920s and the early 1990s. The journal covers, among other episodes, Mountstuart's school days, his time at Oxford University, his early career as a writer, his experience in naval intelligence during the second world war (having been recruited by Ian Fleming - more on that in a later post), and his time in New York running an art gallery. 

In 1969, Mountstuart is teaching English in Nigeria. Through Mountstuart's journal, William Boyd refers to the Moon landing (something I thought might be mentioned in the Bond novel), and places Mountstuart in the centre of the Nigerian civil war (also known as the Biafran War), which lasted from July 1967 to January 1970. 

Given Boyd's knowledge of the region (he grew up in Nigeria and set a novel in West Africa), it is possible that he might turn again to Africa, and we might at least see a reference to Nigeria and the Biafran War in his awaited Bond novel.  

James Bond's Olympics

There has been much speculation in the press and on the web about James Bond's role in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. The latest rumour is that Bond will receive a knighthood from the Queen (we'll ignore the fact that Bond turns down a knighthood in The Man with the Golden Gun; it's not that he's averse to the idea of a knighthood, just that he'd refuse to call himself Sir James Bond). Assuming that Bond is present at the opening of the games, what events would he stick around to watch?

We know from Bond's obituary in Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice that Bond, while at school at Fettes, formed friendships among the athletic circles, boxed for the school as a light-weight, and founded a judo class. The judo events begin on the 28th July, while the first round of boxing (light division) takes place the day after. (Incidentally, the regulation weight for the light division is 60kg; Bond's weight in From Russia, with Love is given as 76kg, so by the time Bond was engaged on his adventure in Turkey, he had put on enough weight to box at middle weight.)

As for the athletics, I suspect that Bond would be keen to follow the track events. Given that Bond shares many interests with Fleming, it is reasonable to suggest that Bond, like Fleming, was runner at school (Fleming had particular success at Eton with the mile, half-mile, quarter-mile and steeplechase). Round 1 of the 3000m steeplechase takes place on Friday 3rd August, and no doubt Bond will be watching this with interest. Fleming's other running events are now roughly equivalent to the 1500m, the 800m and the 400m. Bond's in for a long busy weekend of Olympic viewing: the first round of the 1500m begins on the 3rd August, Saturday 4th sees the start of the 400m contest, and the 800m competition starts on Monday 6th August.

The long jump was another event at which Fleming excelled while at Eton. If Fleming gave Bond his interest in the discipline, then Bond should note that the qualifiers start on the 3rd August. As Fleming was something of an all-rounder, then Bond might also be interested in the decathlon, which includes the long jump, 400m and 1500m.

Being a crack shot and, as we learn in 'The Living Daylights', good enough to have a fair chance of winning the Queen's Prize for shooting, James Bond would no doubt be keen to follow the shooting events. In particular, Bond is likely to appreciate the skills demanded in the 50m rifle prone (qualification begins on the 3rd August), the 50m rifle 3 positions (commencing on the 6th August), the 50m pistol (beginning on the 5th August), and the 25m rapid fire pistol (beginning on the 2nd August). 

As well as an athlete and marksman, James Bond is also a swimmer, as revealed in Live and Let Die and Thunderball. The long-distance swimming events (such as the 1500m freestyle or the 10km marathon) might be of interest to Bond, although, reminiscing about his adventures, he might wonder how the swimmers would manage with a barracuda or two snapping at their toes. However, Bond would probably give the equestrian events a miss. Fleming had a life-long dislike of riding after bad experiences on horses during his youth and at Sandhurst. It is an antipathy that Bond is likely to share.

The film Bond has slightly divergent interests. We know from Die Another Day that Bond is handy with the sword, and so might watch some of the fencing events. In Moonraker, Bond takes part in a pheasant shoot, while in Thunderball Largo invites him to shoot a clay pigeon, and Bond might retain enough interest in the pastime to watch the trap shooting in London.

Reference:
Lycett, A, 1995 Ian Fleming: the man behind James Bond, Turner

Women want to be with him, men want to be him – and other phrases

A feature on Vincent Cassel in the Sunday Times magazine of 23rd April 2012 began with the words: 'Vincent Cassel is married to Monica Bellucci, loves his kids and can afford to turn down any film he's offered. Women want to be with him, men want to be him.' The final sentence is a phrase associated with James Bond, and encapsulates Bond's attraction to both men and women. That the feature's writer, Stefanie Marsh, used the phrase, whether knowingly alluding to the world of Bond or not, is testament to its success as measured by its longevity and spread into wider popular culture.

The phrase is often attributed to Raymond Chandler ('Every man wants to be James Bond and every woman wants to be with him'), which potentially dates it to 1959 or earlier, but it certainly appeared in print in 1963. In a review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service published in the Sunday Times in 1963, Raymond Mortimer wrote, 'James Bond is what every man would like to be, and what every woman would like between her sheets.'

It is possible that Raymond Mortimer had adapted Chandler's line [but click here to read an update and further discussion about the origin of the phrase], but more likely the writers were expressing variants of a phrase already current in cultural space, and since the 1960s, there have been many more variants expressed. Sean Connery, for example, said in Playboy in 1965 that 'Bond is the invincible figure every man would like to be, every woman is excited by, and is everyone's survival symbol.' Even Ian Fleming had his own version. He told Jack Fishman in c 1963, 'Bond is the kind of man every girl secretly dreams of meeting and leads the life every man would like to live if he dared.'

More recently the phrase was used in Austin Powers (1997), in which Mrs Kensington, played by Mimi Rogers, said, 'Women want him, and men want to be him'. And the response from Bond directors John Glen, Martin Campbell and Michael Apted at January's CES 2012 in Las Vegas when asked why people want to see Bond films was that men want to be Bond and women want to go to bed with him.

Another phrase strongly associated with Bond that does not derive from lines in the Bond books or films is 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. Around the time of Thunderball (1965), Bond was known in Italy (and/or Japan, depending on one's source) as Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and as a result, John Barry composed a piece with that phrase as the title for Thunderball. As with 'Men want to be him...' type phrases, however, 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' was probably already well established in popular culture. Fleming had used it himself. He also told Jack Fishman, 'I admit that Bond is...the feverish dream of the author of what he might have been – bang, bang, kiss, kiss – that sort of stuff.'

We may also add to our list the phrase, 'martinis, girls and guns', which Cheryl Crow used in her song for 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. What these examples suggest is that memes such as phrases, which are often attributed to a single origin, may already have existed in some form in cultural space, and because of that, whether knowingly or unknowingly, they are expressed in reviews, interviews, articles, films, or song lyrics.

References:

Fishman, J, 1965 007 and me, by Ian Fleming, in For Bond Lovers Only (ed. S Lane), Panther
Jarman, C M, 2009 Licence to quote, Blue Eyed Books

The Moneypenny Diaries and their cover designs

Pulling out the first editions of the Moneypenny Diaries by Kate Westbrook (the pseudonym of Samantha Weinberg) from my bookshelf, it struck me that the design of the dustjacket art for each volume has been influenced by different aspects of Bondian iconography. The Jonathan Cape editions of Ian Fleming's novels, the Pan paperbacks, and the films have all lent something to the artwork.

Let's take the first volume, sub-titled 'Guardian Angel' (2005). The cover is designed to resemble a buff-coloured document file or wallet of the sort that usually sits in filing cabinets. It is an HM Government file – there is a symbol of the Crown at the top – and it is secured by a (pink) ribbon. The file is rubber-stamped with the words, 'Intended for her eyes only'. This, of course, alludes to the phrase, 'For Your Eyes Only', which is so strongly associated with James Bond, but the cover designer (gray318) also appears have introduced a variant on the stamp used on the Pan paperback cover art of the For Your Eyes Only novel, published c 1963/4.

The second volume, 'Secret Servant' (2006), the designer (again gray318) has turned to the Richard Chopping covers of Fleming's novels for inspiration. The ribbon motif (now blue) has been carried through to this volume, but the file device has gone, and instead replaced by a central image of a small handgun with a handle faced with mother of pearl (Ladies' gun...no stopping power, as the Armourer in Dr No might say). A lipstick lies next to the gun. The composition of the image offers something of the style of Richard Chopping's artwork, notably for From Russia, with Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, and even John Gardner's Licence Renewed (which, though designed by Mon Mohan, was based on a watercolour by Chopping). The photograph is of real objects, and so mimics the trompe l'oeil three dimensional effect so characteristic of Chopping's work.

The cover art for the third volume, 'Final Fling' (2008), designed by Madeline Meckiffe, is inspired by film iconography. A drawing depicts a woman, who is presumably Moneypenny. She stands, with the lower part of her right leg crossing her left leg, and her gaze is directed at the reader. With her right hand she holds a gun, which points upwards and rests against her left shoulder. Her left hand is tucked behind her right arm. The figure is positioned in front of a white background, but is framed by a red-bordered circle. The circle is clearly an allusion to the gun-barrel sequence that (nearly) always introduces each Bond film, and the figure's pose could be taken from a number of Bond film posters, where Bond is depicted in a similar position, for example on the UK posters used for From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Octopussy.

Bond iconography, whether originating in the books or the films, continues to have an enduring influence on new Bond-related material, including the Moneypenny Diaries. The ideas or memes behind the iconography are sufficiently robust to be recognisable even when adapted to varying degrees, in some cases 50 or so years after they were first introduced.

James Bond in 1969

On 11th April, Ian Fleming Publications announced that William Boyd will write the next James Bond novel. Many of the details are under wraps, but William Boyd has said that he will take Bond back to the 1960s, setting the adventure in 1969.

The book will expand the chronology of Bond's activities in the 1960s. According to John Griswold, Fleming left Bond in February 1964. The events of Devil May Care, by Sebastian Faulks, were set after The Man with the Golden Gun, apparently around 1967. If so, then presumably Faulks disregarded Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun, which is set in the year that Amis wrote it, 1967/8.

One of the ways in which authors evoke a past period is to refer to contemporaneous events. In Kate Westbrook's first volume of The Moneypenny Diaries (2006), for example, the narrative weaves around the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Modern-set novels (that is, contemporary with the period of writing) tend to lack references to newsworthy events, possibly because the significance of recent events is not clear at the time of writing, or that reading about those events a year later when the book is published can make the book seem dated. In the words of Elvis Costello, yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish and chip paper. There are exceptions, of course, among them The Man with the Golden Gun, in which Fleming referred to Charles de Gaulle's recognition of Communist China in 1964, and Raymond Benson's Zero Minus Ten (1997) in which the British handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 provided the novel's background.

So to what events might William Boyd refer in his forthcoming Bond novel to root the narrative to 1969? January was a rather momentous month. Given the ongoing furore surrounding the behaviour of the British Press (phone hacking, intrusion, etc.) and the fortunes of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, we could see a reference to Murdoch's purchase of the News of the World in that month. Also in January, Richard Nixon was elected US president, and the Beatles gave their final live performance on the roof of Apple Records.

The Harrier jump-jet entering service in March of 1969 may get a mention, as it's a fondly-remembered plane that was controversially axed in 2010. Or there may be a reference to British troops going into Northern Ireland in April. Charles de Gaulle resigned as president of France in April, and a reference to this would be a nod to Fleming's reference to de Gaulle.

May 1969 provides another Beatles reference – it was the month that John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their Bed-In in Montreal. Inevitably, it has been argued that the current situation in Afghanistan finds an echo in the Vietnam War, and a reference to the first US troop withdrawals from Vietnam in July 1969 may be difficult to resist. Also in July, the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong stepped onto its surface. Surely no book set in 1969 can avoid a reference to this momentous event.

A smaller event, at the end of July, is the removal from British legal tender of the halfpenny. One can imagine that being another bee in M's bonnet, and Bond might have some views about a new commercial aircraft, the Boeing 747, which entered service in December. Finally, I wonder whether Bond will walk past a cinema in December, glance up to see what's showing and note that there's another film about that sophisticated and tough secret agent. 'Complete fantasy. Nothing like real intelligence work', Bond might reflect with an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

Reflections in a Mercedes 300 S

I've always had a soft spot for Moonraker, both the film (not least because of its exciting laser battle in space and a villain relaxed to the point of being supine) and the novel. I was aged about 12 or 13 when I first read the novel. The story was a good one – a grotesque villain, a card game as exciting as any gun battle, a rocket targeted on London – but what gave the adventure a particular resonance with me was one of its locations.

In the last third of the book, Drax, his henchman, Krebs, and assistant, Gala Brand, drive in a Mercedes through Kent from Dover to London, pursued by Bond. On the way, Drax drives through the county town of Maidstone. Now, Maidstone was where I grew up and went to school, and it was therefore very familiar to me. So when Fleming describes streets and places, I knew exactly where he meant, and I pictured Drax's journey as if I were in the Mercedes with him.

In chapter 18, Fleming describes Drax waiting at traffic lights at the junction of King Street and Gabriel's Hill. Knowing that he took the A20 from Dover, this suggests that Drax enters the centre of Maidstone from the east on Ashford Road (the A20), which becomes King Street. To get to Gabriel's Hill, Drax needed to turn left at the lights. Instead, he pulls out slightly to overtake a car, and continues westwards into the High Street.

On the High Street, Drax passes the Royal Star Hotel. The hotel, built in the 16th century as a coaching inn, still exists, but is now an upmarket shopping centre. Drax continues westwards (actually towards the south-west), leaves the town centre and turns north-west still onto London Road (still the A20).

The next landmark is the Thomas Wyatt hotel. Gala Brand manages to persuade Drax to stop there so that she can surreptitiously look through Drax's book of Moonraker launching calculations. The Sir Thomas Wyatt is on London Road almost 2 miles north-west of Maidstone town centre. Today, travelling from London, one would leave the M20 at junction 5 and follow signs for Maidstone. The Sir Thomas Wyatt is now a Beefeater restaurant, and indeed I ate at the place a number of times when I lived in Maidstone.

The detailed references to streets and places of Maidstone show that Ian Fleming was familiar with what he was describing, probably because he frequently took the journey himself as he travelled from Dover to his London home in Ebury Street (notably Fleming placed Drax's home on the same street).