| James Bond | |
| Author: | Ian Fleming |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Spy fiction |
| Genre: | Action/Suspense |
| Publisher: | Jonathan Cape |
| Pub Date: | 1953- |
James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections.[1] The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr. No.[2] [3] [4]
After Fleming's death in 1964, subsequent James Bond novels were written by Kingsley Amis (as Robert Markham), John Pearson, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Sebastian Faulks. Moreover, Christopher Wood novelised two screenplays, Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond while other writers have authored unofficial versions of the character.[5]
There have been 22 films in the EON Productions series to date, the most recent of which, Quantum of Solace, was released on 31 October 2008 (UK).[6] [7] In addition there has been an American television adaptation and two independent feature productions. Apart from movies and television, James Bond has also been adapted for many other media, including radio plays, comic strips and video games.
The EON Productions films are generally termed as "official" films originating with the purchase of the James Bond film rights by producer Harry Saltzman in the late 1950s.[8]
See main article: James Bond (character) and Inspirations for James Bond. Commander Sir James Bond, (KCMG, RNVR) is an officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (more commonly, MI6). He was created in January 1952 by British journalist Ian Fleming while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. The hero, James Bond, was named after an American ornithologist, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide book Birds of the West Indies. Fleming, a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of Bond's field guide at Goldeneye. Of the name, Fleming once said in a Reader's Digest interview, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers.' Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure - an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."[9]
Nevertheless, news sources speculated about real spies or other covert agents after whom James Bond might have been modeled or named, such as Sidney Reilly or William Stephenson, best-known by his wartime intelligence codename of Intrepid. Although they are similar to Bond, Fleming confirmed none as the source figure, nor did Ian Fleming Publications nor any of Fleming's biographers, such as John Pearson or Andrew Lycett.
James Bond's parents are Andrew Bond, a Scotsman, and Monique Delacroix, from Canton de Vaud, Switzerland. Their nationalities were established in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Fleming emphasised Bond's Scottish heritage in admiration of Sean Connery's cinematic portrayal, whereas Bond's mother is named after a Swiss fiancée of Fleming's. A planned, but unwritten, novel would have portrayed Bond's mother as a Scot. Ian Fleming was a member of a prominent Scottish banking family.[10] In his fictional biography of secret agent 007, John Pearson gave Bond's birth date as 11 November (Armistice Day) 1920 (The beginning of the film "For Your Eyes Only" gives his wife's birth date as 1943. This seemingly assumes Bond to be younger than Pearson claimed). There is a reference to Bond's age in Fleming's You Only Live Twice, when Tanaka tells him he was born in the Year of the Rat (1924/25 or even 1912/13). In the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond's family motto is found to be "Orbis non sufficit" ("The world is not enough"). The novel also states that the family that used this motto may not necessarily be the same Bond family from which James Bond came.[11]
After completing the manuscript for Casino Royale, Fleming allowed his friend, later his editor, poet William Plomer to read it. Plomer liked it and submitted it to Jonathan Cape, who did not like it as much. Cape finally published it in 1953 on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother Peter, an established travel writer.[12]
Most researchers agree that James Bond is a romanticised version of Ian Fleming, himself a jet-setting womanizer. Both Fleming and Bond attended the same schools, preferred the same foods (scrambled eggs, and coffee), maintained the same habits (drinking, smoking, wearing short-sleeve shirts