History Creator / IanFleming

Fleming wrote 12 ''Bond'' novels and 9 short stories, one of the latter being the source of the title for ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. {{He also |Did}}wrote ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'', a book about diamond smuggling and a travel guide called ''Thrilling Cities'' (which included one of the Bond short stories). [[ShownTheirWork The level of research is clear in his Bond novels]]. People mainly familiar with the films (which are defined by TheSixties) may be surprised at the level of TheFifties present in the books, the decade in which most of them were written, which covers things like technology level, social attitudes and a more straightforwardly hostile view of the Soviet Union - the films retconned most stories with Soviet villains, forming the UrExample of the RenegadeRussian trope or having them manipulated by Blofeld's apolitical SPECTRE.

Fleming wrote 12 ''Bond'' novels and 9 short stories, one of the latter being the source of the title for ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. He also wrote ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'', a book about diamond smuggling and a travel guide called ''Thrilling Cities'' (which included one of the Bond short stories). [[ShownTheirWork The level of research is clear in his Bond novels]]. People mainly familiar with the films (which are defined by TheSixties) may be surprised at the level of TheFifties present in the books, the decade in which most of them were written, which covers things like technology level, social attitudes and a more straightforwardly hostile view of the Soviet Union - the films retconned most stories with Soviet villains, forming the UrExample of the RenegadeRussian trope or having them manipulated by Blofeld's apolitical SPECTRE.

During WorldWarTwo, he served in an intelligence planning role with the Royal Navy, planning some very successful and some very odd covert operations (one, involving getting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Rudolf Hess]] to come to Britain via an occultist, was cancelled when Hess defected to Britain anyway via his manic hallucinations). He planned an operation called Operation Goldeneye, the later name of his house [[note]]and [[Film/GoldenEye a movie in the franchise he created]][[/note]] (the name was lifted from the book ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'', which he loved and which was later made in a film with Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor).

Who precisely inspired Bond is a matter of debate. Fleming almost certainly included idealized aspects of himself. Somewhat of a self-loathing insecure fellow, he also included several 'bad' aspects of himself in his memorable over-the-top [[DiabolicalMastermind Bond Villains]], especially (it's inferred) the perceived sadism toward {{Bond Girl}}s (which, aptly, are tyrannized by the 'bad' Fleming -the villain- and cruelly humiliated/abused, before being rescued by the 'good' Fleming, i.e. James Bond). However, his wartime experience and contacts certainly provided a lot of ripe material for his stories — several sources suggest his cousin and SOE mate sir Creator/ChristopherLee as another possible prototype.

[[caption-width-right:300:"Never say 'no' to adventures. Always say 'yes', otherwise you'll lead a very dull life."]]

During WorldWarTwo, he served in an intelligence planning role with the Royal Navy, planning some very successful and some very odd covert operations (one, involving getting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Rudolf Hess]] to come to Britain via an occultist, was cancelled when Hess defected to Britain anyway via his manic hallucinations). He planned an operation called Operation Goldeneye, the later name of his house and [[Film/GoldenEye a movie in the franchise he created]] (the name was lifted from the book ''Reflections in a Golden Eye'', which he loved and which was later made in a film with Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor).

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html one mission]] to occupied France in 1940, and actively served alongside Creator/JonPertwee. It is also believed that he masterminded an unsuccessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover. He also stayed in Portugal for a while during the War, since it was a [[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations neutral nation]] and there were great needs for information from both the Allies and the Axis' spies.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sans_titre.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Never say 'no' to adventures. Always say 'yes', otherwise you'll lead a very dull life."]]

Born in 1908, '''Ian Lancaster Fleming''' was a British author who radically altered SpyFiction when he started writing.

That novel was ''Literature/CasinoRoyale''. With it, Literature/JamesBond's literary career began and Fleming made a lot of money. He sold the rights to everything bar ''Royale'' (the rights for which were already tied up) to CubbyBroccoli in 1961 and the rest is history.

He also missed ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', the movie which fully launched "Bondmania" worldwide; the first movie, ''Film/DrNo'', had only met a lukewarm response, while the following ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' was just successful enough to spawn a sequel.

[[quoteright:216:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ian_fleming_3907.jpg]]

Born in 1908, Ian Fleming was a British author who radically altered SpyFiction when he started writing.

He died in 1964 of a heart attack, the result of a 70-cigarette a day smoking habit and a love of liquor bordering on the full-blown alcoholic (he was known to down twelve vodka martini in an evening, each stronger that the one before). He died before fully completing the novel of ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', depending on whom you ask.[[note]] Some people say he did complete it, but never got to revise it. Others say that he didn't and Kingsley Amis finished it for him. Amis, for his part, denied finishing ''Golden Gun''.[[/note]]

He died in 1964 of a heart attack, the result of a 70-cigarette a day smoking habit and a love of liquor bordering on the full-blown alcoholic (he was known to down twelve vodka martini in an evening, each stronger that the one before). He died before fully completing the novel of ''The Man With The Golden Gun'', depending on who you ask.[[note]] Some people say he did complete it, but never got to revise it. Others say that he didn't and Kingsley Amis finished it for him. Amis, for his part, denied finishing Golden Gun[[/note]]

He also missed ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', the movie which fully launched the "Bondmania"; the first movie ''Film/DrNo'' only met a lukewarm response and the following ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' was just successful enough to spawn a sequel.

That novel was ''Casino Royale''. Literature/JamesBond's literary career began and Fleming made a lot of money. He sold the rights to everything bar ''Royale'' (the rights for which were already tied up) to CubbyBroccoli in 1961 and the rest is history.

During WorldWarTwo, he served in an intelligence planning role with the Royal Navy, planning some very successful and some very odd covert operations (one, involving getting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Rudolf Hess]] to come to Britain via an occultist, was cancelled when Hess defected to Britain anyway via his manic hallucinations). He planned an operation called Operation Goldeneye, the later name of his house and [[Film/GoldenEye a movie in the franchise he created]] (the name was lifted from the book "Reflections in a Golden Eye", which he loved and which was later made in a film with Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor).

During WorldWarTwo, he served in an intelligence planning role with the Royal Navy, planning some very successful and some very odd covert operations (one, involving getting [[NaziGermany Rudolf Hess]] to come to Britain via an occultist, was cancelled when Hess defected to Britain anyway via his manic hallucinations). He planned an operation called Operation Goldeneye, the later name of his house and [[Film/GoldenEye a movie in the franchise he created]] (the name was lifted from the book "Reflections in a Golden Eye", which he loved and which was later made in a film with Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor).

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html one mission]] to occupied France in 1940, and actively served alongside Creator/JonPertwee. It is also believed that he masterminded an unsuccessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover. He also stayed in Portugal for a while during the War, since it was a neutral nation and there were great needs for information from both the Allies and the Axis' spies.

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least one mission to occupied France in 1940 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html), and actively served alongside Creator/JonPertwee. It is also believed that he masterminded an unsuccessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover. He also stayed in Portugal for a while during the War, since it was a neutral nation and there were great needs for information from both the Allies and the Axis' spies.

Who precisely inspired Bond is a matter of debate. Fleming almost certainly included idealized aspects of himself. Somewhat of a self-loathing insecure fellow, he also included several 'bad' aspects of himself in his memorable over-the-top {{Bond Villain}}s, especially (it's inferred) the perceived sadism toward {{Bond Girl}}s (which, aptly, are tyrannized by the 'bad' Fleming -the villain- and cruelly humiliated/abused, before being rescued by the 'good' Fleming, i.e. James Bond). However, his wartime experience and contacts certainly provided a lot of ripe material for his stories — several sources suggest his cousin and SOE mate sir Creator/ChristopherLee as another possible prototype.

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least one mission to occupied France in 1940 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html), and actively served alongside Creator/JonPertwee. It is also believed that he masterminded an unsuccessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover.

Who precisely inspired Bond is a matter of debate. Fleming almost certainly included idealized aspects of himself. Somewhat of a self-loathing insecure fellow, he also included several 'bad' aspects of himself in his memorable over-the-top {{Bond Villain}}s, especially (it's inferred) the perceived sadism toward {{Bond Girl}}s (which, aptly, are tyrannized by the 'bad' Fleming -the villain- and cruelly humiliated/abused, before being rescued by the 'good' Fleming, i.e. James Bond). However, his wartime experience and contacts certainly provided a lot of ripe material for his stories — several sources suggest his cousin and SOE mate sir Creator/ChristopherLee as an another possible prototype.

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least one mission to occupied France in 1940 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html), and actively served alongside Creator/JonPertwee. It is also believed that he masterminded an unsucessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover.

Fleming wrote 12 JamesBond novels and 9 short stories, one of the latter being the source of the title for ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. He also wrote ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'', a book about diamond smuggling and a travel guide called ''Thrilling Cities'' (which included one of the Bond short stories). [[ShownTheirWork The level of research is clear in his Bond novels]]. People mainly familiar with the films (which are defined by TheSixties) may be surprised at the level of TheFifties present in the books, the decade in which most of them were written, which covers things like technology level, social attitudes and a more straightforwardly hostile view of the Soviet Union - the films retconned most stories with Soviet villains, forming the UrExample of the RenegadeRussian trope or having them manipulated by Blofeld's apolitical SPECTRE.

Who precisely inspired Bond is a matter of debate. Fleming almost certainly included idealized aspects of himself. Somewhat of a self-loathing insecure fellow, he also included several 'bad' aspects of himself in his memorable over-the-top {{Bond Villain}}s, especially (it's inferred) the perceived sadism toward {{Bond Girl}}s (which, aptly, are tyrannized by the 'bad' Fleming -the villain- and cruelly humiliated/abused, before being rescued by the 'good' Fleming, i.e. JamesBond). However, his wartime experience and contacts certainly provided a lot of ripe material for his stories — several sources suggest his cousin and SOE mate sir Creator/ChristopherLee as an another possible prototype.

Who precisely inspired Bond is a matter of debate. Fleming almost certainly included idealized aspects of himself. Somewhat of a self-loathing insecure fellow, he also included several 'bad' aspects of himself in his memorable over-the-top {{Bond Villain}}s, especially (it's inferred) the perceived sadism toward {{Bond Girl}}s (which, aptly, are tyrannized by the 'bad' Fleming -the villain- and cruelly humiliated/abused, before being rescued by the 'good' Fleming, i.e. JamesBond). However, his wartime experience and contacts certainly provided a lot of ripe material for his stories.

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least one mission to occupied France in 1940 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html). It is also believed that he masterminded an unsucessful "pinch mission" in 1942 for an German Engima coding machine and related material using the infamous Dieppe Raid as cover.

It used to be believed that Fleming never went on active service undercover, and some attributed his Bond stories to being the product of frustrated fantasy, Bond living the secret agent's life that Fleming had had stolen from him. (Fleming was not unfit for field work; the fact was he was too highly-placed and knew too many secrets to risk capture, since he was employed as an intelligence analyst and controller/coordinator of field agents.). However it is now known that he did in fact actually go on at least one mission to occupied France in 1940 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8913384/Ian-Flemings-Commandos-The-Story-of-30-Assault-Unit-in-WWII-by-Nicholas-Rankin-review.html).

He died in 1964 of a heart attack, the result of a 70-cigarette a day smoking habit and a love of liquor bordering on the full-blown alcoholic (he was known to down twelve vodka martini in an evening, each stronger that the one before). He died before fully completing the novel of ''The Man With The Golden Gun'', depending on who you ask.[[hottip:*: Some people say he did complete it, but never got to revise it. Others say that he didn't and Kingsley Amis finished it for him. Amis, for his part, denied finishing Golden Gun]]

Born in 1908, IanFleming was a British author who radically altered SpyFiction when he started writing.