James Bond (literary character)
Ian Fleming began writing Casino Royale on the 17th of February 1952 at his Goldeneye estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He typed two thousand words each morning to distract himself from an upcoming wedding to Ann Charteris. The manuscript was finished by the 18th of March 1952 after just over a month of work. Fleming described this first effort as his dreadful oafish opus and showed it to ex-girlfriend Clare Blanchard. She advised him not to publish it but suggested he use another name if he did. Fleming ignored that advice and went on to write twelve Bond novels before his death on the 12th of August 1964.
The character drew heavily from Fleming's wartime experiences in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. He admitted Bond was a compound of all secret agents and commando types he met during the conflict. His brother Peter served behind lines in Norway and Greece and provided one model for the character. Conrad O'Brien-ffrench was a skiing spy Fleming met in Kitzbühel in the 1930s who influenced Bond's style. Patrick Dalzel-Job served with distinction in 30 AU during the war while Bill Biffy Dunderdale ran MI6 in Paris wearing cuff-links and handmade suits. Sir Fitzroy Maclean worked behind enemy lines in the Balkans and Dušan Popov was an MI6 double agent who also inspired aspects of the spy.
Fleming took the name James Bond from American ornithologist Dr James Bond who wrote Birds of the West Indies published in 1936. The ornithologist was based at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and Fleming owned a copy of his field guide. He explained to the ornithologist's wife that the brief unromantic Anglo-Saxon name felt exactly right. A second James Bond was born when Fleming needed a dull sounding name for his protagonist. In 2018 the family of James Charles Bond claimed the name could have been linked to him since he served under Fleming as part of the Special Operations Executive.
Facially Bond resembles the composer singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael according to descriptions within the novels. Vesper Lynd remarks in Casino Royale that Bond reminds her rather of Hoagy Carmichael but there is something cold and ruthless about him. Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks in Moonraker that Bond is certainly good looking and has black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. General references describe Bond as having dark rather cruel good looks with blue-grey eyes and a cruel mouth. He stands five feet ten inches tall and weighs one hundred sixty pounds.
Bond carries a long thin vertical scar on his right cheek from a SMERSH agent carving the Russian Cyrillic letter SH into his hand during Casino Royale. By the start of Live and Let Die he had received a skin graft to hide the scars. His physical build remains slim throughout the series while his age stays fixed in his mid-to-late thirties despite the passage of time between books. John Pearson's fictional biography gives Bond a birth date of the 11th of November 1920 while scholar John Griswold places it on the 11th of November 1921.
Bond lives in a flat off the King's Road in Chelsea which is looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper named May Maxwell. Her name came from May Maxwell the housekeeper of Fleming's close friend Ivar Bryce. In 1955 Bond earned around two thousand pounds net per year though he worked on an unlimited expense account when on assignment. He drinks forty-six different beverages in On Her Majesty's Secret Service alone including Pouilly-Fuissé wine Marsala wines Algerian wine Château Mouton Rothschild claret Taittinger champagne Krug champagne Babycham bourbon Jack Daniel's whiskey scotch vodka and German beer.
John Gardner was approached by the Fleming estate in 1981 to write a continuation novel for Bond. He wrote fourteen original novels and two film novelizations between Licence Renewed published in 1981 and COLD released in 1996. American publishers Putnam influenced the books with more Americanisms like waiters wearing pants instead of trousers. James Harker writing in The Guardian considered the Gardner books dogged by silliness citing examples where action took place in Chippenham or Bond got chummy with an unconvincing Maggie Thatcher. Ill health forced Gardner to retire from writing the Bond novels in 1996.
Raymond Benson took over as Bond author in 1996 after Gardner retired. His first work was a short story called Blast from the Past published in 1997. By 2002 he had written six Bond novels three novelizations and three short stories before finishing with The Man with the Red Tattoo. Benson followed Gardner's pattern of setting Bond in the contemporary timeframe of the 1990s but changed Bond's gun back to the Walther PPK and put him behind the wheel of a Jaguar XK8. He also made Bond swear more frequently than previous versions while describing his character as ruthless and darker than Fleming's creation.
Kingsley Amis wrote Colonel Sun published in 1968 under the pen-name Robert Markham after being offered ten thousand pounds by Glidrose Productions four years after Fleming died. Sebastian Faulks released Devil May Care on the 28th of May 2008 which marked the one hundredth anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth. Jeffery Deaver released Carte Blanche on the 26th of May 2011 restarting Bond's chronology by stating he was born in 1980. William Boyd released Solo in 2013 set in 1969 while Anthony Horowitz released Trigger Mortis in September 2015 containing material previously unreleased by Fleming.
Journalist Yuri Zhukov wrote an article in 1965 for the Soviet daily newspaper Pravda describing Bond's values as those of a black-hearted killer who represents Western imperialism. Jeremy Black does not consider Bond to be the unthinking wild beast Zhukov writes about but acknowledges the character often voiced Fleming's prejudices throughout the books. Bond expresses racist sexist and homophobic attitudes that combined with his actions led to criticism from various quarters.
Fleming said in a 1964 Playboy interview that he did not consider his character particularly evil or good since no one is necessarily either. He stated Bond had vices and very few perceptible virtues except patriotism and courage which were probably not virtues anyway. Fleming agreed with some critics' characterization of Bond as an unthinking killer but expressed that he was a product of his time. He described James Bond as a healthy violent noncerebral man in his middle-thirties and a creature of his era rather than typical of our times.
Bond's approach to homosexuality included opinions that homosexuals were a herd of unhappy sexual misfits barren and full of frustrations. While Fleming had gay friends including Noël Coward and editor William Plomer he said his books were written for warm-blooded heterosexuals. Academic Edward Biddulph observed that Fleming fully described seventy meals within the book series though many items like scrambled eggs and steaks appeared repeatedly.
CBS paid Ian Fleming one thousand dollars to adapt Casino Royale into a one-hour television adventure broadcast on the 21st of October 1954. The Bond character played by Barry Nelson was changed to Card Sense Jimmy Bond an American agent working for Combined Intelligence. In 1957 the Daily Express newspaper adapted Fleming's stories into comic strip format where illustrator John McLusky considered Fleming's version too outdated and pre-war so he gave Bond a more masculine look.
Eon Productions released Dr No in 1962 featuring Sean Connery as 007 which marked the first cinema adaptation of a Fleming novel. Seven actors have played Bond on the cinema screen with six appearing in the Eon series of films. Besides Connery Bond has been portrayed on film by David Niven George Lazenby Roger Moore Timothy Dalton Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Each actor interpreted the role differently while looking distinct from their predecessors. A comic strip series also ran in the Daily Express newspaper during the early years of the franchise.
Charlie Higson released SilverFin in 2005 as the first of five novels and one short story in the life of a young James Bond. His final work was the short story A Hard Man to Kill released as part of Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier. Young Bond is set in the 1930s fitting the chronology with that of Fleming. Higson stated he was instructed by the Fleming estate to ignore all other interpretations of Bond except the original Fleming version. He used Bond's obituary in You Only Live Twice as well as his own and Fleming's childhoods to form the early character.
Steve Cole continued the Young Bond storyline with four more novels after Higson finished his run. Higson went on to write an adult Bond novel called On His Majesty's Secret Service. In forming the early Bond character Higson created origins for some traits including Bond's love of cars and fine wine. The narrative arc explores Bond's youth and formative years as depicted in these modern spin-off novels before the events of Casino Royale.
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Common questions
When did Ian Fleming begin writing Casino Royale?
Ian Fleming began writing Casino Royale on the 17th of February 1952 at his Goldeneye estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He typed two thousand words each morning to distract himself from an upcoming wedding to Ann Charteris.
Who inspired the character James Bond according to Ian Fleming?
The character drew heavily from Fleming's wartime experiences in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War and was a compound of all secret agents and commando types he met during the conflict. His brother Peter served behind lines in Norway and Greece and provided one model for the character while Conrad O'Brien-ffrench influenced Bond's style.
Where does James Bond live in the novels?
Bond lives in a flat off the King's Road in Chelsea which is looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper named May Maxwell. Her name came from May Maxwell the housekeeper of Fleming's close friend Ivar Bryce.
What date was John Pearson's fictional biography published with James Bond birth information?
John Pearson's fictional biography gives Bond a birth date of the 11th of November 1920 while scholar John Griswold places it on the 11th of November 1921. The text does not specify when these biographies were published but confirms the conflicting dates exist within the source material.
Which actor first played James Bond in cinema films released by Eon Productions?
Eon Productions released Dr No in 1962 featuring Sean Connery as 007 which marked the first cinema adaptation of a Fleming novel. Seven actors have played Bond on the cinema screen with six appearing in the Eon series of films including David Niven George Lazenby Roger Moore Timothy Dalton Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.