Ian Fleming — A Life. Journalist, Wartime Intelligence…
By: Steve Newman Writer
Tags: Writers Life, Espionage, History, Biography, Books

Ian Fleming — A Life

Journalist, Wartime Intelligence Officer & The Creator of James Bond

Fleming Reading Casino Royale. Image: bondfanevents.com

Ian Fleming may be dead but his famous literary creation, James Bond, continues to live a full and active life, either between the covers of books, which include the 14 original novels by Fleming (which some years ago received the accolade of becoming Penguin Modern Classics), the 22 continuation novels by such distinguished writers as Kingsley Amis, John Gardner (who had already created his own hilarious secret agent, Boysie Oakes), and the Texan born writer, Raymond Benson (the author of The James Bond Bedside Companion, and the founder and Director of the Ian Fleming Foundation), plus the 7 novelizations of screenplays, mostly written by Gardner and Benson, with two early ones by Christopher Wood (who later wrote a couple of Bond screenplays). Some recent additions to this extensive publishing list are The Moneypenny Diaries, written by Dr Kate Westbrook (AKA Samantha Weinberg),and the superb “Young Bond” series of novels written by Charlie Higson. More recently, two new novels by Anthony Horowitz, Trigger Mortis, and Forever and a Day, and William Boyd’s Solo.

Apart from the books (and I haven’t even mentioned the spoof biographies of Bond, and the many biographies of Fleming) there are the ever growing number of Bond DVDs (the original videos are now very collectible) and the continuing recreation of Bond on the cinema screen, with the screening of the latest, No Time To Die, delayed by Covid-19 until April 2021.

R Type Bentley Continental

Almost exactly twenty-four hours before, James Bond had been nursing his car, the old Continental Bentley — the ‘R’ type chassis with the big 6 engine and 13:40 back-axle ratio — that he had now been driving for three years, along the fast but dull stretch of the N.1 between Abbeville and Montreuil that takes the English tourist back to his country via Silver City Airways from Le Tourquet or by ferry from Boulogne or Calais. He was hurrying safely, at between eighty and ninety, driving by the automatic pilot that is built in to all rally-class drivers, and his mind was totally occupied with drafting his letter of resignation from the Secret Service…

The above is the opening paragraph of chapter two of Ian Fleming’s 1963 James Bond novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which is a superb example of Fleming’s hard writing style that encapsulates, in less than one hundred and twenty words, what a James Bond novel is all about: fast cars (and the distinction between himself and, in this case, the average ‘tourist’), which are invariably described in the same matter of fact way Fleming often describes his women, who are, of course, another vital part of any Bond novel. It also tells us, at the very end, that Bond works for the Secret Service, which is a reference that immediately suggests to us, the reader, adventure, intrigue and danger, and not least the possibility of violent death. But it is also a piece of writing, the style of which has its origins not in spy thrillers, but in the ability and requirement to write short, pithy, and accurate intelligence reports and directives; something for which Fleming was renowned in the years he spent as a naval intelligence officer during World War II.

Fleming also wrote a couple of hugely popular non-fiction books, with the first, The Diamond Smugglers, published in 1957, an amazing literary investigation into the post war diamond smuggling that went on between South Africa and Europe and tells at break-neck speed the story of a secret agent who penetrated the highly organized, and very dangerous, smuggling gangs. It reads today more like an early Frederick Forsyth novel than it does a Fleming and proves that the creator of 007 was a writer of immense journalistic skill. His next, Thrilling Cities, published in1963, is a travel book that is a world tour that takes us from London to New York, then, via Chicago, to Berlin and Vienna, and all points east. If you want to rediscover that vanished world of the late 1950s and early1960s — the world in which James Bond moved —and you can find a copy, it’s worth a read.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Source: thefix.com

Of course most people will have heard of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and if they haven’t read Fleming’s original novel, published in 1964, they will probably have seen Ken Hughes’ 1968 musical film version (with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman), that has an inventive and amusing screenplay by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, with additional dialogue by the New York born screenwriter, Richard Maibaum, who has also been responsible for eight Bond screenplays.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang starred a wholly implausible Dick Van Dyke as the crazy inventor, Caractacus Potts, with the younger Lionel Jeffries playing his grandfather. And many of those who have read the novel, and seen the film, might also have enjoyed Jeremy Sams’ stage adaptation of 2002 — directed by former RSC artistic director — Adrian Nobel, which ran for many years.

Read the novel now and it soon becomes apparent that Fleming created, in the magical flying car, a kind of automotive James Bond (which is appropriate given Bond’s love of motor cars) who, with the help of Caractacus Potts (undoubtedly “Q”) and Truly Scrumptious (a not untypical Bond girl) they go after big time baddies Joe the Monster, Man-Mountain Frank, and Soapy Sam, who are dead-ringers for Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Hugo Drax, and Auric Goldfinger. Like the Bond novels it is a tough and simply written piece of work that, again like the Bonds, and Fleming himself, has many literary and psychological layers.

Ian Lancaster Fleming was born at 7 Green Street, Mayfair, London, on May 28th 1908. His father was the wealthy Scottish banker, Valentine Fleming, and his mother the beautiful socialite, Evelyn St. Croix Rose Fleming. Ian’s brother, the travel writer Peter Fleming, had been born a year earlier, and two younger brothers, Richard and Michael, came in quick succession after Ian. In 1910 Valentine Fleming was elected MP for South Oxfordshire and moved his growing family to a much larger house on Hampstead Heath.

Valentine Fleming. Image: pinterest

Ian’s first boarding school was Durnford, near Swanage, followed by Eton College (James Bond’s college, of course, where the headmaster asks, according to Charlie Higson, for his new student’s name, to receive the inevitable, and famous, reply); this was followed by Fettes College (where Ian seems to have spent most of his time reading thrillers by Sapper and John Buchan) and Sandhurst Military Academy.

With the outbreak of the First World War Valentine Fleming joined the Oxfordshire Yoemanry and fought bravely in France (he was promoted to major in the field) dying in action on the 20th May 1917. He received a posthumous DSO and an obituary in The Times written by his old friend and wartime comrade, Winston Churchill, a copy of which Ian kept framed on his desk for the rest of his life.

Ian’s mother inherited her husband’s substantial estate but only with the proviso that she did not re-marry, which made it inevitable that she would, in John Cork’s words, “…remain forever Valentine’s widow.” What it also meant was that Evelyn took several lovers, one of whom was the painter Augustus John, the result of which was the birth, in 1925, of their daughter, Amaryllis Fleming, who went on to become a world renowned cellist (she doubled for Bette Davis in the 1970 film Connecting Rooms, where Davis plays the part of a cellist) dying in 1999. Amaryllis was also a great inspiration for many of her half brother’s female characters, most especially the beautiful Judy in the short story ‘For Your Eyes Only’.

Amaryllis Fleming. Image: Rosamond Press

After Sandhurst Ian Fleming moved to the Continent to study languages at Kitzbühel in Austria, and then Munich University, followed by a stint at Geneva University. After finishing his studies, and failing his entrance exams for the Foreign Office, he managed to get a job as a journalist with Reuters where he especially enjoyed covering several espionage trials in Russia. On his return to London he gave up journalism to become a stockbroker. Then, in 1939, everything changed.

Early in 1939 Fleming returned to Russia as a journalist with The Times to cover and report on a British trade mission. What he was actually doing was spying for the Foreign Office. In fact it seems that ever since failing his entrance exam for the FO he had been working for them as a spy, indeed his failure to gain an official position with them may have been a cover for his espionage work.

In May 1939, with the threat of war growing daily, Fleming became formally attached to Britain’s intelligence services and began working with Naval Intelligence, taking the rank of Lieutenant (RNVR). With the outbreak of war in September Fleming took on the rank of Commander (Bond’s rank) and became the Personal Assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence in Room 39 of The Admiralty, where Fleming was given the personal code number of 17F, and a desk in front of the glass door that led to Godfrey’s office overlooking Horse Guards Parade.

Commander Fleming. Source: Diletant.media

Fleming made his presence felt immediately and became a major influence on the future wartime work of Naval Intelligence. His energy and inventiveness knew no bounds, with plans and ideas to wrong-foot and deceive the enemy flying from his typewriter like sparks.

In 1940 he was sent to a France that was on the brink of collapse to organise the escape of troops and intelligence operatives from Dieppe. He spent his last evening in the town eating and drinking at a local restaurant that became one of his favourites after the war. One of the last people he managed to get out of France before the German’s marched into the port was the infamous King Zog of Albania.

In an article for The Ian Fleming Foundation, screenwriter John Cork outlines Fleming’s invaluable contribution to Naval Intelligence and the so called ‘Fleming Flair’:

“ The ‘Fleming Flair’ proved to be his greatest strength in Naval Intelligence. He dined at Scott’s, White’s, the Dorchester, plotted intelligence operations, many of which were absurd, and many of which proved ingenious. Yet, Fleming understood the business side of the war. He understood his practical job, and the tight constraints of man-power, money and supplies. He did not take his assignments lightly, always gravely aware of the real human risks involved…The ‘ Fleming Flair’… also proved valuable in one other respect: writing. As assistant to Admiral Godfrey, Fleming wrote countless memos and reports. His style and elegant arguments, plus his seemingly limitless knowledge of his subjects made the usual dry missives a pleasure to read. Eventually, Fleming wrote memos to William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan on how to set up the OSS, forerunner to the CIA. For that bit of work, Fleming received a revolver engraved with the thanks: ‘For Special Services.’ ”

In 1942 Fleming helped set up 30 Assault Unit (based on the German Intelligence Commando Units) that was made up of men from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, whose purpose it was to accompany regular commandos on raids behind the enemy lines, with the aim of obtaining as much intelligence as possible, including new weaponry, cyphers, and occasionally prisoners. Fleming planned the operations and saw the men off personally, having to remain desk-bound himself. Thirty AU were effectively Fleming’s private army and they proved highly effective throughout the war.

Fleming was not always desk bound, with missions undertaken to France, Spain, North Africa, Ceylon, Australia, Cairo, Tehran, and late in the war Jamaica, an island that captivated him and where he later made a home. On one such visit to Gibraltar he conceived Operation Golden Eye, which was a plan to defend Gibraltar should the German’s mount an invasion through Spain.

Fleming also accompanied Admiral Godrey to Washington where he met the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and a little later, in New York, the Canadian, William Stephenson, who had joined the British Secret Intelligence Services (SIS, which includes MI5 and MI6) in 1940. Stephenson was then sent to New York to head the British Security Coordination, where he worked closely with the aforementioned William Donovan in setting-up the OSS, an organisation J. Edgar Hoover distrusted and tried desperately to close down.

There can be no doubt that Ian Fleming was, at that time, a very important and large cog in the intelligence wheel, who was not only at the heart of British Intelligence but in at the birth of the US Intelligence Services that would culminate, in1947, with the creation, by President Truman, of the CIA. Throughout the Bond novels there is a deep respect for the CIA, plus a bit of leg pulling, with the character of CIA agent, Felix Leiter, wholly sympathetic and likeable.

After the war Fleming headed for Jamaica were he bought a run down property, designed a new house which, when complete, he called Goldeneye in honour of his days at Naval Intelligence. There was no hot water, or glass in the windows, and it was considered by many who went there as extremely uncomfortable; but Fleming loved it and spent most winters there swimming, entertaining his lovers and such literary worthies as Noel Coward, Eric Ambler (who was a great influence on Fleming as a writer), Patrick Leigh-Fermor (writer and wartime intelligence officer), and that great editor and writer, Cyril Connolly. It is not difficult for us to see Fleming enjoying the life of a wealthy bachelor with a taste for fine wines, fast cars, and hand made cigarettes — the very prototype of James Bond.

Only in 1952, when his married mistress, Lady Anne Rothermere, became pregnant by Fleming did he, aged 44, decide at last to settle down. And as he waited in his island paradise for Anne’s divorce to come through back in London he started to write what became James Bond’s debut novel, Casino Royale.

This first Bond novel was like nothing else on the bookshop shelves and was soon being criticised for its sex and violence, with the latter still quite hard hitting (literally) today. There had been spy novels before, with Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond (although not strictly a spy) perhaps the nearest equivalent to Bond.

The plot of the novel is simplicity itself (always the hallmark of a Bond adventure) with Bond sent to a casino in Royale-les-Eaux, in Northern France, to disgrace the deadly Soviet agent, Le Chiffre, by ruining him at the tables and forcing his Soviet spy masters to ‘retire’ him. Naturally things don’t initially go to plan, with the beautiful Vesper Lynd leading Bond into increasing amounts of danger. Bond wins out in the end of course. As a spy thriller it works superbly well and set the blueprint for all, and every, spy thriller that followed. It would not be going too far to say that Ian Fleming, with that single novel, changed popular culture forever, as John Buchan had years before with The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Casino Royale was published by Jonathan Cape in 1953, with the dust jacket designed by Fleming himself, which is, in the words of editor Crispin Jackson, “… a curious concoction…[with a]…Wedgewood blue background, decorated with nine bleeding hearts and a ghostly white wreath bearing the motto: ‘A whisper of love, A whisper of hate.’ ” It is indeed a strange cover, and if you come across that cover, and a first edition of the book inside it today, and it’s in good condition, you might have to pay around £10,000 to £12,000 for it. If you come across it in fine condition you’ll need to stump up anything between £15,000 to £20,000! Even a first paperback edition of that novel, in fine condition, will set you back a couple of thousand pounds.

When, as a young teenager, I first started buying James Bond novels back in the 1950s I would order them from W.H. Smiths to ensure I got a first edition, with each one costing, if I remember correctly, sixteen shillings. And by then they had those superb covers by Richard Chopping, and its hard to describe the sheer joy of collecting my new James Bond novel and spending my hard earned newspaper delivery money. I sold them all many years ago with each one fetching around £50 to £100. Of course the prices went through the roof the minute I’d sold mine.

After Casino Royale came Live and Let Die (1954), followed by Moonraker(1955) and Diamonds are Forever(1956), then From Russia with Love(1957), Dr No(1958), Goldfinger(1959), For Your Eyes Only(1960), Thunderball(1961), The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) (where Bond only appears in the last quarter of the book), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service(1963) (my favourite), You Only Live Twice(1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), and Octopussy/The Living Daylights (1966).

Image: mansfinelife.com

Throughout the 1950s Fleming continued to write for The Times. But by the end of that decade he was a publishing phenomena, and by the early 1960s, with the first Bond film, Dr No, in the can, he was an international celebrity. But the good life of rich food, fine wines, and cigarettes, was catching up with him and in 1964, having suffered a dreadful chest cold, and later pleurisy, he attended, against his doctors orders, his mother’s funeral. The ordeal brought him to an emotional low point and he never really regained his health. On the night of August 11th 1964 he suffered a heart attack and began to bleed to death internally. In the early hours of August 12th he died, aged 56.

His wife, Anne, died in 1981, and their only son, Casper, died from a drug overdose in 1975. All three are buried together in Sevenhampton.

Ian Fleming left a legacy of steadfast service to his country and fourteen famous books that have weathered the test of time and are undoubtedly worthy of classic status, Penguin or otherwise.

Source: Curbside Classics

Acknowledgements to John Pearson’s — The Life of Ian Fleming; Andrew Lycett’s — Ian Fleming: The man who created James Bond 007; Keith Jeffry’s — MI6; Book & Magazine Collector; Ben Macintyre’s — Cross and Double Cross & A Spy Among Friends; The entire works of Ian Fleming; Andrew Roberts — The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War…