It is now 40 years since the premiere of the very first Bond movie, "Dr No", with a youthful Sean Connery as 007: perhaps the most charismatic - and certainly the most durable - movie hero ever. The latest addition to the series will no doubt try and outdo all its predecessors in the scale of its pyrotechnics and special effects. But James Bond was invented by one man, Ian Fleming, a wartime intelligence officer and Sunday Times newspaper man who lived to see the beginning of the Bond cult, but not its astonishing growth into a multi-million-dollar industry. John Pearson knew him well, as his assistant at the Sunday Times when Fleming was writing its "Atticus" column, and in 1966, after Fleming's death, wrote this autobiography. It remains a definitive account of how only Ian Fleming could have dreamed up James Bond, for his own life as colourful as anything in his fiction - indeed, it shows how the Bond books were nothing less than a covert autobiography. Glamorous, ruthlessly womanising, charming and debonair, leading an exotic, globetrotting life from wartime Algiers to his beachside house, Goldeneye, in Jamaica, Fleming was nevertheless as elusive and opaque as his fictional hero - a man whose icy reserve few could breach. For this edition of the autobiography, John Pearson has added a new introduction, in which he looks at the extent to which the character of Fleming survives even immortality beyond its creator's wildest dreams.
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About the Author
John Pearson's books include his two bestselling books on the Kray twins, The Profession of Violence and The Cult of Violence, and Bluebird and the Dead Lake, also published by Aurum.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Man with the Golden Typewriter,
By Acute Observer (N. Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Life of Ian Fleming (Paperback)
John Pearson's biography of Ian Lancaster Fleming tells all about the checkered career of this writer. Fleming's grandfather became a millionaire through his banking investment trusts in American railroads. Fleming's father was a banker, country squire, Member of Parliament, and Major. Young Ian was the second son and a difficult child who had troubles at schools. Fleming was sent to Europe to learn French, German, and Russian; all practical skills for his future as a reporter (spy trials in Moscow) and Commander in Naval Intelligence during WW II. Fleming set up an "Intelligence Commando" to quickly seize information from freshly captured enemy command posts. "Advance Unit 30" was commemorated in the "AU 30" license plate on Goldfinger's limousine. Great success came around 50 with his action novels, and the films of these stories. These films have been successes for over 40 years, even when they repeat earlier stories and the action scenes therein.Fleming had an important career as a journalist before his fame as the author of "James Bond". He often used the names of friends and relatives for characters in his books. "Quarrel" was based on Red Grant, whose name was used for the killer in "From Russia With Love". When these novels gained popularity after 1961 "James Bond" was criticized for his cruelty, hedonism, and amorality. When you read this biography you will understand the basis for this fictional character. Fleming was a model for some of these deeds, but "James Bond" is the fantasy character Fleming wanted to be (pp.177-178). The last half of this book covers Fleming's last twelve years, when he found fame and fortune as an author. The continuing films keep his memory alive, unlike John Buchan or E. Philip Oppenheim. The existing censorship at the time prevented any mention of Ian Fleming's meeting with J. Edgar hoover in July 1941. Fleming brought Dusko Popov, Yugoslav playboy, Nazi spy, and British double-agent to tell of Popov's orders to spy on Pearl Harbor. Hoover wasn't interested, and Popov was then forced to leave the country.
4.0 out of 5 stars
James Bond's Creator Captured!,
By J.D. Guinness (Kelowna, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Life of Ian Fleming (Paperback)
Biographer John Pearson takes a quite detailed life story and tells it in a concise and consistently engaging fashion. So vividly is Ian Fleming portrayed in these pages that you'll feel like you've been "with" him all his life!I would have given it 5 stars if there had been pictures. Mind you that cover is magnificent!
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