Birthday: 28 May 1908, Mayfair, London, England, UK
Birth Name: Ian Lancaster Fleming
Height: 183 cm
Born into a wealthy and influential English family, Ian Fleming spent his early years attending top British schools such as Eton and Sandhurst military academy. He took to writing while schooling in Kitzbuhel, Austria, and upon failing the entrance requirements for Foreign Service joined the news agency Reuters as a journalist -- winning the respec...
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Born into a wealthy and influential English family, Ian Fleming spent his early years attending top British schools such as Eton and Sandhurst military academy. He took to writing while schooling in Kitzbuhel, Austria, and upon failing the entrance requirements for Foreign Service joined the news agency Reuters as a journalist -- winning the respect of his peers for his coverage of a "show trial" in Russia of several Royal Engineers on espionage charges. Fleming briefly worked in the financial sector for the family bank, but just prior to the Second World War, was recruited into British Naval Intelligence where he excelled, shortly achieving the rank of Commander. When the war ended, Fleming retired to Jamaica where he built a house called "Goldeneye," took up writing full-time and created the character that would make him famous -- British Secret Service agent James Bond, in a novel called "Casino Royale." Fleming spent the rest of his life writing and traveling the world, but as his Bond character reached new heights of popularity on movie screens, Fleming was in ailing health. He died of a heart attack (his second) in England in August 1964 at the age of 56. Show less «
[his last words, reportedly to the ambulance attendants] Awfully sorry to trouble you chaps.
[his last words, reportedly to the ambulance attendants] Awfully sorry to trouble you chaps.
[interview in The Daily Express, 1962] The target of my books lay somewhere between the solar plexus...Show more »
[interview in The Daily Express, 1962] The target of my books lay somewhere between the solar plexus and the upper thigh. Show less «
I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than...Show more »
I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting like "Peregrine Maltravers". Exotic things would happen to and around him but he would be a neutral figure--an anonymous blunt instrument wielded by a government department. Show less «
Men want a woman whom they can turn on and off like a light switch.
Men want a woman whom they can turn on and off like a light switch.
I always make it a rule never to look back. Otherwise, I'd ask myself how I could write such piffle ...Show more »
I always make it a rule never to look back. Otherwise, I'd ask myself how I could write such piffle and live with myself, day after day. Show less «
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
[on James Bond] Apart from the fact that he wears the same clothes that I wear, he and I really have...Show more »
[on James Bond] Apart from the fact that he wears the same clothes that I wear, he and I really have little in common. I do rather envy him his blondes and his efficiency, but I can't say I much like the chap. Show less «
[mid-1950s] My James Bond novels are really for a very specialized, limited market. I am not countin...Show more »
[mid-1950s] My James Bond novels are really for a very specialized, limited market. I am not counting the great unwashed public and do not expect them to fancy anything I write. Show less «
[on how he wrote "Casino Royale"] Writing about 2,000 words in three hours every morning, "Casino Ro...Show more »
[on how he wrote "Casino Royale"] Writing about 2,000 words in three hours every morning, "Casino Royale" dutifully produced itself. I wrote nothing and made no corrections until the book was finished. If I had looked back at what I had written the day before, I might have despaired. Show less «