The Name's Bond, James Bond

When Ian Fleming first sat down on a Caribbean beach to write his ‘spy story to end all spy stories’, could he ever have imagined how successful it would be? Daniel Pembrey delves deeper into the inspiration behind 007

- Daniel Pembrey

WHEN Ian Lancaster Fleming set out to write ‘the spy story to end all spy stories’, his own backstory didn’t sound auspicious: a father killed in the First World War when Ian was only eight; a domineering mother who removed him from Eton; dropping out of Sandhurst; and, later, failing his Foreign Office exams.

Events took a turn for the better when this handsome, athletic Englishman left his native land to attend the Tennerhof finishing school in Kitzbühel, Austria, run by former diplomatspy Ernan Forbes Dennis. Falling in love with the mountains, he became an accomplished skier and was soon engaged to a Swiss woman, Monique Panchaud de Bottomes. Their relationship didn’t last, but it was in this romantic world that Fleming made his first attempts at writing fiction.

Peter Wälty has looked closely at Fleming’s time in the Alps and has written the book James Bond und die Schweiz (James Bond and Switzerland). He observes: ‘You can view the Bond novels, written decades later, as a kind of wish fulfilment—the adventurous life that a younger Fleming might have imagined for himself.’

The Englishman returned to London in need of income, becoming a stockbroker and spending money on golf, cards and women as fast as he could earn it. He might well have slid into obscurity as a regular at various late-night gambling clubs had the Second World War not broken out. Using his connections, Fleming secured a role as an assistant to Rear-Admiral Godfrey, director of Naval Intelligence. It was a new lease of life for the 30 year old, who began working from 6am until late at night. He was good at it (unlike stockbroking), rising to the rank of acting commander (the same level as Bond).