He lit a flame that thrilled audiences through the ages

Sometime in 1964, Savoy cinema in Colombo screened the first James Bond movie Dr No, with Sean Connery aiming that .25 Beretta fitted with a silencer; the sexy Ursula Andress in that inevitable white bikini with side-strapped dagger emerging like a phoenix from the Caribbean sea.

We were then grade ten students at Royal College Colombo. Connery in the plush casino answering a beaut across the green baize, “Bond, James Bond,” while lighting one of his Morland Specials with a gunmetal Ronson against that famous theme, made an indelible impact in a bizarre way on our sensitive psyches. We switched from reading Chase to Fleming’s Bond books. Although we did not know it then, Ian Fleming had died in the same year on August 12.

The navy blue worsted suit, white sea island cotton shirt, black hand-woven silk tie, dark blue socks into black moccasins, 7.65mm Walther PPK in a Burns Martin shoulder holster, oxidized cigarette case; glass of dry Martini shaken but not stirred, the solid portrayal of the hero macho-man, all had some amazing impact on our imagination in that bygone era, where imitation in its variant forms became somewhat of a fashion.

The Royal Mail reportedly marked Ian Lancaster Fleming’s birth centenary that falls on May 28, 2008 by issuing six stamps on January 8 and featuring different editions of six of his most famous novels: Casino Royale, Dr No, Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, For Your Eyes Only and From Russia with Love. Planned celebrations in Britain include the worldwide publication of Devil May Care, the brand new Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, and a major exhibition celebrating Fleming's life at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Fleming wrote 21 James Bond stories comprising a dozen full length novels plus eight short stories, plus a five-page mood-piece 007 in New York, between Jan-52 and his demise in Aug-64. Kingsley Amis (later Sir/CBE) continued the series with Colonel Sun in 1968, John Gardner with 14-novels between 1981 and 1995, and six by Raymond Benson from 1997 to 2002. Christopher Wood did two novelisations during 1977-79, while Garner and Benson made three each.

Fleming did four non-fiction works, delving into fourteen thrilling cities of the world; the diamond-smuggling trade; a children’s book; the stillborn State of Excitement on Kuwait, and one-and-a-half pages on the Greek Syndicate ‘dealer’ Zographos. LIFE Magazine of 17.03.61 reported Fleming’s fifth opus, From Russia, With Love, in JFK’s list of ten best novels, a copy of which Jacqueline Kennedy presented to CIA director Allen Dulles.

A junior partner at Rowe and Pitman, a solid firm of stockbrokers in London, Fleming did a weekly stint as ATTICUS in the Sunday Times, and served as foreign manager at the Kemsley Group of Newspapers. He had broken stints at Eton and Sandhurst, and then came under the tutelage of Forbes and Phyllis Dennis in Kitzbuhel, Austria. Failing to join the Foreign Service, he moved to Reuters and covered a famous spy trial in Russia in March 1933.

During WW2, Fleming served as a lieutenant in the Special Branch in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was recruited as PA to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear (later Vice) Admiral John Godfrey. Fleming began to closely track the career of Hitler’s indefatigable commando, SS-Sturmbannführer (Lieut-Col.) Otto Skorzeny after Crete fell to the Nazis in May-41. Skorzeny, amongst some daring exploits, rescued Mussolini imprisoned in the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy, in a blitz-like operation in July-43, literally stunning Europe.

Elder brother Peter Fleming a barrister, attended Eton and Oxford and served with the Grenadier Guards. The brothers were commissioned by Maj. Gen. Sir Colin Gubbins, the prime mover of SOE, to set up the secret Auxiliary Units. In 1945, while Peter returned home as a colonel with an OBE, Ian, came back as a naval commander only with Denmark’s Commander’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog. However, Peter’s acclaimed literary works, which sprang from his extensive global travels, were later outshone by Ian’s global popularity.

Ian’s father, Major Valentine Fleming, MP, DSO, was killed in action in WW1 20.05.1917, prompting Winston Churchill to write his Obit in The Times. Ian’s son, Caspar, died of a drug overdose at age 23 on 02.10.75, and his wife Lady Rothermere of cancer in July-81.

Goldeneye was Ian’s 14-acre plush retreat on the Jamaican North Shore. In these pleasant seafront precincts he completed Casino Royale on his old Imperial typewriter in January 1952. Thereafter, in every successive year he produced a novel within eight weeks on a brand new U.S. gold-plated typewriter, clocking 2,000-words a day, putting in an hour’s work in the evening, finishing off with some 70,000-words, while Britain froze in winter.

Sean Connery (later Sir/Kt) established the Bond image featuring in seven movies continued with an equal number by Roger Moore (later Sir/KBE) with George Lazenby featuring only in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Timothy Dalton featured in two, Pierce Brosnan in four and Daniel Craig in the last two, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace budgeted at U$230-million due for release 31-Oct-08.

A total box office raking of U$4.4bn (U$11.1bn inflation-adjusted) against a budget of U$1.1 billion cover the 22-movies already made. The non-EON-film Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983) clocked a combined box office of U$204.4 million (U$ 605.7 million inflation-adjusted) against a budget of U$48 million.

The Bond cult will decidedly burn out with the passage of time as seen in various other fancies which have thrilled readers and audiences all over the world.

Nevertheless, let’s think about and thank Ian Fleming who in some small way brought about a significant and sustained impact and thrill in the imaginative lives of generations across the world over the last five decades.