Ian Fleming

By Tom Kirvan

He gave us such lines as, “You only live twice: Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face.”

Those words, written by famed British author Ian Fleming, served in shortened form as the title of one of his many spy thrillers, “You Only Live Twice,” featuring the world’s most famous fictional secret agent, James Bond.

Bond, otherwise known as Agent OO7, was the creation of Fleming, the prolific author who wrote 12 novels and two short story collections about the debonair spy portrayed on the silver screen by such actors as Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

Fleming, who died of a heart attack on August 12, 1964 at the age of 56, was born in London in 1908, and worked as a foreign correspondent, a stockbroker, and a personal attaché to Britain’s director of naval intelligence during World War II. His first book, “Casino Royale,” was published in 1953, setting the stage for the first Bond film, “Dr. No,” that was released in 1962 and starred Connery in the title role. Connery would play Bond in six films altogether, including “From Russia with Love,” “Goldfinger,” and “Thunderball.”

Ian Fleming*

Fleming did much of his writing at his Jamaican home, “GoldenEye,” in tribute to that wartime intelligence operation. His writing hideaway has since been turned into an upscale resort with a swank villa that can be booked for personal stays.

One of three sons, Fleming was educated at Eton College, the exclusive school that has produced the likes of George Orwell, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Princes William and Harry. He attended Sandhurst, the royal military academy where he was a member of the rifle team. Fluent in English, French, and German, Fleming began his professional career as a journalist for Reuters, the international news agency. In 1929, he was appointed as the agency’s Moscow correspondent.

Following World War II, Fleming became foreign manager of The Sunday Times of London, a job with plenty of perks, including the opportunity for ample vacation time in Jamaica where he wrote his Bond novels and such pithy one-liners as “I’m a poet in deeds – not often in words.”

He was also one to be philosophical, musing that “the distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success,” while also noting: “Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes,’ otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.”

*By Unknown - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-511863/Why-Ian-Flemings-wife-invented-James-Bond.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48649985