10 replies to this topic

[I never miss]

Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker throughout his adult life, and suffered from heart disease.[c] In 1961, aged 53, he suffered a heart attack and struggled to recuperate.[127] On 11 August 1964, while staying at a hotel in Canterbury, Fleming walked to the Royal St George's Golf Club for lunch and later dined at his hotel with friends. The day had been tiring for him, and he collapsed with another heart attack shortly after the meal.[127] Fleming died at age 56 in the early morning of 12 August 1964—his son Caspar's twelfth birthday.[128][129] His last recorded words were an apology to the ambulance drivers for having inconvenienced them,[130] saying "I am sorry to trouble you chaps. I don't know how you get along so fast with the traffic on the roads these days."[131] Fleming was buried in the churchyard of Sevenhampton village, near Swindon.[132]
An apt moment to raise a glass and remember the great man (not that any of us on here are likely to forget him). Fleming clearly lived life on his terms and yet still achieved much in his short life, particularly within the years 1939-45 and 1952-64. Thank you Mr Fleming.

[Major Tallon]

A complex, conflicted man who couldn't have imagined the impact he'd have on popular culture for generations.  Over several decades, he's given me hundreds of hours of entertainment and fun.  Thank you indeed.

[Dustin]

Now on the main page: http://commanderbond...ing-exeunt.html

[Guy Haines]

I've been hooked on the Bond from the books and the Bond from the films for decades. Quite why I still don't know. Ian Fleming created a character who struck a chord with billions of people - were it otherwise the books wouldn't have been in print for so long and, had the books not struck that chord in the first place, the films wouldn't have existed.

 

His first biographer, John Pearson, concluded his life of Ian Fleming by writing that on 12th August 1964 "James Bond had finally destroyed his only flesh-and-blood victim." Had the effort involved in writing about Bond been responsible, or would Ian Fleming had died relatively early anyway? Hard to know.

 

RIP Ian Lancaster Fleming.

[JamesBondBlog]

My thoughts - http://flemingsbond....ut-ian-fleming/

[glidrose]

My thoughts - http://flemingsbond....ut-ian-fleming/

"What would The Man With The Golden Gun had looked like if Fleming was able to give it his usual thorough edits and rewrites?"

It would have been set in Panama and the villain's plan would have involved the canal's locking system. Source: one of Richard Hughes' books.

[freemo]

I think I love these books more with each passing year. Read them for the first time when I was 15 (31 now, so basically half my life ago) but it's only in the last 2-3 years that I feel I'm beginning to really understand them.

 

Also, the books seem to have achieved "classic" status over the last 10 years, and done so under the banner of "Fleming", as opposed to purely "Bond". The books have escaped from the shadow of the films and the creator from the shadow of the character. They've lasted.

[Walecs]

"I'd rather die of drinking than of thirst"

[Iceskater101]

R.I.P to Ian Fleming. I am really enjoying some of his novels now that I am older.

[mr ling]

I think Ian Fleming gave us a great character in Bond. I dont think he was a great writer. However he has become a writer of modern classics almost by accident. By the time he died I think he had exhausted  most of his ideas on what direction to take bond and had grown tired of him. Turning to writing novels gave him an income to finance a lifestyle of a man accustomed to the finer things. As well as indulging in some of his own dark fantasies. It was a tragic turn of fate that prevented him from seeing his character truly take off, thanks to the vision of Mr. Broccoli and Mr Saltsman.  

[Call Billy Bob]

I am thankful to Fleming not only for Bond, but for a book I read countless times as a youngster - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I'm pretty sure I read the cover off that book! (The same can be said for my current copy of OHMSS) Thanks for the good times reading your works and viewing the adaptations of them.