Monday, 3 February 2014

Cold War Author Ian Fleming

By Serena Price


After the end of World War II, in 1945, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were frost and tense. Up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, these years are collectively referred to as the cold war. Ian Fleming, author of the 007 series of spy novels, was probably the most famous cold war author.

Fleming's family came from Scotland. They moved from Perth to Dundee, where Ian's grandfather, Robert Fleming, made his fortune in the financial sector. When the Flemings migrated from Dundee to London in the south, Robert Fleming started an investment bank of his own.

Valentine, Ian's father, was killed in action during the Great War, World War I, in which he served as one of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars. His obituary was composed by Valentine's friend and fellow officer, the future Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill. He left a wife, Evelyn Rose, and four children, aged 4, 6, 9 and 10. Prior to serving in the armed forces, Valentine worked as a barrister and as a Member of Parliament.

Born at 27 Green Street in Mayfair, London, on May 28, 1908, Ian Lancaster Fleming was the second of four brothers. Educated at Eton College near Windsor, Fleming pursued further education in Austria and Germany. Fleming's brother, Peter, was born in 1907. He married actress Celia Johnson, noted for her performance in the David Lean film, "Brief Encounter." His brother, Richard Fleming, was born in 1911 and died of a heart attack in 1977. Michael Fleming was born in 1913 and died at Normandy in 1940, after marrying and fathering four children.

Ian Fleming's early working years were spent at Reuters news agency. Incurring a fine for a driving offense in Oxford, Fleming had to absent himself from his court appearance because he was covering the World Economic Conference on Reuters' behalf. He looked fondly on his years at Reuters as the most thrilling period of his life.

He started at Reuters on a one month trial without a salary. His first job was updating 500 obituaries, which impressed his boss, Editor-in-Chief Bernard Rikatson-Hatt. Fleming was described as methodical, painstaking and meticulous. At Reuters, Fleming learned how to write fast and accurately. At Reuters, you were thrown out on your ear if you didn't write accurately.

Fleming later served under the Director of Naval Intelligence in London. It was the experience gained in this role that provided the material for so many of 007's adventures. Fleming borrowed the name, James Bond, from the man who wrote his favorite book on the subject of West Indian birds. Fleming lived in Jamaica for a period of almost 20 years, from 1946 to 1964.

Cold war author, Ian Fleming, most famous for his spy novels, also wrote a children's short story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This story was eventually made into a Disney movie. The story was written for his son, Caspar. Fleming suffered a heart attack in Jamaica on the day of his son's 12th birthday, August 12, 1964. The boy never recovered from losing his father at such a tender age and took his own life in 1975.




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