The Washington Times published my On Crime column on Ian Fleming’s War: The Inspiration of 007.
With the
25th James Bond film “No Time To Die” doing well in theaters, fans of the
hugely successful film series may be interested in reading about the genesis of
the most popular fictional character in cinema.
Ian Fleming,
the late, great thriller writer who created Bond, was a British naval
intelligence officer in World War II, and much of what he experienced
during the war found its way into his James Bond thrillers.
Mark Simmons,
a former British Marine commando, journalist, and author, explores Commander
Fleming’s wartime experiences and points out direct links between reality and
the plots and characters in the Bond thrillers in his book, “Ian Fleming’s
War: The Inspiration of 007.”
I reached out to Mark Simmons and asked him why
he wrote the book.
“In 2018, I wrote `Ian Fleming and Operation Golden
Eye: Keeping Spain out of World War II.’ In research for that book, I read the
two main biographies of Fleming by Andrew Lycett and John Pearson, both of
which only devoted a chapter or two to his wartime work. Yet there was a wealth
of material on his time at naval intelligence, and I felt it deserved a book,”
Mr. Simmons replied.
How would you describe Ian Fleming?
“He was a
man embedded in his time the 1930s-1950s, and the highlight of his life
was his wartime role in naval intelligence, even more so than becoming a
bestselling author.”
How did Ian Fleming’s WWII experiences in naval
intelligence inspire his James Bond novels?
“As I explain in the book, all the Bond stories are
rooted in WWII, and 007 often refers to the war,” Mr. Simmons said.
You can read
the rest of the column via the below link:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/dec/2/book-review-ian-flemings-war-the-inspiration-of-00/
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