- Article |
- Discussion |
- Edit |
- History
James Bond author's links with Derbyshire
And, since his death in 1964, the incredibly popular films based on his character have become the most successful franchise in British cinema history.
Yet, unlikely as it may seem, Fleming’s ambitions as a writer were actually kick-started by Edith Sitwell, of Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born on May 28, 1908, in London, the second of four sons of wealthy banker Valentine Fleming and his wife, Eve.
In the spring of 1917, just before Ian’s ninth birthday, his father was killed in action in France.
Sent to Eton, Ian proved no academic but revealed an aptitude for athletics and for editing the school magazine. A spell at the Army officers’ training school at Sandhurst followed but military discipline did not suit the teenager, so his mother packed him off to school in Austria, where he developed a gift for languages.
By his early 20s, however, Fleming still lacked any real qualifications. Having gained some experience working for a bank, he ended up with a leading firm of stockbrokers.
Then, in May 1939, the ideal appointment came along. The young man was made personal assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, director of naval intelligence.
His new workplace was the Admiralty’s legendary Room 39, the nerve centre of the Naval Intelligence Division throughout the Second World War.
The job involved liaising on the admiral’s behalf with other secret services and Fleming’s talent for the work soon won him promotion from lieutenant to commander.
Although it was essentially a desk job, he orchestrated a number of top secret missions.
One of these was Operation Goldeneye, an Allied plan to maintain vital lines of communication should the Germans invade Spain.
Among the many contacts Fleming established during the course of his work were those in the cloak-and-dagger world of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
After being demobbed in May 1945, the would-be author told friends he intended to write “the spy story to end all spy stories” based on his experiences.
The only problem was that Fleming completely lacked confidence in his writing abilities. His greatest fear was of being ridiculed.
Instead, he joined the Kemsley newspaper group, which owned the Sunday Times. Appointed as their foreign manager, he took charge of the network of worldwide correspondents .
The job brought considerable perks.
Fleming was allowed to take three months’ holiday every winter in Jamaica, a place he had loved ever since attending an Anglo-American naval conference there during the war.
On the island’s north coast, he built himself a house and dubbed it Goldeneye, after his wartime exploit.
This was where the James Bond novels would eventually be written.
He took the name of his action hero from the author of a book in his collection entitled Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies.
For the time being, however, the aspiring writer still hesitated to take his first steps into the literary world he desperately wanted to be a part of.
This was all to change at the end of 1947.
That year, the newly-established Sunday Times book prize of £1,000 had been won by Osbert Sitwell for the first two volumes of his autobiography.
The official presentation took place in London, just before Christmas.
Edith Sitwell travelled down from Renishaw especially to see her brother receive his award.
However, at the luncheon party which followed, she was incensed by the flippant remark of one of the guests.
Ian Fleming had introduced himself by telling her that they had a mutual friend in William Plomer, who had worked with him in naval intelligence during the war.
As literary adviser to the publisher Jonathan Cape, Plomer would eventually go on to edit all of the James Bond novels.
Miss Sitwell responded coolly at first, assuming from his servile manner that he was social secretary to Lady Cunard, another of the guests. But her mood quickly became white-hot.
The sensitive writer took great offence at Fleming’s casual comment that he was very amused to see in an article that Plomer had listed her poem The Shadow of Cain among his favourites.
“Amused” was hardly the word to use about a work which had been inspired by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The moment Edith Sitwell arrived back at Renishaw Hall, she wrote to Plomer to complain about Fleming’s behaviour.
She pointed out that Fleming would have felt the full force of her wrath for his rudeness had it not been Osbert’s special day.
When informed by Plomer of the upset he had unwittingly caused, Fleming immediately responded by sending a grovelling letter of apology to the poet.
It did the trick. Her ruffled feathers smoothed, Miss Sitwell reported to their mutual friend: “I have had one of the most charming letters I have ever received from Mr Fleming as a result of your ‘speaking to him’.
“Really, his letter could not have been nicer. So, all is now well and I have written back.”
She invited her new acquaintance to attend a gala luncheon at her London club the following June, when she was next in town.
As well as Plomer, the guests were to include T.S. Eliot and the novelist Rosamund Lehmann.
In a typically modest response, Fleming declared he was horrified at the “array of talent” that would be present.
Nevertheless, he did his best to make a good impression on the day.
Not only that, just two weeks after the luncheon, he arranged for The Shadow of Cain to be published in full in the Sunday Times.
Aware of Edith Sitwell’s interest in mysticism, Fleming had another treat in store.
Nearly 20 years earlier, while a student, he had translated from the German a speech made by the psychologist Carl Jung on a famous 16th-Century physician and alchemist called Paracelsus.
His promise to send her a copy went down extremely well.
The eccentric writer was so delighted that she discussed with Fleming the possibility of writing a joint book on Paracelsus for publication.
The pair met frequently and often exchanged ideas by post.
Fleming took the opportunity to suggest that a piece by her on the intellectual life in North America would be welcomed by the Sunday Times.
He soon found himself bombarded with her poems for publication and generally did his best to oblige.
This was similarly the case when Edith sent him an advance copy of her latest publication A Notebook on William Shakespeare.
Fleming replied: “Incidentally, please tell me who you would best like to review it for the Sunday Times and I will use my small weight with the literary editor.”
This remarkable literary flirtation between the future creator of James Bond and Renishaw’s eccentric poet continued for the next two years.
In fact, Fleming’s long-time mistress, Ann Rothermere (wife of the 2nd Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail) even teased him about it, referring to Miss Sitwell as his secret lover.
In the end, the joint project on Paracelsus came to nothing. However, thanks to the friendship and support of the grande dame of English poetry, Fleming had come closer to writing a book than he had ever done before.
This new found confidence stirred his literary ambitions.
But, instead of attempting the kind of intellectual work he might have produced with Edith Sitwell, his thoughts turned to the spy story he had long set his heart on.
Early in 1952, while on his annual winter break at Goldeneye, Fleming began work on his first novel, Casino Royale.
And thus the legendary British secret agent James Bond was born.
FEEDBACK
Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.
If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'
|
Other tags that are relevant to James Bond author's links with Derbyshire Help us to improve You&Yesterday by adding more tags to this article. Simply edit this page, find this area and add the words in a list separated by commas next to the *. To find out more about tagging please click here. |
County: Derbyshire
Return to You_and_Yesterday
Share this page: del.icio.us 
| digg 
| Fark 
| Furl 
| BlogMarks 