Cold War Author Ian Fleming

By Serena Price


The Cold War describes the tense relations between the United States and the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It began with the end of the second world war and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Perhaps the best known cold war author was Ian Fleming, who was most famous for his James Bond series of fiction novels.

Originally from Scotland, Fleming's family once lived in a house on the site of the American Embassy in London's Grosvenor Square. Fleming's grandfather, Robert Fleming, made a fortune as a pioneer of investment trusts. When the family moved from Dundee to London, he started his own investment bank.

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 in London's Mayfair on 27 Green Street on the 28th of May 1908, Ian Lancaster Fleming was the second-eldest of four brothers. He went to school at Eaton College, and then studied abroad in Germany and Austria. His elder brother, Peter, was born in 1907. He eventually wed noted actress, Celia Johnson, who appeared in David Lean's Film, "Brief Encounter." The two younger Fleming brothers, Richard and Michael, were born in 1911 and 1913, respectively. Richard died of a heart attack in 1977, while Michael married and had 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.

During his one month's unsalaried trial at Reuters, Fleming was tasked with updating 500 obituaries. This impressed his then-boss, Editor-in-Chief Bernard Rickatson-Hatt, who described him as meticulous, methodical and painstaking. It was here at Reuters that he learned how to be fast and accurate. At Reuters, if you weren't accurate, you weren't employed.

It was Fleming's experience as an assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence in the Admiralty in London what gave him the inspiration for many of the escapades of the James Bond character. The name, James Bond, comes from the author of a book on the birds of the West Indies, Fleming's "bible" for the 18 years that he spent there from 1946 to 1964.

Ian Fleming, cold war author, was best known for his series of James Bond spy novels, all of which have been made into popular films. He also wrote a children's short story, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, " for his young son, Caspar. Fleming died in Jamaica of a heart attack on August 12, 1964, on Caspar's 12th birthday. Caspar had a troubled adolescence and took his own life in 1975.




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