AskMen has a great listing of 10 things you might not have known about James Bond. Now, I love James Bond, the books and the movies. A number of fascinating tidbets can be found in here.
Now I knew that Ian Flemming wrote the James Bond books at his estate (called Goldeneye). I didn’t know that he negotiated two months of vacation a year (nice deal, I’m jealous) when he got a job at Kemsley Newspapers. It was during those two months he banged out the next Bond book. So you really got a new Bond book a year, which is impressive in itself. I couldn’t write a book in two months under any circumstances.
In regards to the name James Bond, Ian Flemming has been quoted as saying
“I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, ‘James Bond’ was much better than something more interesting, like ‘Peregrine Carruthers.’ Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure — an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department.”
Peregrine Carruthers. Thank God that didn’t come about.
I also didn’t know aobut there only being 7 00’s. We’ve seen the deaths of 002, 003, 004, and 009. 006 was killed as the villian in GoldenEye. 008 is the only one we don’t see die, and he is mentioned to be Bond’s replacement. 001 and 005 never are mentioned.
Ian Flemming wrote the following books:
1953: Casino Royale
1954: Live and Let Die
1955: Moonraker
1956: Diamonds Are Forever
1957: From Russia with Love
1958: Dr. No
1959: Goldfinger
1960: For Your Eyes Only (short stories)
1961: Thunderball
1962: The Spy Who Loved Me
1963: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
1964: You Only LIve Twice
1965: The Man with the Golden Gun
1966: Octopussy (short story)
1966: The Living Daylights (short story)
The books are all fantastic, and worth reading if you’re a fan at all. It’s a totally different take on Bond from the movies, yet just as enjoyable. I haven’t read much of the other authors Bond books, but have thoroughly enjoyed Ian Flemmings works.
