Fleming, I: Goldfinger

Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in London on 28 May 1908 and was educated at Eton College before spending a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters News Agency, followed by a brief spell as a stockbroker. On the outbreak of World War II he was appointed assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, where he played a key part in British and Allied espionage operations. After the war he joined Kemsley Newspapers as Foreign Manager of The Sunday Times, running a network of correspondents who were intimately involved in the Cold War. His first novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953 and introduced James Bond, Special Agent 007, to the world. The first print run sold out within a month. Following this initial success, he published a Bond title every year until his death. His own travels, interests and wartime experience gave authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler hailed him as 'the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England.' The fifth title, From Russia With Love, was particularly well received and sales soared when President Kennedy named it as one of his favourite books. The Bond novels have sold more than sixty million copies and inspired a hugely successful film franchise which began in 1962 with the release of Dr No starring Sean Connery as 007. The Bond books were written in Jamaica, a country Fleming fell in love with during the war and where he built a house, 'Goldeneye'. He married Anne O'Neill in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only child Caspar, went on to become the well-loved novel and film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Fleming died of heart failure on 12 August 1964, aged fifty-six.

"Nobody else does this sort of thing as well as Mr. Fleming...it offers more passages of sustained excitement than we are likely to get from any other thriller this year" Sunday Times "The plot of Goldfinger is hugely enjoyable and moves with breakneck speed.Then there's the style, hard-edged and laconic. The overview, then, might be of a superbly written, fast-paced and entertaining thriller ... pulp fiction with wonderful characters and unforgettable scenes that pop up throughout the oeuvre" Telegraph "Mr Fleming is the best thriller writer since Buchan" Evening Standard "Highly entertaining" New York Times