THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN PEN
To describe a writer who sold 40m copies of his books in his lifetime — inaugurating one of the most profitable franchises in history — as underrated would seem counterintuitive, but Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, has always seemed to provoke the ‘yes, but’ response (‘Yes, but Le Carré was the real deal’; ‘Yes, but he was too sybaritic to be serious’ — as if the two were mutually exclusive). To be fair, Fleming himself was often foremost among the non-cheerleaders. He described the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, as “an oafish opus”, and further downplayed expectations in a 1963 BBC radio interview: “I’m not in the Shakespeare stakes. I have no ambition.”
Perhaps it was simply politic to hide your light under a bushel if you found yourself a scion of a wealthy banking family with more than its share of flaming comets. Ian’s father, Major Valentine Fleming, was a successful barrister and conservative. His mother, Evelyn St. Croix Fleming, was a legendary beauty and socialite who became muse and mistress to the painter Augustus John following the Major’s death. Her avowed disappointment in her middle son could only have been exacerbated by the achievements of his elder brother, Peter. Star student at Eton and Oxford? Check. Explorer of Brazil and the Caucasus and acclaimed travel writer? Check. Grenadier Guards officer during world war II who joined the Special Operations Executive, trained Chinese guerrilla troops, and participated in commando raids in Norway, for which he received an OBE? Checkmate.
