'The wilderness of mirrors': 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction
With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond.
- With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond.
- Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953.
- British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story.
- It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people.
Ian Fleming, Agent 17F
- He only lasted a year at military college (where he contracted gonorrhoea), then missed out on a job with the Foreign Office.
- The director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Henry Godfrey, recruited Fleming as his assistant.
- Fleming excelled, under the codename 17F.
- They would obtain a German bomber, dress British men in German uniforms, and deliberately crash the plane into the channel.
- Fleming claimed he played against a German agent at the tables, an experience that supposedly inspired Bond’s gambling battles with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.
- Fleming also pointed to Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born British agent during the First World War.
The changing world of Bond
- Bond novels still sold well, especially after John F. Kennedy listed one among his top ten books.
- From Casino Royale to For Your Eyes Only (1960), Bond battled SMERSH, a real Soviet counter-espionage organisation.
- The early Bond novels were Cold War stories.
- In the novels, Bond drove Bentleys – the Aston Martin was introduced in the 1964 film Goldfinger.
- Their female characters do more than just spend a night with Bond before their untimely deaths.
- But the revised Bond novels will include a disclaimer noting the removals.
Spies After Bond
- Le Carré introduced his readers to a more mundane, morally grey world of espionage.
- He thought Bond was a gangster rather than a spy.
- There’s a little more Bond in Mathews’ books than in those of le Carré or Rimington.
- The more tedious and banal aspects of spycraft – brush passes, broken transmitters, and dead drops – accompany the glamour and romance.
The wilderness of mirrors
- The real world of espionage is so secret that most of us only ever encounter it on pages or screens.
- We don’t usually look to Bond films for accurate representations of espionage.
- But the influence of Fleming’s spy and the general aura of secrecy surrounding intelligence work lend some glamour and excitement to the work of real spies.
- This is why the CIA invests time and money into fictionalisations dealing with its work.