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By
OD
Dead Rebel Of The Week
~ Ian Fleming ~
The name is Fleming, Ian Fleming.
Damn, what can I say about the man who created James Bond? Maybe that he was a former master spy born into a wealthy English family and could have just as well sat on his ass waiting for the family fortune to be his? Sure I could. It is a fairly accurate description, but woefully inadequate.
Yeah, the family fortune enabled Ian to attend the best schools - where he didn't do particularly well. Early on Ian was intimidated by the shadows of his father and brother, often times falling far far short of expectations. Ian’s father died a war hero in WWI just eight days before Ian turned 9. While growing up, he and his brothers were oft told to "be as good as your father." A tall task for many young men. Peter, Ian’s older brother, was golden in those early years; he excelled in everything he did, and became a well known journalist and author. A lesser boy or man would have quit and just bided his time, waiting for the family fortune to be his. Ian, however, was determined to earn his own way and his own fortune.
His first attempt at gainful employment was with the Foreign Services, where he was not accepted (or was he?). After that rejection he once again tried to follow in Peter’s footsteps by taking a job with Reuters. While he never really "scooped the competition", he did earn the respect of his peers. If only being a journalist had paid better…. Ian moved on to become a banker. It still didn't make him rich or famous but he was independent and quite happy being a booze hound who earned the reputation of being quite the womanizer. In 1939 Ian once again returned to work for Reuters, covering events on mainland Europe. As it turns out, Fleming was a spy then and I am betting he was a spy during his first stint at Reuters. Slick.
During the war Ian was moved into the Naval Intelligence arm of operations where his brilliant mind worked overtime hatching schemes. Some of them brilliant, others less than brilliant. He was linked to Aleister Crowley in a plot to get to the German Commander Rudolf Hess. It involved using Aleister Crowley and his knowledge in darker magics to make Hess (also a dabbler in the black arts) contact an occult decoy anti-Churchill group in England, thus drawing him out. It fell through but the plan was quite brilliant really.
Towards the end of the war Ian found his paradise in Jamaica. He then laid the foundation for what so many of us wish to do but so very rarely achieve. He laid out his plan for living there and then executed it. Flawlessly...
Fleming set a schedule with his post war employer, a newspaper, that six months out of the year he would live in England and write for the paper. The other six months of the year were his to do as he pleased. No compromise would be made to this. Think about this folks, six months of lounging in heaven. Chasing women, drinking, and giving parties. Offer me that chance and I am on it.
This arrangement went on for six years until the unthinkable happened. Ian managed to knock up a married woman. Time to settle down. While waiting for the said woman to get a divorce, Ian then set to work writing the book that would change his life and popular literature. “Casino Royale” introduced us to James Bond and, in many ways, Ian Fleming himself.
In the 12 short years that Ian had left to live he wrote 14 James Bond novels, a children’s book, and two non-fiction works. He also lived life like many of us only wish we could. He once admitted to his doctor that he smoked 70 cigarettes and drank a bottle of gin a day. He probably nearly scared the poor bastard to death. It is a wonder that Fleming lived to be 56. When his mother died in mid-July of 1964, his doctor advised him not to go to the funeral for health reasons. In true rebel fashion, Ian pretty much said, “fuck that I am going”. He died a mere three weeks after his mother. So much for that sit around and wait for her to die shit. Had he tried that he would have enjoyed being rich for only three weeks. Instead, he struck out on his own, created his own destiny, and made himself a rich man on his own terms. His travels across the world were done with style and authority.
Besides, you have got to give props to someone who named a character in a book, a popular mainstream book at that, Pussy Galore in the late ‘50's early '60s and didn't have to change it. Pure balls.
