Read For Your Eyes Only Online
Authors: Ben Macintyre
Desmond Llewelyn as Q, the Einstein of the espionage gadget, with Pierce Brosnan in
Golden Eye
(1995).
Courtesy of EON Productions
Prototypes of Rosa Klebb's famous dagger-shoes, as worn by Lotte Lenya in the 1963 film of
From Russia with Love
: elegant, and lethal.
Images on this page courtesy of EON Productions
Bullet-holed cello from
The Living Daylights
.
Spear guns from
Thunderball
(1965).
Fleming makes scrambled eggs: twelve eggs, lashings of butter, then some more butter. âI think you sometimes add cream instead of the last piece of butter', he wrote. Note his unconventional âhotplate'.
Images on this page used with the permission of Time and Life Pictures/Getty Images
Bond in the bunker: Ian Fleming playing golf.
Ian Fleming poses by a Bentley, similar to Bond's first car, the battleship â grey 1933 4.5-litre Bentley convertible he drives in
Casino Royale
.
Fleming at the card table. âThe same cries of victory and defeat, the same dedicated faces, the same smell of tobacco and drama. For Bond, who loved to gamble, it was the most exciting spectacle in the world.' (
Moonraker
)
Used with the permission of Time and Life Pictures/Getty Images
Casino Royale | 1953 |
Live and Let Die | 1954 |
Moonraker | 1955 |
Diamonds Are Forever | 1956 |
From Russia with Love | 1957 |
Dr No | 1958 |
Goldfinger | 1959 |
For Your Eyes Only (short stories: âFrom a View to a Kill'; âFor Your Eyes Only'; âRisico'; âQuantum of Solace'; âThe Hildebrand Rarity') | 1960 |
Thunderball | 1961 |
The Spy Who Loved Me | 1962 |
On Her Majesty's Secret Service | 1963 |
You Only Live Twice | 1964 |
The Man with the Golden Gun | 1965 |
Octopussy and The Living Daylights (short stories) | 1966 |
This book represents a collaboration between many people and several different groups and organisations, all of whom gave generously of their time and expertise, usually at very short notice.
Kate Grimond, representing the Fleming family, Zoë Watkins of Ian Fleming Publications (IFP), and Terry Charman, historian of the Imperial War Museum, were all kind enough to read the manuscript, saving me from a number of embarrassing errors and omissions. It has been a pleasure to work with James Taylor, Elizabeth Bowers, Ann Carter and the rest of the enthusiastic and expert staff of the Imperial War Museum in assembling the objects and words that most accurately represent Ian Fleming and James Bond. I am also grateful to Meg Simmonds of EON Productions for her help, and to Keith Snelgrove, senior vice-president of global business strategy for EON Productions, for granting permission to reproduce stills from the Bond films and photographs of items from the James Bond archive. Thanks also to Johnny Ring for his
elegant photography.
The Times
, media partner of the Imperial War Museum exhibition, generously provided full access to its photographic library and archive; my thanks to Bob Kirwin and Donna Richmond for all their help and advice on pictures, and to News International for permission to reproduce a selection of these. My friends and colleagues at
The Times
have been typically helpful, and I am particularly grateful to the editor, Robert Thomson, and executive editor, Keith Blackmore, for their support of both the exhibition and this book.
Emily Sweet of Bloomsbury and Peter Dawson of Grade Design performed miracles in an astonishingly short space of time to bring this project to fruition. Kate Johnson's copy-editing was, as usual, superbly efficient. Ed Victor and his team of highly trained agents have completed another mission brilliantly. Michael Fishwick, Trâm-Anh Doan and the rest of the staff at Bloomsbury have been, as ever, a delight to work with. Finally, my love and thanks to my family for allowing Ian Fleming and James Bond to move in with us.
Ben Macintyre
Amis, Kingsley,
The Bond Dossier
(Jonathan Cape, 1965)
Amory, Mark,
The Letters of Ann Fleming
(Harvill Press, 1985)
Benson, Raymond,
The James Bond Bedside Companion
(Boxtree, 1988)
Black, Jeremy,
The Politics of James Bond
(Greenwood Press, 2001)
Chancellor, Henry,
James Bond, the Man and his World: The Official Companion to Ian Fleming's Creation
(John Murray, 2005)
Chapman, James,
Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films
(I. B. Tauris, 1999)
Cork, John, and Bruce Scivally,
Bond: The Legacy
(Boxtree, 2002)
Dalzel-Job, Patrick,
Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy
(Leo Cooper, 2002)
Elliott, Nicholas,
Never Judge a Man by His Umbrella
(Michael Russell, 1991),
With My Little Eye
(Michael Russell, 1994)
Fleming, Peter,
Brazilian Adventure
(Jonathan Cape, 1933),
The Sixth Column
(Rupert Hart-Davis, 1951)
Lindner, Christoph,
The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader
(Manchester University Press, 2003)
Lycett, Andrew,
Ian Fleming
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995)
Maclean, Fitzroy,
Eastern Approaches
(Jonathan Cape, 1949)
Minshall, Merlin,
Guilt-Edged
(Bachman and Turner, 1975)
Pearson, John,
The Life of Ian Fleming
(Jonathan Cape, 1966)
James Bond:
The Authorised Biography
(Century, 2007)
Pfeiffer, Lee, and Dave Worrall,
The Essential James Bond: The Revised Authorised Guide to the World of 007
(Boxtree, 2003)
Popov, Duško,
Spy/Counterspy
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974)
Stafford, David,
Camp X
(Viking, 1987)
West, Nigel,
The Faber Book of Espionage
(Faber, 1993)
Willman, Skip, et al.,
Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007
(Indiana University Press, 2005)
Winder, Simon,
My Name's Bond
(Allen Lane, 2000)
BEN MACINTYRE
is a columnist and Associate Editor on
The Times
. He has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. He now lives in London with his wife and three children.
Agent Zigzag
, the true story of a WWII double-agent, was a recent
Sunday Times
bestseller.