Becoming James Bond

Fleming was also the first to suggest planting papers on a corpse to mislead the enemy. This was in a widely circulated memo of ideas. It later was successfully tried in Operation Mincemeat to conceal the invasion of Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat

There's almost a full paragraph on his war efforts in the article; from the rest of that article we can imageine it's dissected at length in the book:

> In a book not short on detail – more of this in a moment – Shakespeare expends vast amounts of ink in trying to work out exactly how adept Commander Fleming, as he soon became, was at his job and how widely his operational net extended. Whatever Fleming’s precise achievements in Room 39 at the Admiralty Office, he clearly found himself at home in a milieu far more suited to his administrative and imaginative talents than any employment previously offered him. He was a resourceful and consistently adept man-manager at the very centre of the British intelligence machine, Shakespeare concludes, often seen at Bletchley Park and ‘a war-winner’, according to his old boss.

He trained in Canada http://www.camp-x.com/camp-x.html

I've recently read the first half dozen Bond books. Casino Royale is definitely a bit of a strange book - I found it really hard to get into until the bombing scene. I have to say though, the following books are a blast, particularly Moonraker. I think in part it's Fleming hitting his stride as a writer, and part getting used to his writing.

I want to like John Le Carre. His genre is right up my alley. I've tried to read his works and have watched some film adapations to varying degrees of success. I just can't get sucked into the world or I'm not entirely sure whats going on. I'm ususally an avid reader and can get lost in a book and forget about the world around me. Not sure what it is with Le Carre. Maybe the audiobook will be a good option if you're that fond of the performance by Jayston.

James Bond was the hero England needed at the time in response to the general dreariness and deprivation most English people were feeling in the post-war years. James Bond is this "omnicompetent" character, he always knows what to do, what to say, how to act in any given situation. He also experiences exotic locales with fine food and drinks. In some ways he represents a return to the "old days" of the British Empire when the UK and England was more relevant and also he represents (especially) masculine wish-fulfilment.

But yes, I can see how to modern audiences it's not so exciting and seems stale. But at the time, it was "hot" because Fleming created so many of the tropes that now we see as tired or dated.

I like both the Bond and Smiley books, but I've never understood why people are so quick to directly compare the two characters. Smiley is a man of politics and intrigue, while Bond is a boots-on-the-ground assassin.

Bond would be better compared with a character like Ricki Tarr. The 00 section seems to exist in the Smiley organization, they're called the 'scalphunters'. Here's Carre's description:

"The scalphunters' official name was Travel. They had been formed [...] in the pioneer days of the cold war, when murder and kidnapping and crash blackmail were common currency [...] They were a small outfit, about a dozen men, and they were there to handle the hit-and-run jobs that were too dirty or too risky for the residents abroad."

Sounds a lot like Bond. Tarr even shows up at the office unexpectedly, having problems with a woman, wanting money...

You'd think he would have a much greater objection to Bond driving a BMW during Pierce Brosnan's era.

That “rolex? … no, omega” scene on the train was absolutely painful

Although I will say that the Bond Seamaster 300 is a beauty of a watch. It’s just a shame it has 007 branding all over it.

James Bond is odd because of how brazen and normalised the product placement is. I can't think of any other film or tv show of the size where branded products are so central to the theme

The Omega Incabloc Oyster Accutron 72

Is the only wristwatch for a drummer

It tells true and it ain't no bummer

Clive James

Learn about the life of Sir Christopher Lee.

The books are a lot more grounded. Fleming referred to Bond as the blunt instrument of government.

I doubt it. George Smiley is generally held up as a more representative figure, though I suspect (without any personal knowledge or evidence) he also is more a useful focal point for stories in which the supporting colleagues have more in common with their real life counterparts than either the owlish Smiley or the predator Bond.

Eg.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/28/mi6-boss-geo...