Limelight Unbreakable Bond By Lubna Abdel-Aziz It was 40 years ago that the viewing public was first introduced to the suave, swanky and devilishly handsome secret agent super-spy 007. It was love at first sight. There he was on the big screen, larger than life, the envy of every man, the dream of every woman, the one and only Bond -- James Bond! Overnight he became an icon and so did his protagonist Sean Connery, the first 007 we ever knew and never quite got over. For the last four decades Bond has saved nations, destroyed villains, seduced women, enraged men with little violence, little blood let, little nudity or profanity. His face may have changed with the years, but his essence remains unchanged. His thorough knowledge of women, men, machines, of the best wines, champagne, automobiles, defined a certain elegant taste -- an icon of class! "Bond is what every man would like to be, what every woman would like to have..." wrote author Raymond Chandler. Our first encounter with the super-spy on the big screen came in 1962 with Dr No, courtesy of producer Albert R Broccoli, who initiated the series and developed the Bond phenomenon, which became the longest, most successful and most envied film franchise in cinema history. Though the character changed hands through four decades, it has remained quintessentially Bond -- British, dapper, debonair, sublime. A descendant of Italian horticulturists who crossed the cauliflower with rabe to create a vegetable that bears their family name, young "Cubby" Broccoli left his immigrant parents' vegetable farm in New York to seek his fortune in Hollywood. He later moved to England in 1950 and founded his own Warwick Film Productions. He developed his Bond success formula by matching him with beautiful women, exotic locations, diabolical villains, dazzling gadgetry. Legend has it that it was Broccoli's wife Dana who picked little-known Sean Connery out of several audition tapes: "Take that one. He's gorgeous!" 2002 seems to be the year of Ian Fleming, Bond's creator. Not only is the silver screen celebrating Bond's 40th birthday and Bond film number 20, but London's Palladium is also presenting one of Fleming's other hits about the adventures of a flying car. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a musical based on the film by the same name (1968) is now enjoying tremendous success on the West End. Moreover, Penguin Books has just released a special edition of three Bond novels, From Russia with Love, Dr No and Goldfinger, in one volume, in their prestigious series 'Penguin Modern Classics'. New editions of 14 Bond books in retro- chic form are also enjoying huge sales. Can Fleming bear serious comparison with other 'Penguin Modern Classics' authors, Kafka, Woolf, Camus and Orwell? Simon Winder of Penguin Books defends their decision, "Fleming's novels were immediately recognised as classic thrillers by his contemporaries." "Most British writers of the 50s have aged badly," says Winder, "it is rather the writers of unconventional fiction such as Fleming and Tolkien, who have held up well." They created new genres, "the fantasy genre and the super-spy genre." Both have a real resonance now and have been widely admired and imitated. Fleming's real life rivals that of fictitious Bond. Born in 1908 to wealthy Scottish nobility, Fleming's father Valentine died a war hero when Ian was barely nine. Winston Churchill wrote the obituary for The Times. His mother inherited the vast estate, for as long as she remained unmarried. His older brother Peter became the family patriarch, and Ian was left to fend for himself, always living in the shadow of father and brother, wherever he went -- Eton, Oxford, Sandhurst. After struggling to create his own identity, he left for Europe where no one had ever heard of father or brother. He became known as the rakish, handsome, cultured Etonian "with a rapier wit and a certain cool lack of shyness with women". His eyes were set on the Foreign Service, but when that failed, he found himself again following in his brother's footsteps as a journalist at Reuters. Although he distinguished himself in his reporting of a spy trial in Russia, he soon tired of being "the other Fleming", and left Reuters to become a banker. Finally he was able to afford the life he dreamed of. He set himself in a fine residence in exclusive Belgravia and hosted grand dinner parties for London's élite. "He ate, drank and loved his way through life," while his brother Peter was churning out books of true live adventures. By age 30 Fleming, tired of banking and his whole lifestyle and returned to the Soviet Union to report once again for TheTimes. It is believed that throughout it all, he was secretly employed by the British Secret Service as, what else, a spy! In 1939, a more formal attachment to the Secret Service was established, when he became an assistant to Admiral John Godfrey, one of Britain's top spymasters. It was the best thing that had ever happened to Ian Fleming -- WWII. The "Fleming flair" proved to be his greatest strength in Naval Intelligence, tapping his imagination, forcing him to work with diligence and discipline, scheming and planning dangerous missions, ingenious intelligence operations, while at the same time dining at the best restaurants, sipping the finest wines and escorting the most beautiful women. "The Fleming flair" proved valuable in another respect -- writing. His memos became pleasurable reading to his superiors who relished his elegant style and colourful humour. During the last year of the war, Fleming travelled to Jamaica for a naval conference. There he discovered his paradise. After the war he built his fabulous villa, GoldenEye, perched at the edge of the Caribbean, where he spent his time lounging in paradise, chasing the sunset and romancing the beauties. At 44, it was time for Fleming to settle down and get married. The beauty of choice was Lady Anne Rothermore. It was there at GoldenEye, that Ian Fleming, late of Eton, Sandhurst and Naval Intelligence, sat down in front of a battered, Imperial typewriter and finally wrote the novel he had so longed to write. Over the next 12 years Fleming transformed his elite existence, flashy style and acid wit into some of the greatest thrillers ever written, selling an estimated 50 million copies, acquiring multitudes of readers, the likes of President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh, Somerset Maughan and Anthony Eden. Years of smoking, drinking and high living were taking their toll. Though Bond had, at long last, allowed him to relish the finest of lifestyles, Fleming died at 56, only a few months after his mother, who had finally left him his father's vast fortune that he had so longed to inherit. By then he had himself earned a far sweeter fortune -- his very own! His literary style and legacy live on in the works of authors such as Len Deighton (The Berlin Game), Tom Clancy (Clear and Present Danger) and John Le Carré (The Spy who Came in from the Cold) and hundreds of others who travelled the road that Fleming pioneered. Unfortunately Fleming never lived to witness Bond's immense popularity. Despite the years, Bond remains a young, fresh, tongue-in-cheek super-spy, ready to thrill and entertain once again, with a dry martini in one hand and a heavenly beauty in the other. Lee Tamahori directs the next state-of-the-arts Bond film Die Another Day, with Pierce Brosnan reprising 007 for the fourth time, opposite Oscar- winning striking beauty, bikini-clad Halle Berry, while Madonna sings the theme song serenading the secret agent master-sleuth we know as Bond -- James Bond! The Royal Premiere will be held in London on 18 November. An adoring public is poised to celebrate the big bash and tip their hats to the super-spy, and to one Fleming -- Ian Fleming!
