Friday, February 14, 2014

Bond. James Bond.

007 got his name from an ornithologist named James Bond.  Ian Flemming was a bird watcher, and as he lived in Jamaica he of course had Bond's book.  In a letter, Flemming wrote:
"It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born."
Flemming asked Bond if he could use the name, and Bond basically said "go ahead".  And so one of the most famous film tag lines was born.

Flemming gave an autographed first edition of You Only Live Twice to Bond, with the inscription "To the real James Bond, from the thief of his identity."  The book sold at auction in 2008 for $84,000.

Sharp eyed Bond fans will recognize this book from the film Die Another Day from the scene in Havana.  The real Mr. Bond died on this day in 1989, never having had an actual License To Kill.

2 comments:

Chickenmom said...

Interesting - thanks for that tidbit!

Phil said...

Nice bit of trivia I never knew.
Thanks!