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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Ian Fleming
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(1908–64) Creator of fiction's best-known secret agent, James Bond, whose number (007) indicates that he is licensed to kill. Fleming was a journalist by profession but he worked in naval intelligence during World War II. Bond made his first appearance in Casino Royale (1953), and thereafter a new Bond thriller appeared every year; Fleming wrote one each winter at his holiday home in Jamaica. The books were immediately popular with their seductive blend of ingredients – exotic locations, ruthless enemies, elaborate gadgetry, much emphasis on the trappings of luxury, and above all the suave character of Bond himself with his retinue of beautiful and willing women, many of them villains under the skin.
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But it was the films, starting with Dr. No in 1962, which made Bond an international superstar – in the mould of John *Buchan's Richard Hannay and *Sapper's Bull-dog Drummond, but much more successful than either. He was performed first by Sean Connery, subsequently by Roger Moore and others. Fleming's love of gadgets was also evident in his stories for children, collected as Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang (1964, filmed 1968); the title is the name of a magic flying car, in which two children outwit Joe the Monster.
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