Last modified 17 Mar 2007

James Bond

James Bond is the central character of Fleming's 14 books and the inspiration for 21 official films and countless other publications. The 3,000 pages penned by Fleming remain the authoritative record of Bond, and in them can be found a coherent picture of the man. Here is the most detailed character description of what we know for certain about Bond.

Biography of the Literary James Bond

James Bond was (likely) born in 1924, the son of Andrew Bond of Glencoe, Scotland, and Monique Delacroix of Switzerland. His family motto is Orbis non sufficit (The world is not enough). Bond's father was an arms dealer for Vickers, what is now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments, and as a consequence Bond's childhood was spent abroad. When Bond was 11 his parents died climbing in the Ai\-guilles Rouges and he was taken in by his aunt Charmian Bond in Pett Bottom, Kent, a stone's throw from what is now the Duck Inn restaurant. A year later Bond entered Eton College, following his father's instructions, but had to be removed after two halves due to `alleged trouble with one of the boys' maids'. He transferred to his father's old school, Fettes, where by comparison he prospered: he was an avid judo wrestler and light-weight boxer and spoke French and German, of which he had had early exposure abroad, with ease.

At 17 Bond finished school and began study at the University of Geneva; this was interrupted when he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1941. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Commander and his service record soon drew the attention of M (Miles), the director of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). It was at this stage that Bond became `associated with certain aspects of the Ministry's work'. After his second assassination, Bond was awarded a double-0 number, indicating a licence to kill, and it is from this point that a number of his missions have been documented. In 1954 Bond was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). He was later offered a knighthood for his services to MI6 but refused for the sake of professional anonymity.

At the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond married Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Tracy), daughter of Marc-Ange Draco; she was killed shortly after the wedding by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bond's longstanding enemy. Nonetheless Bond is known to have at least one (illegitimate) child, through the Japanese agent Kissy Suzuki whom he met in You Only Live Twice.

At six feet and 165 pounds, Bond is slim, almost wiry (body mass index = 22.4). He has blue-grey eyes, a rather cruel mouth, a long vertical scar on his left cheek and short, dark hair which falls to his forehead in a wandering comma. On the back of his hand is a scar in the shape of the Russian character и, carved by a SMERSH agent in Casino Royale. His dress is simple but elegant: single-breasted blue serge or houndstooth check suits (probably from a tailor just off the Row; certainly not Italian) with a white shirt and and slip-on shoes. His tie is black knit silk, evidently tied in a four-in-hand or half-Windsor (Bond thought the Windsor knot was 'the mark of a cad'. Alas, his bow tie is black satin rather than barathea.

Bond is an able amateur sportsman, particularly at skiing, golf and hand-to-hand combat, the last being the subject of his book-in-progress, Stand Firm. He rode the Cresta Run from Top. He has few possessions but they are fine: a wide, flat gun-metal cigarette case; a black oxidized Ronson lighter; and a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch. Contrary to the films, Bond prefers Bentleys; in order, he drives a 1930 (or 1933) Mark IV convertible, a 1953 Mark VI and a Mark II Continental, all of them grey with navy or black interior. He occasionally dines at the London club Blades (modelled after Boodle's).

Bond dislikes tea but frequently drinks coffee, brewed in an American Chemex. His taste in food is refined if unadventurous, with a preference for traditional English fare. His favourite meal is breakfast, for which we are given his recipe in the short story `007 in New York':

He would have one more dry martini at the table, then smoked salmon and the particular scrambled eggs he had once (Felix Leiter knew the head-waiter) instructed them how to make:

For four individualists:

12 fresh eggs   Salt and pepper   5--6 oz. of fresh butter.

Break the eggs into a bowl. Beat thoroughly with a fork and season well. In a small copper (or heavy bottomed saucepan) melt four oz. of the butter. When melted, pour in the eggs and cook over a very low heat, whisking continuously with a small egg whisk. While the eggs are slightly more moist than you would wish for eating, remove the pan from heat, add rest of butter and continue whisking for half a minute, adding the while finely chopped chives or fines herbes. Serve on hot buttered toast in individual copper dishes (for appearance only) with pink champagne (Taittinger) and low music.

Bond smokes approximately 60 cigarettes a day, usually a mix of Turkish and Balkan tobaccos, with three gold bands on the filter, indicative of his naval rank. He is a heavy drinker. Despite his cinematic preference for vodka martinis, Fleming's Bond prefers whisky. Throughout the books his most common drinks are 25% whisky or bourbon, 11% sake, 10% champagne and 6% vodka martini. Bond's secretary, Mary Goodnight, suggested for Bond this simple if simplistic epitaph: 'I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.'

---

Books and Films

Ian Fleming wrote 12 novels and two collections of short stories about Bond, published once a year between 1953 and 1966. The last two volumes were published posthumously after Fleming's death in 1964.

Casino Royale	1953
Live and Let Die	1954
Moonraker	1955
Diamonds are Forever	1956
From Russia with Love	1957
Dr. No	1958
Goldfinger	1959
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	1966
For Your Eyes Only	1960

The Bond series was extended by Kingsley Amis, who wrote Colonel Sun in 1968 under the pseudonym Robert Markham. Between 1981 and 1996 John Gardner wrote 14 novels and two film novelizations. He was followed by Raymond Benson, who wrote six novels and three novelizations between 1997 and 2002. Of the many nonfiction books on Bond, three can be considered classics:

The James Bond Dossier	Kingsley Amis	1965
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007	John Pearson	1973
The James Bond Bedside Companion	Raymond Benson	1984

There are 21 official Bond films, with the 21st, Casino Royale, released in November 2006. Bond has been played by six actors, though Fleming saw only Sean Connery. According to Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, we know that Bond resembled singer Hoagy Carmichael, and on this basis Timothy Dalton looks most like the spy. The other actors are George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

Dr. No	Sean Connery	1962
From Russia with Love	Sean Connery	1963
Goldfinger	Sean Connery	1964
Thunderball	Sean Connery	1965
You Only Live Twice	Sean Connery	1967
On Her Majesty's Secret Service	George Lazenby	1969
Diamonds Are Forever	Sean Connery	1971
Live and Let Die	Roger Moore	1973
The Man with the Golden Gun	Roger Moore	1974
The Spy Who Loved Me	Roger Moore	1977
Moonraker	Roger Moore	1979
For Your Eyes Only	Roger Moore	1981
Octopussy	Roger Moore	1983
A View to a Kill	Roger Moore	1985
The Living Daylights	Timothy Dalton	1987
Licence to Kill	Timothy Dalton	1989
GoldenEye	Pierce Brosnan	1995
Tomorrow Never Dies	Pierce Brosnan	1997
The World Is Not Enough	Pierce Brosnan	1999
Die Another Day	Pierce Brosnan	2002
Casino Royale	Daniel Craig	2006
Bond22	Daniel Craig	2008