0067 Interview Andrew Lycett

Ian Fleming (1908 - 1964) was a remarkable man who has lived an extraordinary life. At a young age he lost his father during WWI. Later, after attending Eton and dropping out of Sandhurst military school, he went to study at the Tennerhof in Kitzbühel, Austria. In the 1930s Fleming worked as a journalist for Reuters and in 1933 he went to Moscow to write about the Metropolitan-Vickers trial. By the time WWII started, Fleming was working in London as a stockbroker. During the war Fleming flourished; he joined the Naval Intelligence Division (NID) as personal assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey. In 1942 he formed a special unit of intelligence commandos, known as 30 Assault Unit or 30AU. In 1946 Fleming bought 15 acres of land on the north coast of Jamaica and had his house Goldeneye built. Also in Jamaica, in 1952, he married Ann Charteris and he wrote the draft of his first James Bond novel Casino Royale, which was published in 1953 by Jonathan Cape. At the age of 56 Fleming suffered a fatal second heart attack during a golfing weekend at the Royal St George's Golf Club in Kent, England. He died at Canterbury hospital on 11 August 1964, his son’s 12th birthday. In 1995 Andrew Lycett’s extensive biography of Ian Fleming was published, providing an in-depth look at the life of James Bond’s creator. Don talks to Andrew about Fleming, what motivated him, how he experienced things and what Bond meant to him. The podcast starts and ends with an audio clip from Andrew’s biography narrated by Simon Vance. http://www.andrewlycett.co.uk If you like our podcast, please share it with others. If you want to get in touch, you can send an email to [email protected], via social media or visit our website www.the00files.com