Ian Fleming

IAN FLEMING d1964. British writer, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. While working for Britain's NID during the Second World War, he was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units 30 Assault Unit ant T-Force. His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. He wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolve around James Bond an officer in the SIS, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number (007) and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. He also wrote the children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked him 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". He was married to Ann Charteris who was divorced from the second Viscount Rothermere because of her affair with the author. He was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease on August 12th 1964 at the age of 56