Texas Star
US Veteran
I became a Bond fan in my teens and corresponded with Geoffrey Boothroyd, the real one who inspired the character "Maj. Boothroyd" of the books and movies. (Mainly or perhaps exclusively in, "Dr. No." That was also my first Bond book to read.)
Unlike CMort, I enjoyed Fleming's books tremendously. The movies made after, "Thunderball" have been silly things full of action and gadgets, made for the masses. Of the Bond actors, Connery owned the role, and no one else has come close. I think the present Bond is a good actor, well suited for other violent roles. But he is not the Bond of the books. Lazenby wasn't bad, but I liked Timothy Dalton better.
This isn't to disparage Daniel Craig. I read his, "Playboy" interview, and he seems a nice guy. But not the Bond of the books.
I have a page of stationery from the set of, "Dr. No", with a letter on it from Boothroyd. A nice keepsake. I keep it in one of Boothroyd's books.
I wrote to Fleming just once. I suggested arming Bond with a S&W M-36 with three-inch barrel and Gaylord holsters. He was away when the letter came, but I got a nice reply from his secretary , saying that she'd show him my letter on his return. I never heard from him. He probably had a lot of more important mail to answer on his return.
My divorced parents were of no help in writing letters. My mother was anti-gun and both parents thought it was ridiculous for a teen boy to be writing to a famous author. So, I wasn't able to type and use nice paper. I wrote in ballpoint pen. That may have put Fleming off, or he may have just been too busy to answer all of his mail. I did spell well and could punctuate, etc., so I hope I didn't come off as a redneck. I still feel that a three-inch M-36 would be a good Bond gun, and Boothroyd agreed, although he fancied the hammerless Centennial. In his epochal work, "The Handgun", published after Fleming's death in 1964, he said that the then-new M-60 snub was the ultimate Bond gun, due to the stainless construction.
If you can locate a copy of, "Sports Ill." from, I think, Mar. 19, 1962, read Boothroyd's article on Bond guns. Check all issues from March and April that year. I may have the date wrong. I don't know if it's on the Net.
I wondered which Rolex Bond wore. But a moderator here sent me a wonderful link to Rolex data, including a lot on Ian Fleming and the Bond movies. It was clear that Fleming personally wore the Explorer I. I had one, and liked it, but the acrylic crystal scratched and had to be polished out every year or two, and wasn't as accurate as a quartz watch and it became too expensive to clean. None of that applied to Fleming, who died well before quartz watches appeared and who was wealthy enough to have his watch serviced when needed. Watch cleaning was a LOT cheaper then, too.
I think that Fleming was probably attracted to the Rolex Explorer I because when he bought it, it had just been used on the expedition that first ascended Mt. Everest. And Fleming was a SCUBA diver and needed a waterproof watch.
I still re-read a Bond book occasionally, and am better able to fully appreciate them as an adult. I've tried reading the other authors licensed to write the 007 books, but none has had Fleming's understanding of the character and they tend to be too complex and too PC. Like the movies...They really ticked me off when they cast a black man as CIA agent Felix Leiter and there's talk of a black man playing Bond. That 's just 'way too much PC overkill. If they want to give work to black actors, they can create other characters. But not change the races of the key cast! Don't get on this horse and ride it and say that I'm a racist. But some things shouldn't be tolerated. I think the Broccoli-Saltzman (sp?) films are far too liberal. Ian Fleming was pretty conservative by modern standards and so was the literary Bond. The movies suffered from changing this. But this is true of the movie industry in general. And actors are almost all anti-gun and have other liberal values that can't be discussed here. But that goes beyond a discussion of the Bond character, at least as far as the original books are concerned.
Some will wonder how Fleming owned at least four handguns in the UK. The answer is, they were quite legal, if you could get through the red tape and requirements. Some 300,000 handguns were confiscated and destroyed after passage of the dreadful 1997 gun law, touted by Labour, Tony Blair then being the PM. Fleming died in 1964, and Boothroyd was dead by then, too, I think. Boothroyd, being a gun writer and enthusiast, had far more pistols than did Fleming.
Unlike CMort, I enjoyed Fleming's books tremendously. The movies made after, "Thunderball" have been silly things full of action and gadgets, made for the masses. Of the Bond actors, Connery owned the role, and no one else has come close. I think the present Bond is a good actor, well suited for other violent roles. But he is not the Bond of the books. Lazenby wasn't bad, but I liked Timothy Dalton better.
This isn't to disparage Daniel Craig. I read his, "Playboy" interview, and he seems a nice guy. But not the Bond of the books.
I have a page of stationery from the set of, "Dr. No", with a letter on it from Boothroyd. A nice keepsake. I keep it in one of Boothroyd's books.
I wrote to Fleming just once. I suggested arming Bond with a S&W M-36 with three-inch barrel and Gaylord holsters. He was away when the letter came, but I got a nice reply from his secretary , saying that she'd show him my letter on his return. I never heard from him. He probably had a lot of more important mail to answer on his return.
My divorced parents were of no help in writing letters. My mother was anti-gun and both parents thought it was ridiculous for a teen boy to be writing to a famous author. So, I wasn't able to type and use nice paper. I wrote in ballpoint pen. That may have put Fleming off, or he may have just been too busy to answer all of his mail. I did spell well and could punctuate, etc., so I hope I didn't come off as a redneck. I still feel that a three-inch M-36 would be a good Bond gun, and Boothroyd agreed, although he fancied the hammerless Centennial. In his epochal work, "The Handgun", published after Fleming's death in 1964, he said that the then-new M-60 snub was the ultimate Bond gun, due to the stainless construction.
If you can locate a copy of, "Sports Ill." from, I think, Mar. 19, 1962, read Boothroyd's article on Bond guns. Check all issues from March and April that year. I may have the date wrong. I don't know if it's on the Net.
I wondered which Rolex Bond wore. But a moderator here sent me a wonderful link to Rolex data, including a lot on Ian Fleming and the Bond movies. It was clear that Fleming personally wore the Explorer I. I had one, and liked it, but the acrylic crystal scratched and had to be polished out every year or two, and wasn't as accurate as a quartz watch and it became too expensive to clean. None of that applied to Fleming, who died well before quartz watches appeared and who was wealthy enough to have his watch serviced when needed. Watch cleaning was a LOT cheaper then, too.
I think that Fleming was probably attracted to the Rolex Explorer I because when he bought it, it had just been used on the expedition that first ascended Mt. Everest. And Fleming was a SCUBA diver and needed a waterproof watch.
I still re-read a Bond book occasionally, and am better able to fully appreciate them as an adult. I've tried reading the other authors licensed to write the 007 books, but none has had Fleming's understanding of the character and they tend to be too complex and too PC. Like the movies...They really ticked me off when they cast a black man as CIA agent Felix Leiter and there's talk of a black man playing Bond. That 's just 'way too much PC overkill. If they want to give work to black actors, they can create other characters. But not change the races of the key cast! Don't get on this horse and ride it and say that I'm a racist. But some things shouldn't be tolerated. I think the Broccoli-Saltzman (sp?) films are far too liberal. Ian Fleming was pretty conservative by modern standards and so was the literary Bond. The movies suffered from changing this. But this is true of the movie industry in general. And actors are almost all anti-gun and have other liberal values that can't be discussed here. But that goes beyond a discussion of the Bond character, at least as far as the original books are concerned.
Some will wonder how Fleming owned at least four handguns in the UK. The answer is, they were quite legal, if you could get through the red tape and requirements. Some 300,000 handguns were confiscated and destroyed after passage of the dreadful 1997 gun law, touted by Labour, Tony Blair then being the PM. Fleming died in 1964, and Boothroyd was dead by then, too, I think. Boothroyd, being a gun writer and enthusiast, had far more pistols than did Fleming.
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