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Where Bond was born

Lucy Fleming

Wednesday, 16th April 2008

Lucy Fleming visits the Jamaican home of her uncle, Ian Fleming

Ian was always sad to leave the island. He loved it: the people, the weather, the flora and fauna (his heroine in Live and Let Die, Solitaire, was named after a local bird). He particularly enjoyed the swimming; he found a new adventure playground in the sea which he reflected in his writing. He even found his hero’s name ‘on the cover of one of my Jamaican bibles, Birds of the West Indies by James Bond, an ornithological classic’. Ian wrote, ‘Would these books have been born if I hadn’t been living in the glorious vacuum of a Jamaican holiday? I doubt it.’ James Bond may have been conceived in Room 39 of the Admiralty but he was born in Jamaica. As Ian said of Bond, ‘He’d grown to love the great green island and its staunch humorous people.’ I wish I’d had time to see more of it.

My Stay At Jamaican Inn (www.jamaicainn.com) Was Booked Through Original Travel (www.originaltravel.co.uk).

My Stay At The Royal Plantation Hotel (www.royalplantation.com) Was Arranged By The Very Helpful Jamaican Tourist Board (Visitjamaica.com).

My Thanks To Chris Blackwell And His Great Team For The Visit To Goldeneye (www.islandoutpost.com).

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming And James Bond Opens At The Imperial War Museum On 17 April And Runs Until 1 March 2009 (http://london.iwm.org.uk)

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Peter Winskill

April 18th, 2008 5:13pm

"Goldeneye", Fleming's home, brings to mind a visit I made in 2001 to nearby "Firefly", Noel Coward's house. I spent an enchanting morning exploring the wonderfully maintained gardens and sloping lawns, and the tiny house - not so well maintained - but still fascinating. Two aging grand pianos back to back taking up most of the mminisicule sitting room. Noel's books and yellowing sheet music lying in a rickety bookcase. A tiny table on a back patio where a plaque on the wall tells us Noel entertained the queen mother and Princess Margaret to lunch, and never before seen (by me) verses in the inimitable style describing the occasion. No signs of a kitchen so I expect he had the servants bring it in from elsewhere. Noel's bedroom and the shower carried a pathos for me. (Is that grammatical?) All very simple and with a rickety colonial air about the place and little of the elegance which one would have expected from the Master which made it even more magical. There wasn't another soul there to supervise or follow me - in case I or the less scrupulous should decide to walk off with "momentos". Two smiling staff members at the gate offered me a visitors book to sign. What a wonderful and magical day - and memory - that was.

robin mitchinson

May 9th, 2008 5:29pm

Is it not possible that Ian Fleming named the house 'Goldeneye' after the bird of the same name, a blackbird with large golden eyes, racous chatter, and a very gregarious nature? Incidentally, the opening shots in 'Dr No' were filmed at the Liguanea Club in Kingston (still extant); a wily Club Secretary, when asked which room Sean Connery occupied (none, actually) was wont to indicate whichever was vacant or hard to let!

Lawrence Dugan

May 10th, 2008 9:25pm

This article started me re-reading Ian Fleming after about twenty-five years. I bought a copy of "Thunderball" and I am almost finished the book. It is absolutely first-rate, a beautifully written adventure novel,and a strange combination of suspense, natural description (the Caribbean) and cold war espionage.