Ian Fleming was born in 1908, the son of a Major and member of the British parliament.

Educated at Eton and at Sandhurst Military Academy, his incomplete academic career was marred by womanizing, a love of fast cars, and a disrespect for authority, although he was noted for his athletic prowess and for his marksmanship with a rifle. After a brief period of study while living in Austria, he began preparations for a diplomatic career. However, his subsequent failure to pass the Foreign Office entrance examination persuaded him to attempt a career in journalism instead. A checkered career followed, including employment with Reuters, a merchant bank, and a firm of London stockbrokers.

The outbreak of World War II led him to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and to a posting as the personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, and it was here that he received a great deal of his inspiration and ideas for his novels. After the war, he became foreign manager of Kemsley Newspapers, a post that he occupied until 1959.

It was during this period, in 1952, at his estate in Jamaica, named Goldeneye, that he conceived the character of James Bond, writing one book a year featuring the character until his death. He succumbed to coronary thrombosis and died in 1964, having sold over forty million copies of his books.

Bond was praised by John F. Kennedy and recommended by Allen Dulles, director of the C.I.A. However, critics varied in their opinions and assessments of Fleming's novels, describing them as everything from brilliant to sadistic, Freudian, snobbish, exploitative and meritless - Fleming himself accepted all of these charges, simply stating that his books were supposed to be "fun"...