Created by Ian Fleming in 1953, James Bond is a Royal Naval Reserve Commander and British Secret Service Agent – codenamed 007. He is renowned for his coolness in the face of danger, his emotional detachment in the face of human relationships and, above all, his awesome gadgets.
In literature, he has featured in 12 novels and 2 short story collections, in addition to giving rise to a Young Bond book series by Charlie Higson, and a series of Miss Moneypenny’s Diaries by Kate Westbrook. He arrived on the big screen in the shape of Sean Connery in the 1962 film Dr. No, and was an instant Hollywood trend-setter, leading to an explosive expansion of the spy movie genre. The influence of Connery’s depiction of Bond was also keenly felt by Fleming himself, who broke with his own pattern by including reference to Bond’s Scottish father in the novel ‘You Only Live Twice’ – published after Dr No’s release.
As Fleming died in 1964, the book series has been extended by esteemed authors, such as Sebastian Faulks, Kingsley Amis, William Boyd, Christopher Wood, Raymond Benson, Jeffery Deaver and John Gardner – with both original stories and novelisations of the film series. Since Sean Connery in 1962, Bond has been portrayed by George Lazenby, David Niven, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig – each helping the franchise to become the longest continuously running film series of all time, and one of the highest-grossing to boot.
The character of Bond has become so entrenched in our consciousness, that the inevitable raft of parodies have ensued – the most notable of which is Mike Myers’ Austin Powers movies. He is also the only character to have been afforded the honour of helping Queen Elizabeth II skydive into the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony. Apparently.
