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First of all, it should be noted that the real James Bond and his wife Mary only learned of the appropriation of his name in 1961, nearly a decade after the first James Bond novel, “Casino Royale,” was published in 1953. After President John F. Kennedy said the James Bond novel “From Russia with Love” was one of his favorite books, the spy started finding an audience in the United States, where the Bonds lived. After learning of the playboy spy’s exploits in text, Mary Bond wrote a letter to Fleming, where she said:
“It came to [Jim] as a surprise when we discovered in an interview in Rogue magazine that you had brazenly taken the name of a real human being for your rascal!”
In response, Fleming apologized and cheekily proposed a solution, “In return, I can only offer your James Bond unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purpose he may think fit.” Fleming continued, “Perhaps one day he will discover some particularly horrible species of bird which he would like to christen in an insulting fashion.”
In a further effort to make amends, Fleming also invited the Bonds to his winter home in Jamaica, known as Goldeneye (did you know that?). The three would eventually meet there a few years later, when Jim and Mary Bond stopped by without notice in February of 1964. The birdwatcher received a copy of “You Only Live Twice.” Within the book was the cheeky inscription, “To the real James Bond from the thief of his identity.” However, Jim Bond had an admission of his own.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the birdwatcher later revealed in an interview, “I confessed to Fleming right off when I met him: ‘I don’t read your books. My wife reads them all but I never do.’ I didn’t want to fly under false colors. Fleming said quite seriously, ‘I don’t blame you.'”
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