The defeat of the Axis powers had proved something of a pyrrhic victory for the gallant Albion. In the introduction to the Folio Society edition, John Banville writes, “To British readers in that austere time the book must have seemed like a millionaire’s yacht, taut-sailed, with polished timbers and brasses agleam, gliding out of a pea-souper fog into the Pool of London. In a world where the privations of World War II were still in effect (food rationing and the absence of luxury goods in the 1950s were strong reminders of the recent horrors of war), Bond’s extravagant habits of smoking 70 gold banded cigarettes a day and complaining that “the trouble always is, not how to get enough caviar, but how to get enough toast with it,” made for an appealing hero. Interestingly, as an avid bird-watcher, Fleming named his hero after the ornithologist James Bond, author of Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies. Published in 1953, Casino Royale by Ian Fleming was an immediate success and was the first of 12 Bond novels and two collections of short stories. No through Daniel Craig’s latest 2015 Spectre, James Bond has never gone out of style. Ever since Sean Connery’s emergence on screen as 007 in the 1962 Dr. James Bond.” The well-known introductory line of this British hero likely strikes up the notes of the theme music introducing the beloved film series.
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