If you never heard of Blofeld, don’t feel bad – neither did I until today. We’re just not avid readers of the James Bond books written by Ian Fleming, who was born 100 years ago today. For whatever reason, he chose to assign his own birthdate, May 28, 1908, to James Bond’s greatest nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
I knew very little about Ian Fleming when I was growing up, only that he had written one of my favorite books, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As an adult I discovered that he is much better known for the James Bond books, which became very popular in the U.S. after the success of the first James Bond movie. I’ve seen several of the movies, which never motivated me to read the books, but perhaps in recognition of the centenary celebration of Fleming’s birth I’ll check one out.
What I think I might enjoy more would be a biography of Ian Fleming. There has been much speculation of where Fleming got his ideas for the Bond books, and to what extent his own experiences in military intelligence contributed to his novels. From what I’ve seen so far, he sounds like someone I would not have cared to know personally, but I do enjoy learning about the connections between fiction and real life.
