You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face.
Ian Fleming Quotes
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| Birth: | 28th May, 1908 |
| Death: | 12th August, 1964 |
| Nationality: | British |
| Profession: | Author, Journalist |
About
Ian Fleming was born at 27 Green Street, in Mayfair, a wealthy district of London. In 1914 Fleming was sent to Durnford School, a preparatory school on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. From 1921 Fleming followed his brother Peter to Eton College. Although not one of the academic stars of the school, he excelled at athletics and was Victor Ludorum for two years running, in 1925 and 1926, only the second person to accomplish this. Fleming also became involved in editing a magazine, The Wyvern.
On 24 May 1939 Fleming had lunch with Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, at the Grill of the Carlton Hotel on Haymarket where he was recruited to become Godfrey's personal assistant. Fleming joined the organisation full time in August 1939, with the codename "17F", working out of Room 39 at The Admiralty. His biographer, Andrew Lycett, notes that Fleming had "no obvious qualifications" for the appointment. As part of his appointment, Fleming was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in July 1939, initially as lieutenant, but promoted to Commander by September 1939. In 1940, Fleming and Godfrey contacted Kenneth Mason, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, about the preparation of reports on the geography of countries involved in military operations. These reports were the precursors of the Naval Intelligence Division Geographical Handbook Series produced between 1941 and 1946.
Fleming was a heavy smoker and heavy drinker and suffered from heart disease. In 1961 he suffered a heart attack. Three years later, at 56, he had another heart attack and died in the early morning of 12 August 1964—on his son Caspar's twelfth birthday—in Canterbury, Kent.
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