Mordechai Richler, the Canadian Jewish writer, believed that Bond’s nemeses evoked anti-Jewish conspiracy theories that Jews are somehow driven by a superhuman lust for power or greed. Fleming’s biographer Matthew Parker observes that “Fleming – and Bond – looked down on pretty much everyone who was not British and perceived people of all colours in terms of negative stereotypes of race and nationality” (quoted in Goldeneye – Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica by Matthew Parker: 2015). To modern eyes, the original James Bond novels are relics of a crueler and less politically correct past, replete with shockingly offensive descriptions of women, Black people and other ethnic groups. After retiring from the Royal Navy, Fleming worked for the London Sunday Times, then moved for much of the year to an estate in Jamaica – named Goldeneye – where he wrote many of the Bond novels. One of Flemings’s greatest contribution to the Allied victory was his role in planning Operation Goldeneye, a top-secret spy operation aimed at ensuring that Nazi Germany did not invade Spain and Portugal and could not develop capabilities to spy on Britain’s territory in Gibraltar. During World War II, Fleming served as a high-ranking intelligence officer in Britain’s Royal Navy. Before the Second World War, Fleming worked in Moscow as a journalist, then in Britain as a banker.

Born in 1908 into an upper-class British family (his father was a Member of Parliament), Fleming was educated in England, German and Switzerland. Fleming was a fascinating and complex character. Ian Fleming wrote the 12 spy novels featuring James Bond, the British secret agent which formed the basis for the successful film franchise. Bond’s creator was a known racist and antisemite.

Ian fleming's goldfinger