I learned something about James Bond today that I just had to share with the world. Did you know Ian Fleming named the character after an American ornithologist? The real James Bond was a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. Fleming was a birdwatcher himself and happened to have Bond’s book on his shelf as he started work on his first novel, Casino Royale, in 1952.
Fleming was partly inspired to write the book by his service in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II. He also started writing it to distract himself from his upcoming wedding! He didn’t tell the real James Bond about using his name in the books, and Bond didn’t find out about the character until the early 60s, when Fleming’s books were becoming popular in the U.S. Fleming later explained to Bond’s wife that “It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born.” The real Bond, for his part, enjoyed knowing his name was being used in that way.
Fleming featured Bond in 12 novels and 2 short story collections. James Bond’s first on-screen appearance was on network television when CBS adapted Casino Royale into a one-hour show. The film adaptations started in 1962 with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery. The 25 Bond films are the longest continually running film series of all time. The movies have grossed over $7 billion at the box office, making it the 5th-highest-grossing film series. It’s estimated that since Dr. No, a quarter of the world’s population has seen at least one Bond film.
Daniel Craig is the 6th actor to play Bond and the longest-serving Bond in the franchise’s history. His final appearance as Bond was in 2021’s No Time to Die. In 2012, YouGov surveyed American Bond fans and categorized the responses by age, gender, and political affiliation. Every group chose Sean Connery as their favorite Bond.
Learn more here.