How Ian Fleming Birthed James Bond

With 'Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,' writer Nicholas Shakespeare has adroitly written the first authorized biography of the man who created the world's most famous fictional spy.
'Will cause offence': Classic James Bond films slapped with trigger warnings for 'outdated' stereotypes

'Will cause offence': Classic James Bond films slapped with trigger warnings for 'outdated' stereotypes



Classic James Bond movies from the 1960s received trigger warnings from the British Film Institute ahead of upcoming screenings. The warnings told audiences to expect outdated themes and racist stereotypes.

The two films in question were 1967's "You Only Live Twice" and "Goldfinger" from 1964. Both films star iconic Scottish actor Sean Connery.

The organization has featured the two films as part of a celebration of soundtrack writer John Barry, showcasing Barry's musical scores in the motion pictures.

However, the website warned that the "films contain language, images or other content that reflect views prevalent in its time, but will cause offence today (as they did then)."

"The titles are included here for historical, cultural or aesthetic reasons and these views are in no way endorsed by the BFI or its partners," the institute added.

The newer film, "You Only Live Twice," also received its own specific warning of "outdated racial stereotypes," the Independent reported.

"As a cultural charity with responsibility for the preservation of film and moving image work and presenting it to audiences, we continuously face and deal with challenges presented by the history of film and television programmes and how they reflect views prevalent to their time," the BFI told the Guardian.

"Whilst we have a responsibility to preserve films as close to their contemporaneous accuracy as possible, even where they contain language or depiction which we categorically reject, we also have a responsibility in how we present them to our audiences," the film institute insisted.

"Goldfinger" has been criticized for sexist dialogue on the part of James Bond, who at one point tells a woman to "say goodbye" so he can conduct "man talk," before slapping her on the buttocks.

At the same time, in "You Only Live Twice," the Bond character is disguised to look like a Japanese man for one of his spy missions.

In 2023, original work from James Bond author Ian Fleming were revised due to worries of offence as well.

The N-word was edited out of books from the 1950s and 1960s, with some depictions of black people also removed.

An example of a revised line was from "Live and Let Die," where James Bond described some possible African criminals as "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much."

The line was changed to "pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought."

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Hey, James Bond lovers, you might want to see this…



James Bond is among the most iconic Western media characters of all time. He’s daring and brave, he’s impeccably suave, he drives the most enviable cars, and he always has a beautiful siren on his arm.

But those characteristics that have long defined Mr. Bond are likely going away as woke ideology continues to poison pop culture with its perpetual virtue signaling, eradication of masculinity, and toxic levels of “inclusivity.”

But Lauren Chen isn’t currently concerned about the next James Bond movie, even though she acknowledges that it will likely be “completely off the rails” with “leftist politics.”

What she is fixated on, however, is the “the latest novel in the James Bond canon,” titled “On His Majesty’s Secret Service,” which “was commissioned specifically to coincide with the coronation of King Charles.”

“In theory, the concept of trying to release a new James Bond novel to coincide with the new monarch is kind of fun,” she says, but “it seems to be the actual execution that has failed this project so miserably.”

None should find the novel’s utter failure surprising when you consider that the author, Charlie Higson, wrote the book in three months.

Further, before “On His Majesty’s Secret Service,” Higson had never written an adult novel before; he’d authored multiple young adult novels but never one for the audience that the original James Bond author, Ian Fleming, wrote for.

And to top it off, Higson is “one of the wokest,” says Lauren.

So what do you get when you combine haste, inexperience, and progressivism?

You get “laughable material” that “completely changes the essence of who James Bond really is,” says Lauren.

And that’s exactly what "On His Majesty’s Secret Service" is — a rushed, amateur, woke disaster.

See for yourself — here’s a quote from the novel:

“Which is why Bond felt a deep sense of gloom that this beautiful, civilised, orderly country had been dragged back toward the far right by Viktor Orban, using the crude but effective nationalist playbook. Stirring Hungarians up with his anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and crude, ‘Make Hungary Great again,’ anti-immigration rhetoric. He’d aligned himself with the likes of Trump and Le Pen and Putin, and, just like them, he was using a paper-thin front of patriotism to mask rampant self-interest.”

“Ah yes, because it’s only right-wing politicians who could possibly be motivated by self-interest, unlike the benevolent left-wing politicians we see,” mocks Lauren.

But it gets even worse. Not only is this next excerpt more virtue-signaling nonsense, it’s also atrociously written.

“Birkett was an ex-Tory, MP, famous for promoting COVID/vaccines/mask-wearing/5G conspiracy theories, which spilled over into the usual anti-immigrant, anti-EU, anti-BBC, anti-MSM, anti-cultural Marxist, climate change denial pronouncements. It was an anti-trans diatribe that had eventually got him kicked out of the party and he’d soon after set up the ‘New Freedom Party.'

"Bond was struck by something. It was a long while since he’d been at any kind of function that was almost exclusively full of men. It felt strange. There was not even a pretence at diversity here. Æthelstan hadn’t been the least bit concerned about ensuring that half of the people he’d hired to carry out his coup should be women, or non-white, or disabled.”

It goes on, but we won’t bore you with more of Higson’s garbage writing.

“Surely, the editors who are working with him should have sat him down and been like, ‘Bro, I know you care about this social justice stuff, [but] I don't think this is the place for it; also this just kind of doesn't seem like how James Bond would act,” says Lauren, who can’t quit laughing at the sheer absurdity.

Even the New York Times criticized Higson’s novel, and when a notoriously left journal “[laments] that America has made James Bond woke, you know this novel is not only woke, but insufferably woke,” Lauren says.


Want more from Lauren Chen?

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'Sensitivity readers' rewrite James Bond books to remove content deemed 'offensive' by modern readers



A week after censors edited Roald Dahl's classic children's books to remove content deemed objectionable, "sensitivity readers" are rewriting Ian Fleming's iconic novels about James Bond.

Fleming's James Bond books are scheduled to be reissued in April to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the publication of "Casino Royale" – the first novel in the 007 franchise.

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd – the company that owns the literary rights to the author's work – commissioned "sensitivity readers" to pore over the James Bond novels and scrub any offensive content before the republication.

The reissued books will reportedly remove the race and ethnicity of certain characters.

Fleming’s books will have descriptions of black people "reworked or removed."

The Telegraph reported, "In the sensitivity reader-approved version of 'Live and Let Die,' Bond’s assessment that would-be African criminals in the gold and diamond trades are 'pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much' becomes – 'pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought.'"

The censors will alter a scene where Bond witnesses a strip tease at a nightclub in Harlem, New York.

The original book read, "Bond could hear the audience panting and grunting like pigs at the trough. He felt his own hands gripping the tablecloth. His mouth was dry."

The rewritten passage will read, "Bond could sense the electric tension in the room."

The sensitivity readers decided to remove a description of an accent described as "straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in."

Racial slurs that denigrate black people which Fleming used in his writing between the 1950s and 1960s will also be removed from the new editions.

The Telegraph noted, "Dated references to other ethnicities remain, such as Bond's racial terms for east Asian people and the spy’s disparaging views of Oddjob, Goldfinger's Korean henchman."

The British media outlet said other expressions that will remain include: "sweet tang of rape," "blithering women," "man's work," and referring to homosexuality as a "stubborn disability."

Ian Fleming Publications issued a statement on the edited James Bond novels:

We at Ian Fleming Publications reviewed the text of the original Bond books and decided our best course of action was to follow Ian’s lead. We have made changes to 'Live and Let Die' that he himself authorized. Following Ian’s approach, we looked at the instances of several racial terms across the books and removed a number of individual words or else swapped them for terms that are more accepted today but in keeping with the period in which the books were written. We encourage people to read the books for themselves when the new paperbacks are published in April.

The revised novels will feature a disclaimer that reads: "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set."

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James Bond will absolutely not be a woman — but the character just might be non-binary in the future, producer says



The James Bond character won't end up being portrayed by a female, a "007" producer said during a recent podcast interview, but the character could very well be non-binary in the future.

A "non-binary" person is defined as a being who identifies as neither male nor female and goes by "they" or "them" pronouns.

What are the details?

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli appeared on Anna Smith's "Girls on Film" podcast last week, where she said that producers are "open" to the possibility of having a non-binary Bond character who uses "they/them" pronouns on the silver screen.

Smith asked Broccoli about the prospect of having a non-binary Bond down the line.

After shooting down the prospect of a female Bond once more, Broccoli responded, "Who knows, I think it's open, you know? We just have to find the right actor."

Earlier this year, Broccoli said that the next Bond — a role recently vacated by actor Daniel Craig in "No Time to Die" — will remain a British man of "any ethnicity" and that Bond shouldn't ever be portrayed as a woman.

"I believe in making characters for women and not just having women play men's roles," she said at the time. "I don't think there are enough great roles for women, and it's very important to me that we make movies for women about women. He should be British, so British can be any [ethnicity or race]."

Producers have yet to select a replacement amid Craig's departure.

“People always ask, ‘Oh, who’s the next James Bond?’ It’s like asking a bride as she’s going up to the altar who’s her next husband going to be. I don’t really want to think about who is going to be the next person until I absolutely have to," Broccoli added.

Anything else to know about this?

Craig himself has previously insisted that Bond should not be played by a woman.

"Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?" he said during an interview earlier this year.