CommanderBond.net
  1. Two More Ian Fleming Centenary Events Announced

    By Matt Weston on 2008-01-31

    Two more events have been announced in celebration of the centenary of James Bond creator, Ian Fleming’s birth.

    IanFlemingCentenary.com carries details of a Royal Society of Literature lecture entitled “Licenced to Kill” to take place on 12 May 2008. Chaired by Alan Judd and delivered by Daphne Park, the lecture will also feature readings by Ian Fleming’s niece, Lucy Fleming.

    Full details are below.

    Royal Society of Literature lecture: ‘Licenced to Kill’

    The Ian Fleming Centenary Lecture will take place on Monday 12 May at 7pm at the Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, Courtauld Institute at Somerset House, London.

    The lecture will be given by Daphne Park and will feature readings by Lucy Fleming.

    Daphne Park does not look like James Bond – in fact her beady cosiness is more reminiscent of Miss Marple – but she was the true face of British Intelligence for the second half of the twentieth century. She served in the SOE during the Second World War, in Moscow during the Cold War, and in Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict. She smuggled men out of the Congo in the boot of her car (not an Aston Martin, but a 2cv), and became a senior controller for MI6, before moving on to become Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. Created Baroness Park of Monmouth in 1990, she insists that intelligence work is less about glamorous derring-do than about ‘knowing human beings’. So, how real was James Bond? In a discussion to mark the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, interspersed with readings from his work by his niece, the actress Lucy Fleming, Lady Park talks to diplomat Alan Judd, author of the authorised life of Mansfield Cumming, founder of MI6, and of the spy novel Legacy.

    The Lecture is entitled ‘Licenced to Kill’ and will be chaired by Alan Judd. Tickets, which are not issued in advance, are available on the door. Suggested contribution £5. Please telephone 020 7845 4676 or email [email protected] for further details.

    In addition to this lecture, the website now features a listing for the Goldfinger golf tournament. Further details will follow, but the tournament will take place on 25 June 2008 at the Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, where Fleming was a member.

    CommanderBond.net will bring you full details of this exciting event as soon as they emerge.

    Britain-based Bond fans can also look forward to two previously-announced exhibitions: “For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming & James Bond”, which will examine the legacy of Ian Fleming’s life and works, and “Bond Bound: Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design”, which looks at the artwork adorning the 007 novels.

    Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the most up-to-date James Bond news on the web.