Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming was a man of varied experience and talents. He worked as a journalist and a Naval Intelligence officer, he excelled at sport and relished travel, and he created the world's best-loved spy one day when he sat at his typewriter in Jamaica. He wanted to find a quiet name, a name with no 'romantic overtones', and he found it in one of his Jamaican 'bibles' - 'Birds of the West Indies' by James Bond.
Theories abound over who could have been the real-life inspiration for Ian Fleming's famous spy: could it have been an officer from Fleming's time in the Naval Intelligence, Ian's brother Peter Fleming, or maybe Bond was simply a pseudonym for Ian Fleming's inner self?
Whatever the answer, Ian Fleming's legacy to the world was indeed 'the spy story to end all spy stories' - the great story, spanning 14 original books, of James Bond - the world's favourite Secret Agent.
The writing gene that Ian and his brother Peter possessed so plentifully has descended through several branches of the family. The best known novelist among them is Ian's nephew James Fleming, who has a strong following on both sides of the Atlantic.