91-465: Casino Royale may refer to: Casino Royale (novel) , the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming "Casino Royale" ( Climax! ) , a 1954 television adaptation of Fleming's novel for the series Climax! Casino Royale (1967 film) , a James Bond film parody starring David Niven and Peter Sellers Casino Royale (2006 film) , a James Bond film starring Daniel Craig Casino Royale (2006 soundtrack) ,
182-538: A CBE in 1968. In 1958 he was elected president of the Poetry Society . In 1976, the inaugural Mofolo-Plomer Prize, created by Nadine Gordimer and so named in honour of Basotho writer Thomas Mofolo and Plomer, was awarded to Mbulelo Mzamane . The judges for that year were Chinua Achebe , Alan Paton and Adam Small . Since then, Achmat Dangor , J. M. Coetzee , Njabulo Simakahle Ndebele , Rose Zwi and Peter Wilhelm have been other recipients of
273-507: A Polish Royal Air Force pilot , who had revealed information about her under torture; SMERSH then used that information to blackmail her into helping them undermine Bond's mission, including her own faked kidnapping. She had tried to start a new life with Bond, but upon seeing Gettler—a SMERSH agent—she realised that she would never be free of her tormentors, and that staying with Bond would only put him in danger. Bond informs his service of Lynd's duplicity, coldly telling his contact, "The bitch
364-521: A daily comic strip ; it was published in The Daily Express and syndicated worldwide. The strip ran from 7 July 1958 to 13 December 1958, and was written by Anthony Hern and illustrated by John McLusky . To aid The Daily Express in illustrating Bond, Fleming commissioned an artist to create a sketch of what he believed James Bond to look like. McLusky felt that Fleming's 007 looked too "outdated" and "pre-war" and changed Bond to give him
455-560: A homosexual in Japan, and portrayed gay relationships in a number of his novels, including Sado , The Case is Altered , and The Invaders . He served as one of three judges with James Baldwin and Noni Jabavu, for a short story competition created by Nat Nakasa, launched in The Classic volume one, issue two (November 1968). In later life he collaborated with artist Alan Aldridge on a book of children’s verse, The Butterfly Ball and
546-577: A 00-agent, and overall stays true to the original novel. William Plomer William Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE (10 December 1903 – 20 September 1973) was a South African and British novelist, poet and literary editor . He also wrote a series of librettos for Benjamin Britten . He wrote some of his poetry under the pseudonym Robert Pagan . Born of British parents in Transvaal Colony, he moved to England in 1929 after spending
637-584: A Japanese man, Morito Fukuzawa, who became the model for the title character of Sado . He then travelled through Korea, China, the Soviet Union , Poland, Germany, and Belgium to England and, through his friendship with his publisher Virginia Woolf and husband Leonard Woolf , entered the London literary circles. Among his friends there were Christopher Isherwood , W.H. Auden , Forster, J. R. Ackerley and Stephen Spender . The Woolfs, under their imprint
728-520: A US paperback in 1955, it was re-titled by publisher American Popular Library ; Fleming's suggestions for a new title, The Double-O Agent and The Deadly Gamble , were disregarded in favour of You Asked for It , but this marketing ploy failed to raise the interest. The Popular Library version also changed Bond's name, calling him "Jimmy Bond". Hugh I'Anson Fausset , writing in The Manchester Guardian , thought that Casino Royale
819-432: A bracer, just one large Martini laced with vodka." Writing for The New York Times , Anthony Boucher wrote that the book belongs "pretty much to the private-eye school" of fiction. He praised the first part, saying that Fleming "manages to make baccarat clear even to one who's never played it and produced as exciting a gambling sequence as I've ever read. But then he decides to pad out the book to novel length and leads
910-735: A canon of Windsor... unfrocked and clapped into the Tower in 1535 for criticizing, as well he might, the behaviour of his royal master, Henry VIII ". Plomer insisted on the pronunciation of his name as "ploomer" (to rhyme with "rumour"), although his family pronounced it in the usual way, rhyming with "Homer"; in his autobiography, Plomer addressed his rejection of the usual pronunciation, according to Christopher Heywood's A History of South African Literature (2004), this stemming from embarrassment at his father's occupation, and "hinting an ancestor's improbable job as plumier rather than plumber". He started writing his first novel, Turbott Wolfe , when he
1001-401: A carpet-beater and a carving knife, the sinister figure of Aleister Crowley is there lurking in the background." Fleming later said of his work, "while thrillers may not be Literature with a capital L, it is possible to write what I can best describe as 'thrillers designed to be read as literature ' ". He used well-known brand names and everyday details to produce a sense of realism , which
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#17327728598651092-525: A corps of Africans in service as stevedores at ports and rail-heads in France. Later, Charles, having reached the rank of Inspector of Native Affairs, left the civil service and took over a trading station in the Zululand region, subsequently becoming a recruiting agent for mine workers at Natal, which his son considered a descent in status. Plomer's great-great-grandfather, Sir William Plomer (1760-1812),
1183-472: A cretinous love-affair". Raven also dismissed Bond as an "infantile" creation, but did allow that "Fleming tells a good story with strength and distinction ... his creation of a scene, both visually and emotionally, is of a very high order indeed." John Betjeman , writing in The Daily Telegraph , considered that "Ian Fleming has discovered the secret of the narrative art ... which
1274-567: A crisis of confidence in Bond's character, where he has "moved beyond good and evil" to the point where he does his job not because of principles, but to pursue personal battles. Eco comes to the same conclusion, stating that Bond "abandon[s] the treacherous life of moral mediation and of psychological anger, with all the dangers they entail." Black also identifies a mechanism Fleming uses in Casino Royale —and in subsequent Bond novels—which
1365-455: A deep champagne goblet , was for "three measures of Gordon's , one of vodka , half a measure of Kina Lillet . Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel." Speaking of Bond's origins, Fleming said that "he was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war", although the author gave many of his own traits to the character. Bond's tastes are often taken from Fleming's own, as
1456-548: A few years in Japan. Although not as well known as many of his peers, he is recognised as a modernist and his work was highly esteemed by other writers, including Virginia Woolf and Nadine Gordimer . He was homosexual , and at least one of his novels portrays a gay relationship, but whether he lived as openly gay himself is unclear. Plomer was born in Pietersburg , in the Transvaal Colony (now Polokwane in
1547-745: A great need for affection shown through hugs and kisses"- was a younger son of Colonel Alfred George Plomer, of the Indian Army, later resident at Mayfair . Colonel Plomer, "although the youngest son... had inherited a considerable fortune" which he "unwisely and unluckily" attempted to increase by speculation, in one day losing around £100,000 (equivalent to over £3 million in 2024). William Plomer observed wryly in his autobiography of his grandfather's lost fortune that "the money would at any time have been convenient to his descendants." Charles Plomer (assessed by his son as "a non-thinker, with no inclination for analysis and no far-sightedness to look ahead") lived
1638-595: A kettle, still less an egg"), and any purchases were directed through their mother, meaning "they had little idea of the value of money and knew nothing about business of any kind". Whilst in South Africa, Edythe Plomer suffered health that was "indifferent from the start", falling ill and taking "some time to recover" from an operation. Charles Plomer- "an unwanted boy" who grew up into "a nervous, unstable man, prone to sudden, unreasonable fits of rage alternating with
1729-563: A life of varied occupations; after Sherborne School , despite wanting to go into the Army like his elder brothers, due to asthma his father placed him as an apprentice in the wool trade at Bradford, where he lodged with a clergyman. The "sociable" Charles fell in with a high-living set of "gilded youth", "sons of rich manufacturers", and ended up surpassing the limits of his allowance when playing cards and billiards. This led to his being sent to Cape Town , South Africa , his father justifying this on
1820-602: A major impact on how Britain was poorly viewed in US intelligence circles; Fleming was aware of this tension between the two countries, but he did not focus on it too strongly, and Bond and Leiter's warm relationship did not reflect the reality of the US-UK relationship. Amis, in his exploration of Bond in The James Bond Dossier , pointed out that Leiter is "such a nonentity as a piece of characterization ... he,
1911-560: A member of the Naval Intelligence Division , and the people he met during his work, to provide plot elements; the character of Bond also reflected many of Fleming's personal tastes. Fleming wrote the draft in early 1952 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica while awaiting his marriage. He was initially unsure whether the work was suitable for publication, but was assured by his friend, the novelist William Plomer , that
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#17327728598652002-601: A more masculine look. A graphic novel adaptation of the book was released by Dynamite Entertainment in April 2018, written by Van Jensen and illustrated by Dennis Calero . Following the 1967 adaptation, the rights to the film remained with Columbia Pictures until 1989 when the studio, and the rights to their intellectual property portfolio was acquired by the Japanese company Sony . In 1999, following legal action between Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM/UA , Sony traded
2093-458: A noble Saxon knight, who lived in the time of King Alfred"; Plomer looked disdainfully on this claim, calling it "fiddlesticks", based on nothing more than the fact that "Bruce's son... had married my great-aunt Louisa, and he probably wished to make out that this alliance was as distinguished as it was lucrative- for Louisa was something of an heiress". Lacking interest in "mere names and dates", he much preferred characters like " Christopher Plomer ,
2184-484: A piece for Books and Bookmen magazine in which he said: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words a day." Back in London, Fleming had his manuscript—which he described as his "dreadful oafish opus" —retyped by Joan Howe, his red-haired secretary at The Times on whom
2275-418: A rhythm, a polish, a certain sensuous feeling for words. That is not to say that Fleming is an artist; yet he writes with art." When examining the passage relating to the death of Le Chiffre, Eco wrote that "there is a ... baroque feeling for the image, a total adaptation of the image without emotional comment, and a use of words that designate things with accuracy", and he went on to conclude that "Fleming
2366-460: A spy novel, but it was not until early 1952, to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials, that he began to write Casino Royale at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica on 17 February; he typed out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination, and finished work on the manuscript in March 1952. It was a pattern he retained for future Bond books. In May 1963 he wrote
2457-414: A three-book deal. In April 1955 Pan Books issued a paperback version and sold 41,000 copies in the first year. In the US three publishers turned the book down before Macmillan Publishing Co offered Fleming a deal. Casino Royale was published on 23 March 1954 in the US, but sales were poor, totalling only 4,000 copies across the entire US during the course of the year. When the novel was released as
2548-550: A year later were much slower. Since publication Casino Royale has appeared as a comic strip in The Daily Express , and been adapted for the screen three times: a 1954 episode of the CBS television series Climax! with Barry Nelson as an American Bond, a 1967 film version with David Niven playing "Sir James Bond", and a 2006 film in the Eon Productions film series starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. M ,
2639-556: Is James Bond, an agent of the Secret Service. Fleming initially named the character James Secretan before he appropriated the name of James Bond , author of the ornithology guide, Birds of the West Indies . Fleming explained to the ornithologist's wife "that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". He further explained that "When I wrote
2730-595: Is dead now." Ian Fleming , born in 1908, was a son of Valentine Fleming , a wealthy banker and MP who died in action on the Western Front in May 1917. Educated at Eton , Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva , Fleming moved through several jobs before he was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey , the Director of Naval Intelligence , to become his personal assistant . Fleming joined
2821-499: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Casino Royale (novel) Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming . Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book , and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors. The story concerns
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2912-514: Is given at the beginning of the show by the presenter of the programme, William Lundigan , to enable viewers to understand a game which was not popular in America at the time. For this Americanised version of the story, Bond is an American agent, described as working for "Combined Intelligence", while the character Leiter from the original novel is British, renamed "Clarence Leiter". The agent for Station S., Mathis, does not appear as such; his surname
3003-420: Is given to the leading lady, named Valérie Mathis instead of Vesper Lynd. In March 1955 Ian Fleming sold the film rights of Casino Royale to the producer Gregory Ratoff for $ 6,000. After Ratoff's death, producer Charles K. Feldman represented Ratoff's widow and obtained the rights to make a film version . Feldman decided the best way to profit from the film rights was to make a satirical version, which
3094-429: Is known to have used the pseudonym "Robert Pagan", notably for some of his poetry. He was also active as a librettist , with Gloriana , Curlew River , The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son for Benjamin Britten . At least one source (Alexander) says that Plomer was never openly gay during his lifetime; at most he alluded to the subject. However Southworth says that he lived relatively openly as
3185-673: Is more literate than he gives one to understand." Casino Royale was written after, and was heavily influenced by, the Second World War; Britain was still an imperial power, and the Western and Eastern blocs were engaged in the Cold War . The journalist William Cook observes that with the decline in power of the British Empire, "Bond pandered to Britain's inflated and increasingly insecure self-image, flattering us with
3276-511: Is released from hospital they spend time together at a quiet guest house and eventually become lovers. One day they see a mysterious man named Gettler tracking their movements, which greatly distresses Lynd. The following morning, Bond finds that she has committed suicide. She leaves behind a note explaining that she had been working as an unwilling double agent for the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs . SMERSH had kidnapped her lover,
3367-465: Is some of his behaviour: Fleming used the casino to introduce Bond in his first novel because "skill at gambling and knowledge of how to behave in a casino were seen ... as attributes of a gentleman". Lycett sees much of Bond's character as being "wish fulfilment" by Fleming. James Bond is the culmination of an important but much-maligned tradition in English literature. As a boy, Fleming devoured
3458-436: Is something cold and ruthless." According to Andrew Lycett , Fleming's biographer, "within the first few pages ... [Fleming] had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks", which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits. The full details of Bond's martini were kept until chapter seven of the book and Bond eventually named it "The Vesper" , after Lynd. Bond's order, to be served in
3549-455: Is to use the evil of his opponents both as a justification of his actions, and as a device to foil their own plans. Black refers to the episode of the attempted assassination of Bond by Bulgarian assassins which results in their own deaths. "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and
3640-855: Is to work up to a climax unrevealed at the end of each chapter. Thus the reader has to go on reading". Publishers Jonathan Cape included many of the reviews on their advertisements for the book, which appeared in a number of national newspapers; the reviews included those from The Sunday Times , which concluded that Fleming was "the best new English thriller-writer since [Eric] Ambler " and The Observer , which advised their readers: "don't miss this". The critic for Time magazine examined Raymond Chandler 's The Long Goodbye alongside Casino Royale ; he praised Casino Royale , saying that "Fleming keeps his incidents and characters spinning through their paces like juggling balls." The Time reviewer went on to say that "As for Bond, he might be [Philip] Marlowe 's younger brother except that he never takes coffee for
3731-628: The Bulldog Drummond tales of Lieutenant Colonel Herman Cyril McNeile (aka "Sapper") and the Richard Hannay stories of John Buchan . His genius was to repackage these antiquated adventures to fit the fashion of postwar Britain ... In Bond, he created a Bulldog Drummond for the jet age. William Cook in New Statesman Bond's superior, M, was largely based on Godfrey, Fleming's NID superior officer; Godfrey
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3822-537: The Hogarth Press , published Sado in 1931 and The Case is Altered in 1932, the latter becoming his most commercially successful novel. In 1933 Plomer left Hogarth amicably ( Selected Poems was published by Hogarth in 1940) and published The Child of Queen Victoria and Other Stories with Jonathan Cape . He became a literary editor for Faber and Faber , and became chief reader and literary adviser to Jonathan Cape from 1937 to 1940, where he recognised
3913-613: The Limpopo Province of South Africa) on 10 December 1903, to Charles Campbell Plomer (1870-1955) and Edythe, née Waite-Browne. Edythe was a daughter of Edward Waite-Browne, of Cotgrave Place, Nottinghamshire, a "gentleman farmer" "who died young of consumption". The widowed Mrs Waite-Browne employed French and English governesses for her daughters rather than sending them to school; despite "drawing lessons, dancing lessons, and music lessons", they learned no domestic skills (William Plomer observing "I doubt if they could have boiled
4004-777: The London Gazette is incorrect. In 1951 Plomer was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature . He was awarded an honorary D.Litt. by the University of Durham in 1959. In 1966 he chaired the panel of judges for the Cholmondeley Award . He won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1963. He was publicly tipped for the Poet Laureateship in 1967 and 1972. He was awarded
4095-542: The Zulu language , and also attempted to portray the more superior standards of European culture, while promoting a racially equal South Africa. Campbell resigned in protest against the editorial control exerted by the financial backer of the magazine. It never gained a wide readership. Plomer became a special correspondent for the Natal Witness , but after Van der Post had met and befriended two Japanese men, one being
4186-492: The novel series as a whole. John Griswold and Henry Chancellor —both of whom have written books on behalf of Ian Fleming Publications —put the events of Casino Royale in 1951; Griswold allows a possible second timeframe and considers the story could have taken place in either May to July 1951, or May to July 1952. Griswold noted that in Goldfinger , Fleming identifies that the events took place in 1951. Casino Royale
4277-776: The American, takes orders from Bond, the Britisher, and that Bond is constantly doing better than he". The journalist and author Christopher Hitchens observed that "the central paradox of the classic Bond stories is that, although superficially devoted to the Anglo-American war against communism, they are full of contempt and resentment for America and Americans". David Seed, in his examination of spy fiction, disagrees, and writes that while Bond beats Le Chiffre, his "activities are constantly supported by American agencies, financing and know-how". The treachery of Le Chiffre, with
4368-644: The British secret agent James Bond , gambling at the casino in Royale-les-Eaux to try and bankrupt Le Chiffre , the treasurer of a French union and a member of the Soviet secret service. Bond is supported in his endeavours by Vesper Lynd , a member of his own service, as well as Felix Leiter of the CIA and René Mathis of the French Deuxième Bureau . Fleming used his wartime experiences as
4459-466: The French Deuxième Bureau also send agents as observers. The game soon turns into an intense confrontation between Le Chiffre and Bond; Le Chiffre wins the first round, cleaning Bond out of his funds. As Bond contemplates the prospect of reporting his failure to M, the CIA agent, Felix Leiter , gives him an envelope of money and a note: " Marshall Aid . Thirty-two million francs . With the compliments of
4550-467: The Grasshopper’s Feast , won the 1973 Whitbread Award . Durham University has an extensive collection of Plomer's literary papers and correspondence, as well as his library of printed books, and lists a full bibliography on its website. A portrait of Plomer seated on a chair, in oils , dated 1929, by Edward Wolfe , and several photographs of Plomer, by Howard Coster and others are held by
4641-545: The Grasshopper’s Feast . Plomer described himself as "Anglo-African-Asian" in a 1967 article of that name, nearly 40 years after his return to England. At the time of his death, his address was 43, Adastra Avenue in Hassocks , West Sussex; another source gives Lewes, the location of a nearby hospital, as place of death. He died on 20 September 1973 aged 69 in the arms of his partner of almost thirty years, Charles Erdmann. The date given by Encyclopaedia Britannica and in
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#17327728598654732-548: The Head of the British Secret Service , assigns James Bond , 007, to play against and bankrupt Le Chiffre , the paymaster for a SMERSH-controlled trade union, in a high-stakes baccarat game at the Royale-les-Eaux casino in northern France. As part of Bond's cover as a rich Jamaican playboy, M also assigns as his companion Vesper Lynd , personal assistant to the Head of Section S ( Soviet Union ). The CIA and
4823-480: The Japanese captain of a [yacht] cargo ship ( Canada Maru) , Katsue Mori, he and Plomer sailed for Japan in September 1926, Plomer leaving South Africa for the last time. Plomer stayed in Japan until March 1929, completing two volumes of short stories ( I speak of Africa and Paper Houses ) as well as a collection of poetry. He became friends with academic, poet and author Sherard Vines . There he fell in love with
4914-484: The Kemsley newspaper group, which at the time owned The Sunday Times . In this role he oversaw the paper's worldwide network of correspondents. His contract allowed him to take two months holiday every winter in Jamaica. In 1948 Charteris gave birth to Fleming's daughter, Mary, who was stillborn ; Charteris and Fleming became engaged shortly in 1951. Fleming had previously mentioned to friends that he wanted to write
5005-530: The Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Casino Royale . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Casino_Royale&oldid=1217596900 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
5096-844: The South African Republic Paul Kruger for "snippets of political gossip". After a "decade of sunlit drifting", however, the outbreak of the Second Boer War necessitated his departure from Pretoria; he was then appointed an inspector of transport accompanying convoys ("a train of thirty wagons, each drawn by sixteen oxen") between Burgersdorp and Aliwal North , and transporting cattle from Bethlehem to Johannesburg . Aged thirty, Charles obtained his release from military service, and immediately returned to England with marriage to Edythe in mind; they were married in London in June 1901, Colonel Plomer "delighted with
5187-472: The USA." The game continues, despite the attempts of one of Le Chiffre's minders to kill Bond. Bond eventually wins, taking from Le Chiffre eighty million francs belonging to SMERSH. Desperate to recover the money, Le Chiffre kidnaps Lynd and tortures Bond, threatening to kill them both if he does not get the money back. During the torture, a SMERSH assassin enters and kills Le Chiffre as punishment for losing
5278-469: The author Kingsley Amis called "the Fleming effect". Amis describes it as "the imaginative use of information, whereby the pervading fantastic nature of Bond's world ... [is] bolted down to some sort of reality, or at least counter-balanced." Within the text the novelist Raymond Benson —who later wrote a series of Bond novels—identifies what he described as the "Fleming Sweep", the use of "hooks" at
5369-403: The blasts. Fleming also included four references in the novel to "Red Indians", including twice on the last page, which came from a unit of commandos , known as No. 30 Commando or 30 Assault Unit (30AU), composed of specialist intelligence troops. The unit was Fleming's idea, and he nicknamed the troops his "Red Indians", although they disliked the name. The lead character of Casino Royale
5460-438: The book had sufficient promise and sent a copy to the publishing house Jonathan Cape . At first they were unenthusiastic, but were persuaded to publish on the recommendation of Fleming's older brother, Peter , an established travel writer whose books they managed. Although Fleming provided limited information regarding dates within his novels, two writers have identified different timelines based on events and situations within
5551-484: The character Miss Moneypenny was partly based. Clare Blanchard, a former girlfriend, advised him not to publish the book, or at least to do so under a pseudonym. During the book's final draft stages, Fleming allowed his friend, and later editor, William Plomer to see a copy, and remarked "I really am thoroughly ashamed of it ... after rifling through this muck you will probably never speak to me again, but I have got to take that chance." Despite this, Plomer thought
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#17327728598655642-482: The dancer and actress Mabel Love ) and his father's respect. Charles presented himself to Edythe's family, the Waite-Brownes, bolstered by his new heroic status; the town was "agog" at his visit, and was "with some difficulty restrained from providing a civic welcome". He was recalled to service, but soon entered the employ of a Pretoria newspaper, the "Press", where he was tasked with visiting State President of
5733-463: The disturbing moral ambiguity of a post-war world that could produce traitors like Burgess and Maclean". The journalist and writer Matthew Parker observes that with the defections of the two spies so recent to the publication, it was "perhaps the closest Fleming came to a [John] le Carré -style spy story". Chancellor sees the moral ambiguity of the Cold War reflected in the novel. Benson considers
5824-434: The end of chapters to heighten tension and pull the reader into the next. The hooks combine with what the novelist Anthony Burgess calls "a heightened journalistic style" to produce "a speed of narrative, which hustles the reader past each danger point of mockery". The semiotician and essayist, Umberto Eco , in his 1979 examination of the Bond books, "The Narrative Structure of Ian Fleming", considered that Fleming "has
5915-617: The fantasy that Britannia could still punch above her weight." The cultural historians Janet Woollacott and Tony Bennett agree, and consider that "Bond embodied the imaginary possibility that England might once again be placed at the centre of world affairs during a period when its world power status was visibly and rapidly declining." In 1953 parts of central London, including Oxford Street and High Holborn still had uncleared bomb sites and sweets had ceased being rationed, but coal and other food items were still regulated. According to The Times journalist and historian Ben Macintyre , Bond
6006-466: The first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard." Fleming decided that Bond should resemble both the American singer Hoagy Carmichael and himself, and in the novel Lynd remarks that "Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there
6097-435: The green baize lagoons of the casino tables". He concluded that the book was "both exciting and extremely civilized". Reviewing for The Listener , Simon Raven believed that Fleming was a "kind of supersonic John Buchan", but he was somewhat dismissive of the plot, observing that it is "a brilliant but improbable notion" that includes "a deal of champagne-drinking, bomb-throwing, relentless pitting of wits etc ... with
6188-549: The grounds that the climate would benefit Charles's asthma. Having professed his intention to propose to his future wife, Edythe, he went armed with a letter of introduction to Cecil Rhodes , who recommended Charles join the Cape Mounted Rifles , a police regiment. Subsequently, he opened a cafe at Port Elizabeth and was swindled by his business partner; set up as a storeman and clerk at Queenstown before being employed as assistant to an old man there, leaving due to
6279-546: The jealousy of the old man's "sinister" housekeeper daughter. Looking for work at Kimberley , he was advised instead to join the Bechuanaland Border Police ; he ended up participating in the Jameson Raid , but as only Jameson and his officers were to be punished Charles, one of the rank-and-file, was sent to England and set free. His military exploits earned him public admiration (including that of
6370-627: The marriage, having feared that Charles might take to himself some uncouth colonial girl". His father employed in the South African civil service Department of Native Affairs (per Plomer, "a civil servant goes where he is told, and naturally wants his family with him"), the family moved between England and South Africa several times during Plomer's youth, with Plomer educated mostly in the United Kingdom. Whilst in England on leave, at
6461-417: The money. The agent does not kill Bond, saying that he has no orders to do so, but cuts a Cyrillic ' Ш ' for шпион ( shpión , Russian for spy) into Bond's hand so that future SMERSH agents will be able to identify him as such. Lynd visits Bond every day as he recuperates in hospital, and he gradually realises that he loves her; he even contemplates leaving the Secret Service to settle down with her. When he
6552-540: The most obvious theme of the novel to be good versus evil . Parker agrees, and highlights a conversation between Bond and Matthis in the chapter titled "The Nature of Evil", in which Bond says: "By ... [Le Chiffre's] evil existence ... he was creating a norm of badness by which, and by which alone, an opposite norm of goodness could exist." The subject was also dealt with by the academic Beth Butterfield, in an examination of Bond from an existentialist viewpoint. In light of Bond's conversation, Butterfield identifies
6643-440: The novel had promise. Within the spy storyline, Casino Royale deals with themes of Britain's position in the world, particularly the relationship with the US in light of the defections to the Soviet Union of the British agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean . The book was given broadly positive reviews by critics at the time and sold out in less than a month after its UK release on 13 April 1953, although US sales upon release
6734-456: The organisation full-time in August 1939, with the codename "17F", and worked for them throughout the war. Early in 1939 he began an affair with Ann O'Neill ( née Charteris), who was married to the 3rd Baron O'Neill . In 1942 Fleming attended an Anglo-American intelligence summit in Jamaica and, despite the constant heavy rain during his visit, he decided to live on the island once the war
6825-795: The outbreak of the First World War , Charles Plomer offered his linguistic skills- French and Afrikaans- to the War Office, but upon it being established that he was in the employ of the South African civil service, he was sent back there and was commissioned a Captain in the South African forces, helping with enrolment and transport of African drivers and carriers for the campaign against the Germans in East Africa. A later attempt to be sent to France resulted in failure, with Charles being assigned to remain in South Africa as records officer for
6916-632: The overtones of a fifth column, struck a chord with the largely British readership as Communist influence in the trade unions had been an issue in the press and parliament at the time. Britain had also suffered from defections to the Soviet Union from two MI6 operatives who were part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets. Thus Lycett observes that Casino Royale can be seen as Fleming's "attempt to reflect
7007-454: The prize. Nadine Gordimer , in her introduction to a new edition of Turbott Wolfe in 2003, said that the novel deserved recognition as being in the "canon of renegade colonialist literature along with Conrad ", and others have noted its experimental narrative structure, which puts it (along with some of his other work) in the category of a modernist novel. His last work, the collection of children's poems entitled The Butterfly Ball and
7098-405: The rights to Casino Royale for MGM's partial-rights to Spider-Man . This led to Eon Productions making the 2006 film Casino Royale . The film stars Daniel Craig as Bond, supported by Eva Green as Vesper Lynd and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre; Judi Dench returned for her fifth Bond film as Bond's superior, M. Casino Royale is a reboot , showing Bond at the beginning of his career as
7189-648: The saleability of, and edited the first and many more of Ian Fleming 's James Bond series. Fleming dedicated Goldfinger to Plomer. From 1937, Plomer took part in BBC radio broadcasts, and contributed to the Aldeburgh Festival from its start in 1948. From the late 1950s, he contributed to frequent poetry readings and events, served on the Arts Council and the board of the Society of Authors . He
7280-539: The senses awake and revolt from it." Opening lines of Casino Royale Casino Royale was first released on 13 April 1953 in the UK as a hardback edition by publishers Jonathan Cape, with a cover devised by Fleming. Cape printed 4,728 copies of Casino Royale , which sold out in less than a month; a second print run the same month also sold out, as did a third run of more than 8,000 books published in May 1954. The sales figures were strong enough for Cape to offer Fleming
7371-676: The soundtrack of the 2006 film Casino Royale, casino brand at Hotel Splendid in Montenegro Casino Royale Goa , a casino in Goa, India Casino Royale Hotel & Casino , a hotel and casino on the strip in Las Vegas, United States Casino Royale, site of the 2011 Monterrey casino attack , a massacre that killed 52 in Mexico See also [ edit ] Camino Royale , 2023 novel by Paul Howard in
7462-523: The weary reader through a set of tough clichés to an ending which surprises nobody save Operative 007. You should certainly begin this book; but you might as well stop when the baccarat game is over." In 1954 CBS paid Ian Fleming $ 1,000 to adapt Casino Royale into a one-hour television adventure as part of its Climax! series. The episode aired live on 21 October 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as secret agent "Card Sense" James 'Jimmy' Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. A brief tutorial on baccarat
7553-404: Was Lord Mayor of London in 1781. Plomer observed in his autobiography of his family: "it is not in the least illustrious, but a bourgeois line of which the fortunes have gone up and down and which has seldom stayed long in one place." The father of his great-uncle by marriage, both men being named William Downing Bruce, published a Plomer genealogy in 1847, claiming "traditionally they derive from
7644-486: Was "a first-rate thriller ... with a breathtaking plot". Although he considered the book to be "schoolboy stuff", he felt the novel was "galvanised into life by the hard brilliance of the telling". Alan Ross, writing in The Times Literary Supplement wrote that Casino Royale was "an extremely engaging affair", and that "the especial charm ... is the high poetry with which he invests
7735-455: Was "the ideal antidote to Britain's postwar austerity, rationing and the looming premonition of lost power". Casino Royale deals with the question of Anglo-American relations, reflecting the real-world central role of the US in the defence of the West. The academic Jeremy Black points to the 1951 defections of two members of MI6— Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean —to the Soviet Union as having
7826-547: Was cleaned out by a "chief German agent" at a table playing chemin de fer . Godfrey told a different story: that Fleming only played Portuguese businessmen, and afterwards fantasised about playing against German agents. The failed attempt to kill Bond at Royale-Les-Eaux was inspired by Fleming's knowledge of the attempted assassination of Franz von Papen , Vice-Chancellor of Germany and an ambassador under Hitler. Both Papen and Bond survived their assassination attempts, carried out by Bulgarians, because trees protected them from
7917-718: Was inspired by certain incidents that took place during Fleming's wartime career at the Naval Intelligence Division (NID), or by events of which he was aware. On a trip to Portugal, en route to the United States, Fleming and the NID Director, Admiral Godfrey, went to the Estoril Casino . Because of Portugal's neutral status , Estoril's population had been swelled by spies and agents from the warring regimes. Fleming claimed that while there he
8008-491: Was just 21, which brought him fame (or notoriety) in the Union of South Africa upon publication in 1925, which had inter-racial love and marriage as a theme. He was co-founder, editor and major contributor of the short-lived literary magazine Voorslag ("Whiplash") with two other South African rebels, Roy Campbell and Laurens van der Post in 1926. It included material in both English and Afrikaans , and intended to publish in
8099-444: Was known for his bellicose and irascible temperament. One of the likely models for Le Chiffre was the influential English occultist , astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley , on whose physical features Fleming based Le Chiffre's. Crowley's tastes, especially in sado-masochism, were also ascribed to Le Chiffre; as Fleming's biographer Henry Chancellor notes, "when Le Chiffre goes to work on Bond's testicles with
8190-553: Was over. His friend Ivar Bryce helped find a plot of land in Saint Mary Parish where, in 1945, Fleming had a house built, which he named Goldeneye . The name of the house and estate has many possible sources. Fleming mentioned both his wartime Operation Goldeneye and Carson McCullers ' 1941 novel Reflections in a Golden Eye . Upon Fleming's demobilisation in May 1945, he became the Foreign Manager in
8281-495: Was produced and released in 1967 by Columbia Pictures . The film, which cast David Niven as Bond, was made with five credited directors (plus one uncredited) and a cast that included Peter Sellers , Ursula Andress , Orson Welles and Woody Allen . The 1967 version is described by the British Film Institute as "an incoherent all-star comedy". Casino Royale was the first James Bond novel to be adapted as
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