120-512: You Only Live Twice may refer to: You Only Live Twice (novel) , a 1964 James Bond novel by Ian Fleming You Only Live Twice (film) , a 1967 film based on the novel You Only Live Twice (soundtrack) , the soundtrack album from the film "You Only Live Twice" (song) , a 1967 Nancy Sinatra song from the James Bond film of the same name You Only Live Twice (Tim Brummett album) ,
240-409: A Byronic hero , seen as "lonely, melancholy, of fine natural physique which has become in some way ravaged, of similarly fine but ravaged countenance, dark and brooding in expression, of a cold or cynical veneer, above all enigmatic, in possession of a sinister secret". By the close of You Only Live Twice , according to Amis, Bond has been transformed and has "acquired the most important single item in
360-455: A "semi-exotic travelogue". Fleming's two companions on his trip, Richard Hughes and Tiger Saito, became Dikko Henderson and Tiger Tanaka in the book. Fleming described Saito as "a chunky, reserved man with considerable stores of quiet humour and intelligence, and with a subdued but rather tense personality. He looked like a fighter—one of those war-lords of the Japanese films". When planning
480-595: A 2005 album by Tim Brummett You Only Live Twice (Pain album) , a 2011 album by Pain You Only Live Twice: The Audio Graphic Novel , a 2010 album by MF Grimm You Only Live 2wice , a 2017 album by Freddie Gibbs "You Only Live Twice", an episode of 2point4 children Chikara You Only Live Twice , a 2014 professional wrestling event See also [ edit ] You Only Die Twice (disambiguation) You Only Live Once (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
600-465: A Bond story and much of his humour came through, while his incapacity, suffered in Live and Let Die , had not led to bitterness or to his being unable to join in with the underwater fight scene towards the end of the novel. Academic Christoph Linder sees Thunderball as part of the second wave of Bond villains: the first wave consisted of SMERSH , the second of Blofeld and SPECTRE, undertaken because of
720-483: A James Bond novel". Being written from a western viewpoint for a western audience, Hatcher considers that the novel "is a comprehensive anthology of western tropes and stereotypes about Japan". Panek identifies how, like in other of his novels, Fleming structures his storylines based on episodes which are then linked together by the narrative. For his weaker books, Panel observes, Fleming's descriptive narrative becomes padding; with You Only Live Twice , which Panek says
840-433: A Japanese fisherman with Kissy. Meanwhile, the rest of the world believes him dead, and his obituary appears in the newspapers. While Bond's health improves, Kissy conceals his true identity to keep him forever to herself. Kissy eventually sleeps with Bond and becomes pregnant, and hopes that Bond will propose marriage after she finds the right time to tell him about her pregnancy. Bond reads scraps of newspaper and fixates on
960-405: A Norfolk farmer and a fellow member of Fleming's club Boodle's , who was a contemporary of Fleming's at Eton. Tom Blofeld's son is Henry Blofeld , a sports journalist, best known as a cricket commentator for Test Match Special on BBC Radio . When Largo rents his beachside villa, it is from "an Englishman named Bryce", whose name was taken from Old Etonian Ivar Bryce, Fleming's friend, who had
1080-465: A beachside property in Jamaica called Xanadu. Other names used by Fleming included a colleague at The Sunday Times , Robert Harling , who was transformed into Commissioner of Police Harling, whilst an ex-colleague from his stock broking days, Hugo Pitman, became Chief of Immigration Pitman and Fleming's golfing friend, Bunny Roddick, became Deputy Governor Roddick. The title Thunderball came from
1200-452: A childish fantasy, crawled menacingly across the black silk and seemed to spit real fire from over the left breast". ... high-flown and romanticized caricatures of episodes in the career of an outstanding public servant. —Fleming, Bond's obituary You Only Live Twice , Chapter 21 You Only Live Twice was published in the UK on 16 March 1964 by Jonathan Cape ; the first edition
1320-561: A class of his own". Bookman saw You Only Live Twice as one of the stronger Bond novels. Cyril Connolly , in The Sunday Times , wrote that the novel was "reactionary, sentimental, square, the Bond-image flails its way through the middle-brow masses, a relaxation to the great, a stimulus to the humble, the only common denominator between Kennedy and Oswald". The Times thought that "though Mr. Fleming's macabre imagination
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#17327809588451440-477: A conversation Fleming had about a US atomic test . In mid-1958 Fleming and his friend, Ivar Bryce, began talking about the possibility of a Bond film. Later that year, Bryce introduced Fleming to a young Irish writer and director, Kevin McClory , and the three of them, together with Fleming and Bryce's friend Ernest Cuneo , formed the partnership Xanadu Productions, named after Bryce's Bahamian home, but which
1560-452: A deal to McClory, settling out of court. McClory gained the literary and film rights for the screenplay, while Fleming was given the rights to the novel, although it had to be recognised as being "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and the Author". On settlement, "Fleming ultimately admitted '[t]hat the novel reproduces a substantial part of the copyright material in
1680-786: A deal with McClory, to undertake a joint production of Thunderball , which stopped McClory from making any further version of the novel for a period of ten years following the release of the Eon-produced version. Thunderball premiered in Tokyo on 9 December 1965, grossing $ 141.2 million at the global box office. In 1983 Kevin McClory produced a version of the Thunderball story, again with Sean Connery as Bond. The film premiered in New York on 7 October 1983, grossing $ 9.72 million ($ 30 million in 2023 dollars ) on its first weekend, which
1800-468: A dive team in a fight against Largo's crew and a battle ensues. Bond stops Largo from escaping with the bombs; Largo corners him in an underwater cave and is about to kill him, only to be killed by Domino with a shot from a spear gun. The fight leaves six American divers and ten SPECTRE men dead, including Largo, and the bombs are recovered safely. As Bond recuperates in hospital, Leiter explains that Domino told Largo nothing under torture and later escaped from
1920-788: A good deal of fun in luxury surroundings", whilst "the usual beatings-up, modern style, are ingeniously administered to lady and gentleman like". As to why the novels were so appealing, Stead considered that "Mr. Fleming's special magic lies in his power to impart sophistication to his mighty nonsense; his fantasies connect with up-to-date and lively knowledge of places and of the general sphere of crime and espionage." Overall, in Stead's opinion, with Thunderball "the mixture, exotic as ever, generates an extravagant and exhilarating tale and Bond connoisseurs will be glad to have it." The critic for The Times wrote that Thunderball "relies for its kicks far less than did Dr. No or Goldfinger on sadism and
2040-543: A last resort, he is sent to Japan on a semi-diplomatic mission. While there he is challenged by the head of the Japanese Secret Service to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. Bond realises that Shatterhand is Ernst Stavro Blofeld —the man responsible for Tracy's death—and sets out on a revenge mission to kill him and his wife, Irma Bunt. The novel is the concluding chapter of the "Blofeld Trilogy", which had begun in 1961 with Thunderball . The novel deals with
2160-484: A last-chance opportunity to redeem himself by assigning him to the diplomatic branch of the organisation. Bond is subsequently re-numbered 7777 and handed an "impossible" mission: persuading the head of Japan's secret intelligence service, Tiger Tanaka , to share a decoding machine codenamed Magic 44 and so allow Britain to obtain information from encrypted radio transmissions made by the Soviet Union . In exchange,
2280-457: A more relaxed manner. Fleming based his novel in Japan after a three-day visit in 1959, as part of a trip around world cities for The Sunday Times . He later wrote his travel book Thrilling Cities (1963) based on the result. He was enthralled by the country, which led to its use as the location for the novel. He revisited Japan in 1962, spending twelve days there. As with his first trip, he
2400-451: A nice dagger in mind please let us use it." In 2023, Ian Fleming Publications—the company that administers all Fleming's literary works—had the Bond series edited as part of a sensitivity review to remove or reword some racial or ethnic descriptors. The rerelease of the series was for the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale , the first Bond novel. Thunderball was generally well received by
2520-461: A pink dragonfly sitting on one of the flowers, and perhaps just one epicanthic eye peering through them, [Fleming] thinks that will be just splendid." After searching for a toad along the banks of the River Colne , Chopping borrowed one from a neighbour's daughter. His fee rose to 300 guineas for the cover from the 250 guineas he received for The Spy Who Loved Me . You Only Live Twice
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#17327809588452640-403: A politically embarrassing "Garden of Death" in a rebuilt ancient castle on the island of Kyushu ; people visit the grounds, replete with poisonous plants, to kill themselves. After examining photos of Shatterhand and his wife, Bond realises that the couple are actually Tracy's murderers, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Irma Bunt. Bond gladly takes the mission, keeping his knowledge of Blofeld's identity
2760-844: A reference to Vladivostok , making him wonder if the far-off city is the key to his missing memory; he tells Kissy he must travel to Russia to find out. By January 1963 Ian Fleming had published ten books of the Bond series in ten years: nine novels and a collection of short stories. An eleventh book, On Her Majesty's Secret Service , was being edited and prepared for production; it was released on 1 April 1963. Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in January 1963 to write You Only Live Twice , which he did over two months. He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in Books and Bookmen magazine: "I write for about three hours in
2880-501: A result of the recent news that he had, at most, five years to live, following his heart attack in April 1961. Although Fleming did not date the events within his novels, John Griswold and Henry Chancellor —both of whom wrote books for Ian Fleming Publications —have identified timelines based on episodes and situations within the novel series as a whole. Chancellor put the events of You Only Live Twice between 1962 and 1963; Griswold
3000-400: A round of golf at Royal St George's Golf Club , Sandwich. In the summer of 1963, shortly after completing the book, Fleming went to Montreux to visit the writer Georges Simenon ; he tried to see Monique to reveal her part in his new book, but she refused to meet him. Blofeld's name comes from Tom Blofeld, a Norfolk farmer and a fellow member of Fleming's gentlemen's club Boodle's , who
3120-406: A samurai was taken from the sketch Fleming had come up with thirty-five years earlier for a character called Graf Schlick. Much of the background material for the novel—particularly the description of the country and Japanese culture—Fleming obtained during his two visits to Japan. So much of the book is taken up with the description that the literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek considers the work to be
3240-469: A secret so that he can exact revenge for his wife's death. Made up and trained by Tanaka, and aided by the former Japanese film star Kissy Suzuki , Bond attempts to live and act as a mute Japanese coal miner in order to penetrate Shatterhand's castle. Tanaka gives Bond the cover name "Taro Todoroki" for the mission. After infiltrating the Garden of Death and the castle where Blofeld spends his time dressed in
3360-604: A slightly condescending sophistication." The upshot, in the critic's opinion, was that "the mixture—of good living, sex and violent action—is as before, but this is a highly polished performance, with an ingenious plot well documented and plenty of excitement." Writing in The Washington Post , Harold Kneeland noted that Thunderball was "Not top Fleming, but still well ahead of the pack", whilst Charles Poore, writing in The New York Times considered
3480-457: A stay in 1959 as part of a trip around the world that he published as Thrilling Cities . He returned to Japan in 1962 and spent twelve days exploring the country and its culture. You Only Live Twice begins eight months after the murder of Tracy Bond , James Bond's wife, which occurred at the end of the previous novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963). Bond is drinking, gambling heavily and making mistakes on his assignments when, as
3600-573: A town near Las Vegas called "Spectreville", and for "spektor", the cryptograph decoder in From Russia, with Love . Others, such as continuation Bond author Raymond Benson , disagree, saying that McClory came up with the SPECTRE concept. Those elements which Fleming used which can be put down to McClory and Whittingham (either separately or together) include the airborne theft of a nuclear bomb, "Jo" Petachi and his sister Sophie, and Jo's death at
3720-567: A walloping climax." A comic strip adaptation was published daily in the Daily Express newspaper and syndicated worldwide, beginning on 11 December 1961. The owner of the Daily Express , Lord Beaverbrook , cancelled the strip on 10 February 1962 after Fleming signed an agreement with The Sunday Times for them to publish the short story " The Living Daylights ". Thunderball was reprinted in 2005 by Titan Books as part of
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3840-479: A week. The Prime Minister receives a communiqué from SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), a private criminal enterprise under the command of Ernst Stavro Blofeld . SPECTRE has hijacked a Villiers Vindicator and seized its two nuclear bombs, which it will use to destroy two major targets in the Western Hemisphere unless a ransom is paid. Lippe
3960-605: Is "horrific, dreamlike and surrealistic". Much in the novel concerns the state of Britain in world affairs. Black points out that the reason for Bond's mission to Japan is that the US did not want to share intelligence regarding the Pacific, which it saw as its "private preserve". As Black goes on to note, however, the defections of four members of MI6 to the Soviet Union had a major impact in US intelligence circles on how Britain
4080-692: Is an immensely powerful organisation armed by ex-members of SMERSH, the Gestapo, the Mafia, and the Black Tong of Peking, which is placing these bombs in NATO bases with the objective of then blackmailing the Western powers for £100 million or else. Ian Fleming: memo to Whittingham and McClory Cork also noted that Fleming used the word "spectre" previously: in the fourth novel, Diamonds Are Forever , for
4200-447: Is as interesting as ever, some of the old snap seems to have gone". Dealing with the cliffhanger ending to the story, the reviewer wrote that "Mr. Fleming would keep us on tenterhooks, but at this rate of going even his most devoted admirers will free themselves before very long." The critic for The Spectator felt that Fleming had taken too much of the films' humour and was writing a pastiche of his earlier work. You Only Live Twice
4320-560: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages You Only Live Twice (novel) You Only Live Twice is the eleventh novel and twelfth book in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series . It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on 26 March 1964 and quickly sold out. It was the last novel Fleming published in his lifetime. He based his book in Japan after
4440-493: Is expected of the author of this kind of thriller". Peter Duval Smith, writing in Financial Times , also took the opportunity to defend Fleming's work against negative criticism and specifically named Johnson and his review: "one should not make a cult of Fleming's novels: a day-dream is a day-dream; but nor should one make the mistake of supposing he does not know what he is doing." Duval Smith thought that Thunderball
4560-455: Is in SPECTRE's pay to hijack the bomber in mid-flight by killing its crew and flying it to the Bahamas , where he ditches it in the ocean and it sinks in shallow water. SPECTRE crew members kill Petacchi, camouflage the wreck, and transfer the nuclear bombs onto the cruiser yacht Disco Volante for transport to an underwater hiding place. Emilio Largo , second-in-command of SPECTRE, oversees
4680-476: Is in sharp contrast to the warm, co-operative relationship between Bond and the CIA agent Felix Leiter in the earlier books. One of the main themes of You Only Live Twice is that of symbolic death and rebirth. This is echoed in the book's title and in Bond's attempt at a haiku , written in the style of Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō : You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in
4800-466: Is living on board the Disco Volante and believes Largo is on a treasure hunt, although Largo makes her stay ashore while he and his partners supposedly survey the ocean for treasure. After seducing her, Bond informs her that Largo arranged her brother's death, and Bond recruits her to spy on Largo. Domino re-boards the Disco Volante with a Geiger counter disguised as a camera, to ascertain if
4920-461: Is more precise and considers the story to have taken place between April 1962 and April 1963. The story was written after the film version of Dr. No was released in 1962, and Bond's personality had developed from that in the earlier novels, influenced by the screen persona. Fleming added the elements of humour in Sean Connery 's filmic depiction of Bond to You Only Live Twice , giving Bond
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5040-478: Is one of the worst examples of Fleming's work, "this padding degenerates into incompetent travelogue". Benson describes the first two-thirds of the book as being in a high journalistic style, but from the point Bond is preparing to meet and battle Blofeld, Benson sees Fleming's writing becoming allegorical and epic , using Bond as a symbol of good against the evil of Blofeld. Benson sees an increased use of imagery to reinforce this approach, to give an effect which
5160-460: Is still an extravagant adventure". The critic for the Daily Herald implored "Hey!—that man is taking his clothes off again. So is the girl ... Can anybody stop this? Unfortunately not. Not this side of the best-seller lists. I don't envy Mr Bond's wealthy creator, Ian Fleming. I wish I could pity him", whilst L.G. Offord considered Thunderball to be "just about as wild as ever, with
5280-431: Is the ninth book in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series, and the eighth full-length Bond novel . It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 27 March 1961, where the initial print run of 50,938 copies quickly sold out. The first novelisation of an unfilmed James Bond screenplay, it was born from a collaboration by five people: Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory , Jack Whittingham , Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo , although
5400-497: The Financial Times , believed that the setting of the novel was well done; he considered that Fleming "caught the exact 'feel' of Japan". Maggie Ross, in The Listener , was a little dissatisfied, writing that the novel can be read as a thriller and that when a reader's interest waned, they could focus on the travelogue aspects of the book. She went on to say that "since not very much in the way of real excitement happens until
5520-402: The Disco Volante to get revenge on him. Learning that she is also recovering from injuries, Bond crawls into her room and falls asleep at her bedside. According to continuation Bond author Raymond Benson , there was further development of the Bond character in Thunderball , with glimpses of both his sense of humour and his own sense of mortality. Felix Leiter had his largest role to date in
5640-456: The Dr. No anthology that also includes Diamonds Are Forever and From Russia, with Love . In 1965 the film Thunderball was released, starring Sean Connery as James Bond. The film was produced as the fourth Eon Productions film and, as well as listing Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman as producers, Kevin McClory was also included in the production team: Broccoli and Saltzman made
5760-462: The 1959 trip, Fleming told Hughes: There would be no politicians, museums, temples, Imperial palaces, or Noh plays, let alone tea ceremonies. I wanted, I said, to see Mr Somerset Maugham , who had just arrived and was receiving a triumphal welcome; visit the supreme judo academy; see a sumo wrestling match; explore the Ginza ; have the most luxurious Japanese bath; spend an evening with geishas; consult
5880-692: The Bond novels to be "post-Dostoevskian ventures in crime and punishment". Thunderball he found to be "a mystery story, a thriller, a chiller and a pleasure to read." Poore identified aspects of the author's technique to be part of the success, saying "the suspense and the surprises that animate the novel arise from the conceits with which Mr. Fleming decorates his tapestry of thieving and deceiving". The critic from The Sunday Times considered Fleming to have "a sensational imagination, but informed by style, zest and—above all—knowledge". Anthony Boucher wrote: "As usual, Ian Fleming has less story to tell in 90,000 words than Buchan managed in 40,000; but Thunderball
6000-711: The Byronic hero's make-up, a secret sorrow over a woman, aggravated, as it should be, by self-reproach". Blofeld makes his third appearance in the Bond series in You Only Live Twice and Benson notes that on this occasion he is mad and egocentric in his behaviour; Tanaka refers to him as "no less than a fiend in human form", and the cultural critic Umberto Eco considers the character to have "a murderous mania". The Anglicist Christoph Lindner notes that Fleming, through Bond's dialogue, parallels Blofeld with Caligula , Nero and Hitler . Lindner continues that
6120-469: The CIA for the investigation. Thunderball also introduces SPECTRE's leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld , in the first of three appearances in Bond novels, with On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice being the others. Thunderball has been adapted four times, once in a comic strip format for the Daily Express newspaper, twice for the cinema and once for the radio. The Daily Express strip
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#17327809588456240-488: The Far Eastern correspondent of The Sunday Times : I'm grinding away at Bond's latest but the going gets harder and harder and duller and duller and I don't really know what I'm going to do with him. He's become a personal—if not a public—nuisance. Anyway he's had a good run, which is more than most of us can say. Everything seems too much trouble. The original manuscript was 170 pages and, of all Fleming's works, it
6360-586: The Japanese language, learns to love once more." As with several other Bond stories, the concept of Bond as Saint George against the dragon underlies the storyline to You Only Live Twice . Tiger Tanaka twice overtly calls attention to this when he says to Bond "You are to enter this Castle of Death and slay the Dragon within", and then later asks: But, Bondo-san, does it not amuse you to think of that foolish dragon dozing all unsuspecting in his castle while St. George comes silently riding towards his lair across
6480-587: The Secret Service will allow the Japanese access to one of their own information sources. Bond is introduced to Tanaka—and to the Japanese lifestyle—by an Australian intelligence officer, Dikko Henderson . When Bond raises the purpose of his mission with Tanaka, it transpires that the Japanese have already penetrated the British information source and Bond has nothing left to bargain with. Instead, Tanaka asks Bond to kill Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, who operates
6600-482: The UK. Artist Richard Chopping once again provided the cover art for the novel. On 20 July 1960 Fleming wrote to Chopping to ask if he could undertake the art for the next book, agreeing on a fee of 200 guineas , saying that "I will ask [Jonathan Cape] to produce an elegant skeleton hand and an elegant Queen of Hearts. As to the dagger, I really have no strong views. I had thought of the ordinary flick knife as used by teenagers on people like you and me, but if you have
6720-565: The US—Fleming met with McClory and Ivar Bryce in New York; McClory told Fleming that Whittingham had completed a full outline, which was ready to shoot. Back in Britain in December 1959, Fleming met with McClory and Whittingham for a script conference and shortly afterwards McClory and Whittingham sent Fleming a script, Longitude 78 West , which Fleming considered to be good, although he changed
6840-513: The ascent of Everest as a defence. Bennet and Woollcott see that one of the roles Bond has in the novels "is to prove that there is still an elite in Britain, still a backbone to the English character". The theme of Britain's declining position in the world is also dealt with in conversations between Bond and Tanaka; Tanaka voices Fleming's own concerns about the state of Britain in the 1950s and early 60s. Tanaka accuses Britain of throwing away
6960-411: The book has been re-issued in hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and, as at 2024, has never been out of print. In 2023 Ian Fleming Publications—the company that administers all Fleming's literary works—had the Bond series edited as part of a sensitivity review to remove or reword some racial or ethnic descriptors. Although many of Fleming's racial epithets were removed from
7080-529: The book to be published, although the door was left open for McClory to pursue further action at a later date. He did so and on 19 November 1963 the case of McClory v Fleming was heard at the Chancery Division of the High Court. The case lasted three weeks, during which time Fleming was unwell—suffering a heart attack during the case itself —and, under advice from his friend Ivar Bryce, offered
7200-533: The change in Bond from an emotionally shattered man in mourning, to a man of action bent on revenge, to an amnesiac living as a Japanese fisherman. Through the mouths of his characters, Fleming also examines the decline of post- Second World War British power and influence, particularly in relation to the United States. The book was popular with the public, with pre-orders in the UK totalling 62,000; reviewers were more muted in their reactions, many criticising
7320-529: The clinic Bond encounters Count Lippe, a member of the Red Lightning Tong criminal organisation from Macau . When Bond learns of the Tong connection, Lippe tries to kill him by tampering with a spinal traction table on which Bond is being treated. Bond is saved by nurse Patricia Fearing and later retaliates by trapping Lippe in a steam bath, causing second-degree burns and sending him to hospital for
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#17327809588457440-478: The concept of SPECTRE; Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett and John Cork both note Fleming as the originator of the group, Lycett saying that "[Fleming] proposed that Bond should confront not the Russians but SPECTRE ..." while Cork produced a memorandum in which Fleming called for the change to SPECTRE: My suggestion on (b) is that SPECTRE, short for Special Executive for Terrorism, Revolution and Espionage,
7560-409: The controversial shared credit of Fleming, McClory and Whittingham was the result of a courtroom decision. The story centres on the theft of a pair of nuclear weapons by the crime syndicate SPECTRE and the subsequent attempted blackmail of the Western powers for their return. James Bond, Secret Service operative 007, travels to the Bahamas to work with his friend Felix Leiter , seconded back into
7680-409: The costume of a Samurai warrior, Bond is captured and identified as a British secret agent. After nearly being executed, Bond exacts revenge on Blofeld in a duel, the former with a wooden staff and the latter armed with a sword. Bond eventually kills Blofeld by strangling him in a fit of violent rage; he then blows up the castle. Upon escaping, he suffers a head injury, leaving him an amnesiac living as
7800-447: The crimes perpetrated are not against individuals per se , but entire nations, continents or "the entire human race itself". The literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek considers the character to be a declining force in comparison to his appearance in Thunderball , and "is a paper figure ... in spite of the megalomaniac speeches". According to Benson, Kissy Suzuki is "a most appealing heroine" who falls in love with Bond. Apart from being
7920-535: The critics; Francis Iles , wrote in The Guardian that it "is a good, tough, straightforward thriller on perfectly conventional lines." Referring to the negative publicity that surrounded Dr. No —in particular the article by Paul Johnson in the New Statesman entitled, "Sex, Snobbery and Sadism"—Iles was left "wondering what all the fuss is about", noting that "there is no more sadism nor sex than
8040-534: The deal, or file suit in court. Fleming wrote the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye over the period January to March 1960, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory. In March 1961 McClory read an advance copy of the book and he and Whittingham immediately petitioned the High Court in London for an injunction to stop publication. The plagiarism case was heard on 24 March 1961 and allowed
8160-497: The death of Blofeld. Bond tracks her down and kills her. In 1967 the book was adapted into the fifth film in the Eon Productions series. It stars Sean Connery as Bond, and the screenplay was by Fleming's friend Roald Dahl . Only a few elements of the novel and a limited number of Fleming's characters survive into the film version, which has a heavy focus on Bond's gadgets. The June 1967 issue of Playboy contained
8280-508: The empire "with both hands"; this would have been a contentious situation for Fleming, as he wrote the novel as the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation was breaking out (in December 1962), a direct challenge to British interests in the region. Fleming's increasingly jaundiced views on America appear in the novel too, through Bond's responses to Tiger's comments, and they reflect on the declining relationship between Britain and America: this
8400-586: The extended sections of what they considered a travelogue . The story was serialised in the Daily Express newspaper—where it was also adapted for comic strip format—and in Playboy magazine. In 1967 it was released as the fifth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond film series , starring Sean Connery as Bond; elements of the story were also used in No Time to Die (2021),
8520-460: The face The rebirth in question is that of Bond, transformed from the heavy drinker with emotional problems, mourning his wife at the beginning of the book, to a man of action and then, after the death of Blofeld and the seeming death of Bond, to Taro Todoroki, the Japanese partner of Kissy Suzuki. Druce observes that "in Kissy's care, Bond is symbolically reborn, while Kissy, his Sybilline tutor in
8640-430: The feature "007's Oriental Eyefuls". This was a six-page pictorial that featured several of the women from the film, which included Mie Hama (who played Kissy Suzuki) and Akiko Wakabayashi (who played Aki), as well as some of the film's extras. The accompanying text was written by Dahl. In 1990 the novel was adapted into a 90-minute radio play for BBC Radio 4 with Michael Jayston playing James Bond. The production
8760-458: The film scripts'; '[t]hat the novel makes use of a substantial number of the incidents and material in the film scripts'; and '[t]hat there is a general similarity of the story of the novel and the story as set out in the said film scripts'." On 12 August 1964, nine months after the trial ended, Fleming suffered another heart attack and died aged 56. When the script was first drafted in May 1959, with
8880-438: The hands of Sophie's boss. The remainder of the screenplay was a two-year collaboration among Fleming, Whittingham, McClory, Bryce and Cuneo. The title of the book will be Thunderball. It is immensely long, immensely dull and only your jacket can save it! Ian Fleming, in a letter to cover artist Richard Chopping Thunderball was published on 27 March 1961 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan Cape ; it
9000-497: The journalist Ben Macintyre . As with a number of the previous Bond stories, You Only Live Twice used names of individuals and places that were from Fleming's past. Bond's mother, Monique Delacroix, was named after two women in Fleming's life: Monique Panchaud de Bottens, a Swiss girl from Vich in the canton of Vaud , to whom Fleming was engaged in the early 1930s, with Delacroix taken from Fleming's own mother, whose maiden name
9120-493: The last that was published in his lifetime; he died five months after the UK release of the novel. The story is the third part of what is known as the "Blofeld trilogy", coming after Thunderball , where SPECTRE is introduced, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service , which ends with Blofeld involved in the murder of Bond's wife. Fleming's biographer Matthew Parker considers the novel's mood to be dark and claustrophobic. This reflected Fleming's increasing melancholia, partly as
9240-520: The latter half of the book, perhaps it is better to ignore the whole thing". Maurice Richardson, in The Observer , was critical of several aspects, saying that the "narrative is a bit weak, action long delayed and disappointing when it comes but the surround of local colour ... has been worked over with that unique combination of pubescent imagination and industry which is Mr. Fleming's speciality". Duval Smith thought that You Only Live Twice
9360-602: 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." Towards the end of February 1963 he wrote to his friend and copy editor William Plomer : "I have completed Opus XII save for 2 or 3 pages and am amazed that the miracle should have managed to repeat itself—the 65,000 odd words that is, and pretty odd some of them are!" When he had nearly completed writing You Only Live Twice , Fleming wrote to his friend Richard Hughes ,
9480-729: The mother of Bond's unborn child at the end of the book, Suzuki also acts as a "cultural translator" for Bond, helping explain the local traditions and customs; Quarrel had the same function in Dr. No and Live and Let Die . The cultural historians Janet Woollacott and Tony Bennett consider her to be "the ideal Bond girl – natural, unaffected, totally lacking in deference, independent and self-reliant, yet also caring, loving, solicitous for Bond's well-being and willing to cater to his every need without making any demands in return". Eco identifies Tiger Tanaka as one of Fleming's characters with morals closer to those of traditional villains, but who act on
9600-553: The naturalist cure Bond undergoes. Bond's examination of the hull of Disco Volante was inspired by the ill-fated mission undertaken on 19 April 1956 by the ex- Royal Navy frogman "Buster" Crabb on behalf of MI6, as he examined the hull of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze that had brought Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin on a diplomatic mission to Britain. Crabb disappeared in Portsmouth Harbour and
9720-424: The nickname "Dikko" is a close echo of their names. Much of You Only Live Twice is taken up with background information about Japan and its culture . Bond is not threatened for most of the novel, except the final thirty pages, when he comes into contact with Blofeld. The Anglicist John Hatcher observes that the first 112 pages—in his edition of 212 pages—"read more like a hybrid travelogue/sociology textbook than
9840-401: The novel, Fleming's description of the Japanese as "A violent people without a violent language" was retained. The release of the bowdlerised series was for the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale , the first Bond novel. The critic for The Times was largely unimpressed with You Only Live Twice , complaining that "as a moderate to middling travelogue what follows will just about do ...
9960-715: The novel. As Fleming noted when he visited a geisha house in Thrilling Cities , "Most foreigners do not have a correct understanding of the geisha. They are not prostitutes". The central character in the novel is James Bond. He begins You Only Live Twice in a disturbed state, described by M as "going to pieces", following the murder of his wife Tracy eight months previously. He has visited doctors, hypnotists and therapists and told them "I feel like hell. I sleep badly. I eat practically nothing. I drink too much and my work has gone to blazes. I'm shot to pieces. Make me better." The historian Jeremy Black points out that it
10080-666: The operations. The Americans and the British launch Operation Thunderball to foil SPECTRE and recover the two atomic bombs. On a hunch, M assigns Bond to the Bahamas to investigate. There, Bond meets Felix Leiter , who has been recalled to duty by the CIA from the Pinkerton detective agency because of the Thunderball crisis. While in Nassau , Bond meets Dominetta "Domino" Vitali , Largo's mistress and Petacchi's sister. She
10200-455: The plot with its concomitant sadism does not really get going until more than half way through". In The Guardian , Francis Iles thought that Fleming was beginning to tire of Bond, and possibly of writing thrillers; he reasoned that only a quarter of the novel was what could be classed a thriller, and his enjoyment was further diminished by what he considered "the grossness of Bond's manners and his schoolboy obscenities". Peter Duval Smith, in
10320-533: The powers of the world. And on that subject, above all others, Ian Fleming's novels are endlessly, bitterly eloquent". The Boston Globe ' s Mary Castle opined that the agent's trip was "Escapism in the Grand Manner". Richardson found You Only Live Twice , although not the strongest of the Bond novels, to be very readable, and the Belfast Telegraph considered that Fleming was "still in
10440-435: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title You Only Live Twice . 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=You_Only_Live_Twice&oldid=1172686480 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
10560-586: The series, according to academic Jeremy Black . Black argues that SPECTRE represents "evil unconstrained by ideology" and it partly came about because the decline of the British Empire led to a lack of certainty in Fleming's mind. This is reflected in Bond's using US equipment and personnel in the novel, such as the Geiger counter and nuclear submarine. As with the previous novels in the series, aspects of Thunderball come from Fleming's own experiences:
10680-515: The side of good in support of Bond; others of this type have included Darko Kerim ( From Russia, with Love ), Marc-Ange Draco ( On Her Majesty's Secret Service ) and Enrico Colombo (" Risico "). Similarly, Panek considers that Dikko Henderson "serves as an inspiration for Bond" because of what he sees as the character's "robust enjoyment of life—enjoyment of food, drink and women". The Anglicist Robert Druce finds similarities in characters between Henderson and those of Draco and Darko, and observes that
10800-459: The story changed, there were ten outlines, treatments and scripts. Several titles were proposed for these works, including SPECTRE , James Bond of the Secret Service and Longitude 78 West . Much of the attraction Fleming felt working alongside McClory was based on McClory's film, The Boy and the Bridge , which was the official British entry to the 1959 Venice Film Festival . When the film
10920-550: The storyline of an aeroplane of celebrities in the Atlantic, it included elements from Fleming's friend Ernie Cuneo, who included ships with underwater trapdoors in their hulls and an underwater battle scene. The Russians were originally the villains, then the Sicilian Mafia , but this was later changed again to the internationally operating criminal organisation, SPECTRE. Both McClory and Fleming claim to have come up with
11040-671: The strip in the 1980s. The strip was reprinted by Titan Books in The James Bond Omnibus Vol. 2 , published in 2011. The novel was also serialised in the April, May and June 1964 issues of Playboy magazine, with illustrations from Daniel Schwartz. In the January 1997 edition of Playboy , the short story " Blast from the Past " appeared. Written by Raymond Benson, the story depicts the murder of James Suzuki—the child Bond fathered with Kissy Suzuki. Bond finds out that his son had been murdered by Irma Bunt as revenge for
11160-580: The thawing of relations between East and West, although the cold war escalated again shortly afterwards, with the Bay of Pigs Invasion , the construction of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis all occurring in an eighteen-month period from April 1961 to November 1962. The introduction of SPECTRE and its use over several books gives a measure of continuity to the remaining stories in
11280-403: The title to Thunderball . In January 1960 McClory visited Fleming's Jamaican home Goldeneye , where Fleming explained his intention of delivering the screenplay to MCA , with a recommendation from him and Bryce that McClory act as producer. Fleming also told McClory that if MCA rejected the film because of McClory's involvement, then McClory should either sell his services to MCA, back out of
11400-407: The top Japanese soothsayer; and take a day trip into the country. I also said that I wanted to eat large quantities of raw fish, for which I have a weakness, and ascertain whether sake was truly alcoholic or not. They managed to undertake all the events, except the sumo match. On a trip to a geisha house, Fleming's attendant geisha, Masami, served as the inspiration for Trembling Leaf, a geisha in
11520-617: The tradition of Secret Service fiction. Perhaps the earlier novels are better. If so, I shall never know, having no intention of reading them." Robert Fulford , in the Toronto-based magazine Maclean's , noted that Bond's moral simplicity was one of the keys to the popularity of the series, although that also made the books appear trivial. Charles Poore, writing in The New York Times , observed that Bond's mission "is aimed at restoring Britain's pre-World War II place among
11640-596: The twenty-sixth film in the Eon Productions series. The novel has also been adapted as a radio play and broadcast on the BBC . After the wedding-day murder of his wife, Tracy , the Secret Service agent James Bond goes into a decline, drinking and gambling heavily, making mistakes and turning up late for work. His superior in the Secret Service, M , had been planning to dismiss Bond, but decides to give him
11760-537: The visit to the health clinic was inspired by his own 1955 trip to the Enton Hall health farm near Godalming and Bond's medical record, as read out to him by M, is a slightly modified version of Fleming's own. The name of the health farm, Shrublands, was taken from that of a house owned by the parents of his wife's friend, Peter Quennell . Fleming dedicates a quarter of the novel to the Shrublands setting and
11880-463: The waves? It would make the subject for a most entertaining Japanese print. This is, according to Druce, reinforced by Blofeld's staff being recruited from the Japanese "Black Dragon" society; the organisation was described by Fleming as being formerly "the most feared and powerful secret society in Japan". Druce also highlights a kimono Blofeld wears when addressing Bond, which is described thus: "the golden dragon embroidery, so easily to be derided as
12000-469: The yacht has been used to transport the bombs. However, she is discovered and Largo tortures her for information. Bond and Leiter alert the Thunderball war room of their suspicions of Largo and join the crew of the American nuclear submarine Manta as the ransom deadline nears. The Manta chases the Disco Volante to capture it and recover the bombs en route to the first target. Bond and Leiter lead
12120-469: Was "an exciting story [...] skilfully told", with "a romantic sub-plot ... and the denouement involves great events" He also considered it "the best written since Diamonds Are Forever , four books back. It has pace and humour and style. The violence is not so unrelenting as usual: an improvement, I think." He also expressed concern for the central character, saying "I was glad to see him [Bond] in such good form. Earlier he seemed to be softening up. He
12240-428: Was 253 pages long and cost 15 shillings . 50,938 copies were printed and quickly sold out. Thunderball was published in the US by Viking Press and sold better than any of the previous Bond books. Publishers Jonathan Cape spent £2,000 (£56,233 in 2023 pounds ) on advance publicity. Cape sent out 130 review copies to critics and others and 32,000 copies of the novel had been sent to 864 UK booksellers and 603 outside
12360-403: Was 256 pages long. There were 62,000 pre-orders for the book, a considerable increase over the 42,000 advance orders for the hardback first edition of On Her Majesty's Secret Service . Richard Chopping , the cover artist for The Spy Who Loved Me , was engaged for the design. In July 1963, Michael Howard of Jonathan Cape had written to Chopping about the artwork, saying, "If you could manage
12480-400: Was Ste Croix Rose. Fleming named Bond's aunt "Charmian Bond": Charmian was the forename of Fleming's cousin who married his brother Richard. Charmian's sister was called "Pet", which, when combined with a play on words from Monique Panchaud de Bottens, gives Pett Bottom, where Charmian lives. Pett Bottom is also the name of a real place which amused Fleming when he stopped for lunch after
12600-583: Was a contemporary of Fleming's at Eton. For Blofeld's pseudonym in the novel, Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, Fleming uses the name of an old café he had seen in Hamburg in 1959, "Old Shatterhand". The café was named after a fictional character from a series of Western stories by the German writer Karl May . In his first draft, Fleming named the character Julius Shatterhand, but subsequently crossed it out in favour of Guntram. The characterisation of him dressed as
12720-772: Was a very different Bond to the character who lost Vesper Lynd at the end of Casino Royale . Given a final chance by M to redeem himself with a difficult mission, Bond's character changes under the ministrations of Dikko Henderson, Tiger Tanaka and Kissy Suzuki. The result, according to Raymond Benson —the author of the continuation Bond novels—is a Bond with a sense of humour and a purpose in life. The book's penultimate chapter contains Bond's obituary, purportedly written by M for The Times . Fleming uses this to provide previously unrevealed biographical details of Bond's early life, including his parents' names and nationalities and Bond's education. The novelist and critic Kingsley Amis , in his examination of Fleming's stories, finds Bond
12840-488: Was accompanied on his trip around the country by two journalists: Hughes and Torao "Tiger" Saito. The novel contains a fictional obituary of Bond, supposedly published in The Times , which provided the first details from Fleming of Bond's early life. Many of the traits were Fleming's own. This included Bond's expulsion from Eton College , which was akin to Fleming's withdrawal from the college by his mother, according to
12960-408: Was adapted for serialisation in the Daily Express on a daily basis from 2 March 1964 onwards. The novel was also adapted as a daily comic strip in the same newspaper, and syndicated worldwide. The adaptation, written by Henry Gammidge and illustrated by John McLusky , ran from 18 May 1965 to 8 January 1966. It was the final James Bond strip for Gammidge, while McClusky returned to illustrating
13080-419: Was cut short on the order of its owner, Lord Beaverbrook , after Ian Fleming signed an agreement with The Sunday Times to publish a short story. On screen, Thunderball was released in 1965 as the fourth film in the Eon Productions series, with Sean Connery as James Bond. The second adaptation, Never Say Never Again , was released as an independent production in 1983 also starring Connery as Bond and
13200-404: Was dispatched to the clinic to oversee Giuseppe Petacchi, an Italian Air Force pilot stationed at a nearby bomber squadron base, and post the communiqué once the bombs were in SPECTRE's possession. Although Lippe has accomplished his tasks, Blofeld considers him unreliable because of his childish clash with Bond and has him killed. Acting as a NATO observer of Royal Air Force procedure, Petacchi
13320-591: Was having bad hangovers on half-a-bottle of whisky a day, which I don't call a lot, unless he wasn't eating properly." Writing in The Times Literary Supplement , Philip John Stead thought that Fleming "continues uninhibitedly to deploy his story-telling talents within the limits of the Commander Bond formula." Stead saw that the hijacking of the two bombs "gives Bond some anxiety but, needless to say, does not prevent him from having
13440-406: Was never actually formed into a company. In May 1959 Fleming, Bryce, Cuneo and McClory met first at Bryce's Essex house and then in McClory's London home as they came up with a story outline which was based on an aeroplane full of celebrities and a female lead called Fatima Blush. McClory was fascinated by the underwater world and wanted to make a film that included it. Over the next few months, as
13560-655: Was never seen again. As well as having Buster Crabb in mind, Fleming would also recall the information about the 10th Light Flotilla , an elite unit of Italian navy frogmen who used wrecked ships in Gibraltar to launch attacks on Allied shipping . The specifications for Disco Volante herself had been obtained by Fleming from the Italian ship designer, Leopold Rodriguez. As often happened in Fleming's novels, several names were taken from those of people he had known. Ernst Stavro Blofeld's name partially comes from Tom Blofeld,
13680-461: Was not a successful novel, and that the problem lay with the depiction of Bond, as he "doesn't add up to a human being". Malcolm Muggeridge , in Esquire magazine , wrote that "Bond can only manage to sleep with his Japanese girl with the aid of colour pornography. His drinking sessions seem somehow desperate, and the horrors are too absurd to horrify ... it's all rather a muddle and scarcely in
13800-455: Was produced by Kevin McClory. BBC Radio 4 aired an adaptation in December 2016, directed by Martin Jarvis . It starred Toby Stephens as Bond and Tom Conti as Largo. During a meeting with his superior, M , Bond learns that his latest physical assessment is poor because of excessive drinking and smoking. M sends Bond to a health clinic for a two-week treatment to improve his condition. At
13920-497: Was published in the US by New American Library in August 1964; it was 240 pages long. The book went on to The New York Times Best Seller list , where it remained for over twenty weeks; it was the eighth-bestselling novel of 1964 in the US. In July 1965 Pan Books published a paperback version of You Only Live Twice in the UK that sold 309,000 copies before the end of the year and 908,000 in 1966. Since its initial publication
14040-592: Was released in July 1959, it was poorly received, and did not do well at the box office; Fleming became disenchanted with McClory's ability as a result. In October 1959, with Fleming spending less time on the project, McClory introduced experienced screenwriter Jack Whittingham to the writing process. In November 1959 Fleming left to travel around the world on behalf of The Sunday Times , material for which Fleming also used for his non-fiction travel book, Thrilling Cities . On his travels—through Japan, Hong Kong and into
14160-476: Was repeated a number of times between 2008 and 2013. In 2021 elements of You Only Live Twice were used in No Time to Die , the twenty-sixth film in the Eon Productions series, which stars Daniel Craig as Bond. The film included Bond mourning the loss of his romantic partner and eventually seeking revenge by strangling the main villain and destroying his "garden of death" on a private island between Russia and Japan. Thunderball (novel) Thunderball
14280-482: Was the one that had least revisions prior to publication. After returning to England, Fleming revised the manuscript while staying in Kent. This included contacting the company secretary of The Times to ask permission to use their masthead above Bond's fictional obituary; the matter was complicated by the presence of the royal arms . You Only Live Twice is the last book completed by Fleming before his death and
14400-423: Was viewed. The last of the defections was that of Kim Philby in January 1963, while Fleming was still writing the first draft of the novel. Black contends that the conversation between M and Bond allows Fleming to discuss the decline of Britain, with the defections and the 1963 Profumo affair as a backdrop. After Tiger Tanaka's criticisms of Britain's weaknesses, Bond can point only to Nobel Prize winners and
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