Ian Fleming's favourite actor for James Bond

When Ian Fleming wrote about James Bond's looks it was very well drawn. James Bond's hight was little over six feet (183 cm) and his weight was around 167 pounds (76 kg). His body was in other words what you today would call slim. Also, Bond is described as dark, cruel and handsome and that woman find him irresistible.

So in 1961 when Producers Albert Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were searching for there actor to play Bond they almost had a blueprint of what the man should look like.

Both Cubby and Harry agreed to let Ian Fleming attend the meetings were James Bond and who he was was discussed and after one of these meetings Fleming send Cubby a fascinating memorandum on the matter.

James Bond is a blunt instrument wielded by a Government Department. He is quiet, hard, ruthless, sardonic, fatalistic. In his relationships with women he shows the same qualities as he does in his job, but he has a certain gentleness with them and if they get in trouble he is sometimes prepared to sacrifice his life to rescue them. But not always, and certainly not if it interferes with his job. He likes gambling, golf and motorcars. 

 In other words. Ian Flemings blueprint for James Bond was more or less a blueprint of himself.

Cary Grant was the first actor to be asked to play James Bond but he turned it down. There second choice was James Mason but he was no fan of the Bond books.

But Ian Fleming had his first choice for the role of James Bond and his name was strangely enough... Roger Moore.

Roger Moore was 34 years old at the time and had actually not received world wide celebrity playing Simon Templer in The Saint.
Cubby Broccoli did not want Roger Moore at that time. He thought Moore was to much of a gentlemen and not the kind of tough guy that they later found in Sean Connery.

But 12 years later in 1973 Ian Fleming would get his wishes come true when Roger Moore played his first role as agent 007. Sadly he never got to see it since he himself passed away in 1964.

The facts for this blog post can be found in THE JAMES BOND ARCHIVES that you need to order here if you have not already done so.

Did you or your friends win the TRIGGER MORTIS contest?

A few weeks back the blog had its first sponsored contest were you the reader had the chance to win a copy of the now released US TRIGGER MORTIS paperback.

The 10 winners of the book are as follows:

Karl Flood, Ireland

Brandon Tate, USA

Robert Sterling, UK

David Winterfeld, Austria

Jan Mouritzen, Denmark

Sophie Reid, UK

Steve Oxenrider, USA

Leijo Van Aubel, The Nederlands

Johan Antens, The Nederlands

Ian Stubbs, UK

A big congratulations to the winners. I will now contact the publishers so that you will get the paperback sent to you. 

A big warm thank you also to Harper Paperbacks and Abigail Novak and Mary Sasso for making this contest possible. 

Happy Birthday James Bond, The secret agent

This very blog has just turned one year a few days back.
The blog was born on Friday October 9, 2015 with this little blog post. The title of the blog THE SECRET AGENT comes from the first chapter of the first book with the same title. 

Since that day, thanks to the support of most of you, the blog has been getting bigger and better each month and has now reached an amazing 78 000 page views during the first year with a current monthly average of  7 168 viewers a month.

The blogs focus has not only been on news but also on old books and material. Also on the development of making my own James Bond literature collection grow. I believe I have bought over one hundred books since this blog adventure started but not had the time to write about them all yet.

Even if this blog focus on the books (both film and novels) about James Bond I sometimes step outside that formula and write about something else. And the funny thing is that when I did just that, it became the most read blog post of the entire year. The post I am talking about is this one about Blanche Ravalec

In the early start of the first year I got into trouble with one of the authors of massive James Bond book about the films called Some Kind of Hero after writing this blog post but I was later honest about it in this post trying to show you the treats I received.

I have received some criticism for some of the posts most of them being "like I did not already know this". That will continue to happen because we all know different stuff and one of my main goals with this blog is to get none hardcore Bond fans to get curious into the books and feel the need to read especially if you are a teenager and not reading books at all.
But I have received a lot of support as well and I am really thankful for it. Some say that I am personal in the way that I write and that I write it as I see it and that is 100% true. I am a bad liar and have great faith in the truth. If I write that I enjoy something it is because I do. Not because it was sent to me for free. 

One of the true enjoyments when writing this blog is that I have connected to other collectors of Bond novelty. We are not many but a few who collect most of the books. I have learned a lot from others during this year and I am truly grateful for it. Bond knowledge is so fun to share.

So as I see it my task is to make you guys and girls want to read the books. And if you have not done this yet I hope to soon be able to persuade you into doing so and to start with Casino Royale.

I have many ideas for writing upcoming posts. Actually so many so that only half of them gets done. We need to contact the winners of the Trigger Mortis paperback, I need to publish my interview with George Lazenby, we need to read more about the James Bond comics coming up and and we have a new Bond novel from Anthony Horowitz and much much more to come.

The dream for my blog during the upcoming year is to make publishers more interested in working together with the blog when wanting to promote new books that we all will be interested in and start answering my emails instead of ignoring them. 

Hope you are visiting the blog soon again. I am hoping to deliver at least two posts a week. 

Ps. Please remember that English is not my native tongue. I live in Sweden and therefore the will be type errors and poor sentences within my text. Bare with me on this. Also. I have not yet earned a single $ or £ on this blog so please do not believe this is the purpose for the blog. As of today I feel it is more hassle then benefit of having third party advertising on the blog.

Here is to another great book year for James Bond, The Secret Agent.

Stephan Bäckman

World Exclusive: New James Bond drawing by artist Ibrahim Moustafa

A few months back I showed this amazing drawing of James Bond by American artist Ibrahim Mustafa.

Ibrahim specialises in drawing cover paintings for comics and have just finished JAEGER and when I noticed that he was a huge Bond fan and also have read the books I wanted to ask him if he was willing to draw a one month temporary new header for the THE SECRET AGENT blog. And boy was I happy when he said yes.

You can see his drawing below or in the top spot of this blog for the next thirty days. And while you are watching this beauty make sure to notice that James Bond is holding his Beretta  in this image (as Bond uses in the early books).

Ibrahim has also been painting exceptional drawings for each James Bond film that has been released. They are amazing but the best part for me is actually not what he has painted but how he came up with the idea and composition. Just looking at them makes me realise that I would never come up with these ideas and I guess that is were the real talent lies except the drawings. To be able to come up with ideas as cleaver as the once below.

Enjoy the below paintings and If you like them be sure to comment below. Ibrahim has six more to draw so make sure to check out his site and follow him on Twitter. 

I am sure that the day will come when we see Ibrahim's name on an official James Bond comic book or novel. You read it her first.

October 5, global James Bond amateur day!

Since 2012, October 5th has been global James Bond day.

The reason for this date to be chosen is that on October 5 1962 the first James Bond film Dr. No premiered in cinemas in the UK.

And the reason this was announced in 2012 is of course that the film series turned 50 years old that year. James Bond in book form was released much earlier, in 1953 to be exact.

But if you read this chances are high that you are a James Bond nut just like me. May I therefore suggest that you do what I will do.

I got the idea from Italian-American singer Dean Martin who had a reputation of being a heavy drinker. He said that he did not drink alcohol on New years eve because that was amateur night. He drank all the other days during the year.

I have always enjoyed that joke. He knew what people thought of him and he used it.

Therefore, in my world, today is global James Bond amateur day. Today James Bond is celebrated by the common James Bond fan. The fan who has never even read a Ian Fleming book. Rest of the year I intend to enjoy the greatest spy out there.

Happy global James Bond amateur day. Bond fans!

Below is the Ian Fleming, Dr No, Film release tie in version printed in 1963.

New Ian Fleming material to be published at Jonathan Cape

Today it was announced that a new James Bond novel will be released during 2018 and for the second time it will be penned by Anthony Horowitz.

The scoop was presented by The bookseller today over at their twitter account even if I gladly confess that I got the news from the always quick The Book Bond .

The publisher will once again be Jonathan Cape. The original publisher chosen by Ian Fleming for the release of his first book Casino Royale in 1953.
As a collector I am already starting to dream about the upcoming first edition being the same size as all Fleming first editions with a cover design that resembles the old Richard Chopping artworks. "Hope springs eternal".

According to Wikipedia  The James Bond books by Ian Fleming where Jonathan Cape's biggest sellers of all time. Jonathan Cape was bought by Random House UK in 1987. That same year the Bond books moves over to be published by Hodder &Stoughton.

The latest James Bond book to be released by Jonathan Cape was William Boyd's Solo in 2013 so it was not that long ago they did release a Bond book.


Richard Cable at Vintage (who seems to own Jonathan Cape today) said the following in a statement:

"We are delighted to welcome Anthony Horowitz and a new James Bond novel to Jonathan Cape, Ian Fleming’s publisher. Anthony’s first Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, was a great critical and commercial success, and we know that there are thousands of Bond fans who will be thrilled that Anthony has taken on the challenge once again."

As a sales manager I cant stop wondering what made Ian Fleming Publications chose different publishers so often lately. It must be just like the movie business that in the end you go with the one that pays the most upfront or are willing to spend a lot on marketing upon release.


So we will have to wait until spring 2018 before the next book The most reasent James Bond books have been released in September but just like Fleming's books this one will be released in the spring.



Once again it has been revelled that the upcoming novel will be a period Bond set in either the 50's or 60's and if that is not enough the book will also include material from another Ian Fleming story. I guess that just like Trigger Mortis this one will include material from the TV-series that Ian Fleming was hoping to sell and wrote short stories for. Here I hope for yet another Waterstones special edition with they actual Fleming script.



After reading Trigger Mortis I could not hope more for Horowitz to return for a new book and I was a bit surprised that this news was not released on August 12 (the day Fleming died in 1964) because everybody seemed to love his continuation novel so much that Ian Fleming Publications just couldn't let Horowitz off the hook. But I guess the negotiations was not ready or Horowitz had other obligations on his other books. His newest book Magpie Murders was released yesterday (October 3) so as soon as that was done they decided to spread the news I guess making sure that no bloggers beat them to it. 


A funny thing is that tomorrow is Global James Bond day. And they did not wait 24 hours to release the news tomorrow so maybe, just maybe, there will be some other James Bond news released tomorrow? Maybe from the other party over at Eon Productions.

Anthony Horowitz had the following statement to make about his return to 007:

"Writing Trigger Mortis was a pleasure and I was delighted by the positive response when it was published. And I was thrilled when the Ian Fleming estate asked me to come back. How could I refuse? I can't wait to return to the world of James Bond."

I believe I speak for many of us literary Bond fans when I say that

 we are delighted to see Anthony back onboard for a new James Bond novel. This time we know that the offer is placed in good hands and all we can do is wait. No pressure ;0) 

 

James Bonds face is "No more"

I can't say that I remember, back in the 50's and 60's, when the British Pan Book series had glorious covers where you could see Bonds face. The reason I cant remember this is that like most of you, I was not born yet.

I wrote a blog post a few months back saying that I believed that for some reason Ian Fleming Publications did not want to use James Bond's face on a cover. You can read that blog post here!
In that very same blog post I contacted the illustrator for the new US TRIGGER MORTIS paperback edition Patrick Léger but he turned down my suggestion of an interview. I was therefore very happy that Ian Fleming Publications made an interview with Patrick on their updated website under their banner "Agent in the field"

And in this interview I could not be more exited / sadend when I read the following comment from Patrick Legér:

"Not being able to show James Bonds face was an interesting challenge"

 So in other words the offer to do the cover was with limitations. The face was not to be seen.

As a huge James Bond fan and book collector I think this is a bit sad. I think that the reason we were so many who liked the cover for the US paperback was because it was retro and had a drawing with James Bond in it. I can't actually remember when that happened for the last time in theUK!

In the US it was with the release of DEVIL MAY CARE but there, once again, did the painting not show James Bond from the front but from the side with a shadow on his face.
I usually do not collect the US editions of the same book but for DEVIL MAY CARE and TRIGGER MORTIS (paperback) I did collect them just because of the great cover design. And will keep doing so if the covers are great


So in the future it looks like we should not hold our breath while waiting for 007 to show his face on a book cover again. No matter how much we would like it to be there. But we should be very happy that Patrick Léger atleast shared his version of Bonds face with us on the net.

 Patrick Léger own website!

How to take care of your paperback collection

There are many book collectors who have wast amount of paperbacks in their home.

But maybe it is not that common to take good care of your books so that no damage comes to the edges. With a polypropylen sleave your book will look fantastic for many years to come.

I therefore made my first video with my new camera to show you how I wrap my new US TRIGGER MORTIS in a protective sleeve to make it look brand new for a very long time.

Please note that this is my first video I present here and even if it is in 1080p and the music even matches the moment of the film I did not have the correct lightning and therefore I am not satisfied with the resolution. Especially with the closeup in the end.

The protective sleeve that I use is DEC-OPHAN 25 my Polypropylen (Cellofan) from Denmark. Its the same protective sleeve used on flower arrangements.

Below you can see my video uploaded on the blogs YouTube account. Sadly the video is being blocked by YouTube in Germany at the moment.

A total makeover for ianfleming.com

I received an email today from Ian Fleming Publications saying that this morning they released an updated version of their own website ianfleming.com

And when I opened the link on my cellphone at work I saw a new and updated version of the site that I wanted to explore after working hours.

But now that I am home I notice that the website is only updated on the mobile version and not when you use a regular computer. I have checked the link on both Explorer and Firefox and both versions looks like the website used to look.

Maybe they stumbled on some problems today going live, I dont know. UPDATE: You need to press F5 (refresh) to be sure that you see the latest version of the site.

New features on their site beside the updated design is:
- Full detailed Ian Fleming timeline
- James Bond page with brand new graphical slideshow
- Book profile page for all books including new graphic novels and audiobooks
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang dedicated page

In the email from Ian Fleming Publications it said that they would appreciate our help in spreading the new website amongst fans and that line got to me.

It is wrong to hit the hand that feeds you but I need to say a few words about this. The sad thing is that I have emailed Ian Fleming Publications a few times and most of the times they have not bother to answer my questions at all. I have heard that other bloggers have had the same problem.

And may I just say that this is so wrong and might be appropriate in the sixties but not in 2016. I spend ours every week promoting books about our beloved secret agent and my blog posts actually reaches thousands of fans nowadays.
Ian Fleming Publications and other publishers gets all of my time and the time of the blogs readers for free and even so, they don't bother to answer emails that can give them even more publicity.

Ian Fleming Publications says that they do not answer emails from people they do not have a business relationship with. But then they go and email me wishing the blog to highlight that an update has occurred on their website. I would love to make a blog post out of that but at the same time it makes me feel like a young kid that you can trick into  anything you want.

To be quite honest this is just wired and someone at Ian Fleming Publications should pay attention to this problem and have it sorted out. During daytime I work with sales towards cinemas in Sweden and I would never even dream about not supporting the cinemas with whatever they might be needing.

With that said I hope that I have not burnt all bridges now and that when I spend my free time to write a publisher an email, that they will answer. Together we can increase sales of James Bond books and I bring all my time for free to the table.


This blog is reaching 55 000 page views during it's first year.

I had lunch with Peter Burt

Some time ago I had a great opportunity to meet my new friend Peter Burt. Many of you recognize the name but if you dont he's the guy who runs the Facebook group James Bond : COLLECTING JAMES BOND TOYS and MEMORABILIA.

It all started when I got ill in 2014 and had to be home from work for seven months. It was the worst seven month of my life. Most days was horrible and some days were better. I suffered from panic attacks and could get as many as 60 a day. The first three months I stayed in bed. Totally isolated.

But slowly I got better and I decided to try and use the computer again and sell the James Bond collection I started in 1990. I only cared about the books and posters. The rest I could sell.
I found Peter's group on Facebook and made clear that the collection was for sale. I got so many PM's that I had to say stop right away and decide to sell the collection piece by piece.

This is how I came to know Peter and he was a great support during my recovery. Always nice, always polite. Hew was like a brother from another mother.

So in December last year we decided to meet. I flew to London and took the train to Royal Tunbridge Wells were Peter would meet me and we had a great day at Book shop I wanted to visit and then we sat and talked at a resturant for hours.

The friendship remains and when I went to London again I decided to take the train to his home town Deal and look at some of his collection and have lunch.

Peter had been very kind and was able to let me have some books sent to him instead of all the way to Sweden. The difference in postage per book is £10 so just by doing this it paid for the train ticket from London.

We had a lovely fish and chips and then we looked at the clock repair shop where he worked. He had hundreds of James Bond collectibles on display but also many collectables from horror films and the British music scene from the 70-80.

As a token of my appreciation of him being there for me during my recovery I gave him a first edition print of the Swedish Ian Fleming book ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. Below you can see the book cover and a great photo of two Bond fans who happened to meet over Facebook. The lives we live today with internet and social media is so far away from the loneliness we experienced back in the day before internet when many of us started collecting. We never felt the loneliness due to the interest in all things Bond. But for our parents it must have looked quite lonely.