by Mark Simmons | Jun 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Gavin Lyall Gavin Lyall was born in Birmingham in 1932. He completed National Service 1951-1953 as a pilot officer in the RAF flying Gloster Meteors, after that he went to Cambridge and graduated in 1956 with honours in English. He went on to write for several...
by Mark Simmons | Jun 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
James Bond Where did 007’s name come from? According to C.H. Forster of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, on hearing from Ian Fleming toward the end of World War II that he was writing a book, he asked how he would choose the characters names. Fleming, he says,...
by Mark Simmons | May 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Meeting at Hendaye The small far south westerly French town of Hendaye is the last stop on the Franco-Spanish railway line from Paris-Madrid before the border. Its palm tree lined waterfront lapped by Atlantic rollers to the west and to the east tower the mountains of...
by Mark Simmons | May 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
Out of the trip came my book: The Serpent & the Cross. The great Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) road race was held twenty four times 1927-1957 with a gap during World War II. The race continues today as an historic classic car event. https://1000miglia.it...
by Mark Simmons | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
by Mark Simmons | May 7, 2023 | Uncategorized
Is the character of James Bond 007 based on anybody? Many people have been put forward as models. We can be fairly certain what Ian Fleming felt he looked like because he tells us. In Casino Royale his doomed girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, says to Rene Mathis of the French...