The big one-double-oh
JAMES BOND fans can celebrate creator Fleming's centennial with series of events in London
LONDON -- It's a big year for Bond. James Bond. Everyone's favorite martini-swigging, sex-crazed, gadget-wielding spy is back on the big screen in the latest 007 flick, "Quantum of Solace," which opens Friday.
Earlier this year, British writer Sebastian Faulks came out with a new Bond novel, Devil May Care (Doubleday, $24.95). It hit stores on May 28 -- the day Fleming would have turned 100 years old, had the smoking, drinking bon vivant not succumbed to a heart attack at age 56.
(AP)
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To celebrate the centennial of Fleming's birth, the Imperial War Museum in London has put together the first major exhibit devoted to the life and work of the man who gave us the world's most famous secret agent. "For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond" is a fascinating look at the author, his fictional character and the blurry line separating the two.
The exhibit artfully illustrates how much the Bond books were shaped by Fleming's wartime work in naval intelligence, his stint as a travel writer, an insatiable thirst for women and an equally big appetite for the finer things in life (the one exception being scrambled eggs, Fleming's favorite food). It features Bond memorabilia on display for the first time, from Halle Berry's teeny bikini in "Die Another Day" to Goldfinger's golf shoes. Other interesting nuggets include Fleming's desk and chair from his Jamaican retreat, Goldeneye, where he wrote all 14 of his Bond novels, and the manuscript of the children's classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written by Fleming for his son Caspar.
Admission to the exhibit, running through March 1, costs $12.50 (www.iwm.org.uk/007).
A visit to the Imperial War Museum is just one of the ways to Bond in London.
Have dinner surrounded by 007 props and posters in the Bond Room at Planet Hollywood, just off Piccadilly Circus. Enter the dining room through the barrel of a Walther PPK, just like the opening sequence in classic Bond films.
Or head to the tony shopping strip of Savile Row, where Fleming and Bond had their suits tailored. (Savile Row is mentioned in "Dr. No.") Bond du jour Daniel Craig gets kitted out here, too.
Take a James Bond walking tour led by guide Simon Rodway (www.silvercanetours.com). You'll drop by Fleming's birthplace and an intimate bar in the posh St. James neighborhood where Fleming frequently downed his beloved martinis. This cozy, old-school bar -- reportedly the inspiration for the "shaken, not stirred" line -- is part of the luxurious Dukes Hotel, which is celebrating a 100-year anniversary of its own.
Tucked away on a quiet courtyard in the heart of London, the recently renovated, 90-room boutique hotel has a "Bond About Town" weekend package starting around $700 for two people (www.dukeshotel.com; (800-381-4702.) It includes a one-night stay with late checkout, a full English breakfast, a three-course dinner, a Miss Moneypenny manicure for her and, for him, a wet shave at Trueffit & Hill, where nearby resident Prince Charles gets groomed.
The best part of the package: The Dukes' longtime bar manager, Alessandro, shows you how to make Bond's Vesper martini. And you get to drink it in the same spot Fleming did more than half a century ago.
For more information, go to www.visitlondon.com.