DR NO Aug 12th
always shaken
LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
Sitting down to breakfast this morning , double espresso, little scarlet strawberry jam ect,
I reached for my dog eared copy of DR NO,straight to chapter 11,page 134 ,
Now DR NO was penned in 1956, now on the 2nd paragraph Flemming clearly states August the 12th as a Thursday? now in 1956 that day was a Sunday ? I don't know which year DN was meant to be set (TP and SM help out here please)
but did I.F. pluck Aug 12th out of the air? certainly in the English gentlemans calendar
the 12th (glorious 12th) is the start of the grouse shooting season, perhaps he was hankering for a roast grouse dinner that night ? while banging away on his typewriter ?but as (as we all know) Ian died on the 12th of August I found it a tinsey bit spooky,
comments please
I reached for my dog eared copy of DR NO,straight to chapter 11,page 134 ,
Now DR NO was penned in 1956, now on the 2nd paragraph Flemming clearly states August the 12th as a Thursday? now in 1956 that day was a Sunday ? I don't know which year DN was meant to be set (TP and SM help out here please)
but did I.F. pluck Aug 12th out of the air? certainly in the English gentlemans calendarthe 12th (glorious 12th) is the start of the grouse shooting season, perhaps he was hankering for a roast grouse dinner that night ? while banging away on his typewriter ?but as (as we all know) Ian died on the 12th of August I found it a tinsey bit spooky,
comments please
By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
Comments
" easy come, easy go" attitude to facts. I'd say he just plucked the date
Out of the air. As AS points out it is the start of the grouse season. So
Fleming may have used it as a metaphor for Bond starting a hunt of his
Own ?
Give me my Bacon, Eggs and Toast with a bit of Marmalade any day
don't get me wrong my fave brekkie is
2xeggs (fried)
2xbacon
2xsausages,(and not those awfull Richmond things)
black pudding,tinned plum tomatoes,
fried bread
hash browns or a bit of bubble
beans
mushrooms
tea, grapefruit juice,brown sauce,english mustard,black pepper,
Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, Dine like a Pauper
The French say ,if you want to eat well in England ,eat breakfast,
Now on the 12 August point more generally, and disregarding for a minute what year in the 1950s Dr. No is set (I'd wager that it's 1957, the year before publication of Dr. No, by the way, as most of the Bonds by Fleming were meant to be set the year before publication, i.e. the year in which they were actually written) I think Fleming's choice of that year is probably deliberate and let me now explain why. As some of you have said 12 August is the start of the Grouse Shooting Season called the Glorious Twelfth and this is of course regulated by the set of Acts of Parliament known as the Game Laws which are still largely in effect to this present day. Now Ian Fleming was interestingly (as the scion of a Scottish hunting family) very much anti-hunting in nature - and by hunting I am referring to shooting grouse or pheasants as well as fox-hunting. There is evidence of his anti-hunting stance in 'The Hildebrand Rarity' short story and in his non-fiction Thrilling Cities (1963). Another reason (perhaps more likely, though Thunderpussy's comment that it was the start of Bond's manhunt for Dr. No is rather neat) is that 12 August 1952 was in fact his son Caspar Fleming's (1952-1975) birthday and he may have simply chosen that date for that reason, plus rather spookily (given he's not Nostradamus) that was the very day he died on in 1964, but he was not to know that of course. As Charlie Higson no less noted in a profile of Ian Fleming written in 2008 for The Guardian, it was most ironic that Fleming died on the Glorious Twelfth given his aversion to hunting and shooting defenceless animals with whom he rather made common cause.
Hope something there helps...
"On May 5, 1995, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan paid £56,250 for Fleming’s gold-plated 1952 Royal Quiet DeLuxe portable typewriter (above, and Fleming with it in top image), after fierce bidding at an auction at Christie’s South Kensington rooms in London."
Picture of Ian Fleming's typewriter here:
Source:
http://oztypewriter.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/on-this-day-in-typewriter-history-viii.html
Pierce Brosnan was not revealed as the "mystery buyer" until much later, after he had finished playing Bond in fact.
Again, I hope that helps.
Yes, I would think Pierce still has it and it would probably be worth much more if it were to come on the market nowadays...
If I recall correctly, the company had it made for him on his request (they were not about to turn down that kind of famous free advertising).
I believe you are correct, yes.
Don't get me wrong; I love August. My wife and I just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on the 14th
Regards,
Tecolote
Actually I see no reference to the month of August in the entire book.
What am I missing?
EDIT: It's From Russia With Love you're reading.
Chapter 11: At 7:30 on the morning of Thursday, August 12th, Bond awoke in his comfortable flat in the plane-tree'd square off the King's Road.
But we still have the same (apparent) problem of the year.
This is how John Griswold explains it:
In other words, all other mentioned dates in the book match up with it being set in 1954, regardless of the year of writing or publishing. This year is corroborated by the timelines of other characters in the book.
Twitter: @FlemingsBond
We'll put it down to all the drugs Always Shaken did in his Hippy days.
Luckily for me I had access to these at the hotel ,so I could join in while I read (try it) .Flemmings residency in Jamaica has been put to great use in his descriptiveness of his adopted home,they really do speak like that , me wunt to buy a horange at, 8-) .I would like to buy a orange hat
The one detail that did slightly not go down to well ,was Bonds fight with the giant squid (wot squid I hear some cry)
now these veracious monsters of the deep would tear you too shreds,as soon as look at you. For Bond to fight it off
with a humble dinner knife ,was a bit hmmmm for me
I left my book in the hotel library, for others too enjoy. It went in 5 hours ,now some one is laying on the sun kissed beaches of Boa vista, reading my book .I wonder if one day we get a new member saying hi guys I read DN on holiday ,can I join your club .lets see .Now my next book will be TB ,I know ive jumped MR ,but my blue TB espadrills tell me to go and get it
The guy in the shop said ,wear these sir ,and you will have birds all over you, im not sure what he meant
Yes, the battle with the squid is somewhat ridiculous, but the descriptions are fantastic. Reminiscent of the feeling while watching "Jaws." The huge body of the squid below the surface, the eyes peering at you and of course the tentacles rising out of the water and grabbing Bond. Turn brain off - enjoy.
M: "Jealous husbands, outraged chefs, humiliated tailors . . . the list is endless."
Deciding whether to make a nest on Bond's love sausage !
Oh I hated that bit, you can see why they changed it to a tarantula, (can you train a tarantula )? at least they are not
poisonous 8-) and why they didn't have Honeychile naked in the film like the book ,will remain one of the film worlds biggest loses
( This is not a Pussy Galore, joke ! )
This image is a centipede taken by someone in Jamaica. They call them "40 legs" there. It's certainly the type that was in Dr. No. They are common, especially around areas of garbage. The sting is painful and it normally won't kill you, but here is a bit of info from the National Center for Biotechnology Information website:
Data concerning the morbidity and mortality possibly attributed to centipedes are scarce. Only three deaths due to centipedes have been reported worldwide. Most common symptoms following envenomation are severe pain, local tissue swelling, redness, swollen and painful lymph nodes, headache, palpitations, nausea, vomiting, and anxiety. The most commonly affected body parts are the hands and feet. A localised, about 10×10cm area may be found at the sting site initially. The wounds are typically small punctures and may exhibit small haemorrhagic vesicles. Mild local bleeding is common but transient. The site of envenomation may become ulcerated and necrotic. Secondary infection and local necrosis can occur.
This was within an article titled "Acute myocardial infarction in a young man caused by centipede sting". In other words, the venom gave him a heart attack.
As much as Bond got literature about toxins and the like at work, I can understand his terror at having that thing in his bed! I saw one outside here in Florida and I would take the sight of a common black snake over that any day. I actually have a fascination with snakes, but bugs...no thanks. Like Warden Gad Hassan in The Mummy says...."Look for BUGS, I HATE bugs".
Bond's experience could have been worse...he could have ended up with something like this had NO thought to import it:
The giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) can be found in regions of South America and the Caribbean and can grow up to 30 cm.[1] The centipedes are voracious carnivores that feed on small animals like worms and snails and even toads and mice. What is most interesting about giant centipedes is how some of them have also adapted to preying on bats as well.
In a paper [2] written based on observations in a Venezuelan cave, the researchers observed how these centipedes were able to prey on airborne bats by hanging upside-down from the ceiling to capture them.
Creep me out !