Classic Bond Forum

Hi everyone,

I'd like to start by saying that I'm trying to understand the historical background of the JB novels. Fleming's biographies were unfortunately not sufficient when it comes to providing information about the dynamics of international relations of the 1950s and 60s.
I was wondering whether you have ever thought about listing three real-life political/historical events from the 1950s/60s which could be treated as the background of the original series and which would also prove Bond's growing popularity at that time.
If you asked me i'd say: the Profumo affair, the infamous Cambridge five and ... i have the problem with the third one but i hope to think of sth soon.
The Profumo scandal, to me, could have been a nice base for a Bond novel with its dirty tricks of getting British secret information, the beautiful girls and the handsome spy.
Would you agree?

all best
nano

Fleming liked to drop in references to real people and events, in order to give his books an added veracity. Dropping Ursula Andress's name in OHMSS is probably my favourite. I think basing a story on something like the Profumo scandal might be a little too on-the-nose, though. It'd be a bit like one of those Law & Order episodes where people say "This is just like what happened at Duke University a month or two back, but different, honest".