The Man Who Supercharged Bond: biography of Amherst Villiers
Paul Kenny
Teddington, Middlesex, UKPosts: 3MI6 Agent
My biography of Ian Fleming's great friend, Amherst Villiers, The Man Who Supercharged Bond, has just been published by Haynes.
Chapter 15, 'Bond Drove it Hard and Well', is the one you may be most interested in. It covers:
- the first three Bond novels, in which 007's 'only personal hobby' is a Blower Bentley (the car Amherst supercharged)
- the portrait of Fleming painted by Amherst
- how Amherst influenced the design of the literary Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- why the Tobias Menzies character in the movie Casino Royale is named Villiers
On the cover is Loomis Deans' famous image of Fleming sitting in a Blower:
Other Fleming-related images in the book include:
- Ian in his London study in March 1958, a week before the sixth novel, Dr No, was published
- the cover of Adventure No. 1 of Chitty
- the original 'Chitty' racing car at Brooklands in 1921
- a shot of Tobias Menzies' Villiers from the moview Casino Royale
Amherst's links to Fleming and Bond take up but 5,000 words in a 100,000 word biography of an Anglo-American man who lived an extremely full life over 91 years. The rest of the book takes in his cousin Winston Churchill, his work on Bugatti's, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, his design of Malcolm Campbell's first world land speed record breaking Bluebird, and his missiles, rockets, gyros and portraiture.
The book is available on-line and from good book shops. If you would like a personally-dedicated copy, please go to
http://www.themanwhosuperchargedbond.com/purchase/, and I should be happy to oblige.
Happy reading!
Paul
Chapter 15, 'Bond Drove it Hard and Well', is the one you may be most interested in. It covers:
- the first three Bond novels, in which 007's 'only personal hobby' is a Blower Bentley (the car Amherst supercharged)
- the portrait of Fleming painted by Amherst
- how Amherst influenced the design of the literary Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- why the Tobias Menzies character in the movie Casino Royale is named Villiers
On the cover is Loomis Deans' famous image of Fleming sitting in a Blower:
Other Fleming-related images in the book include:
- Ian in his London study in March 1958, a week before the sixth novel, Dr No, was published
- the cover of Adventure No. 1 of Chitty
- the original 'Chitty' racing car at Brooklands in 1921
- a shot of Tobias Menzies' Villiers from the moview Casino Royale
Amherst's links to Fleming and Bond take up but 5,000 words in a 100,000 word biography of an Anglo-American man who lived an extremely full life over 91 years. The rest of the book takes in his cousin Winston Churchill, his work on Bugatti's, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, his design of Malcolm Campbell's first world land speed record breaking Bluebird, and his missiles, rockets, gyros and portraiture.
The book is available on-line and from good book shops. If you would like a personally-dedicated copy, please go to
http://www.themanwhosuperchargedbond.com/purchase/, and I should be happy to oblige.
Happy reading!
Paul
Paul Kenny
http://www.themanwhosuperchargedbond.com
http://www.themanwhosuperchargedbond.com