DR NO Aug 12th

always shakenalways 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
By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
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Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I'm no expert but given Fleming's imagination and sometimes his
    " 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 ? :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    You know how to have Breakfast AS -{

    Give me my Bacon, Eggs and Toast with a bit of Marmalade any day :))
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    You know how to have Breakfast AS -{

    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,
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Don't they say,
    Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, Dine like a Pauper :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    Don't they say,
    Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, Dine like a Pauper :D

    The French say ,if you want to eat well in England ,eat breakfast, :)
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    You simply can't beat a Big Greasy Fry up. :x Ummm !!!!!!!!! :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    ok gang enough of the breakfast menu :) does any one know (1) what typewriter I.F used, and (2) what happened to it after he died ?
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    edited November 2015
    Well for the record 12 August 1954 was a Thursday, but as Dr. No was published by Jonathan Cape in 1958, I assume that Fleming wrote it the year before, 1957, and not 1956 as you surmise, dear always shaken. This still does not of course explain why Fleming plumbed for a date in 1954 as that was when Moonraker was set. I can only assume that Fleming got mixed up or more likely that he threw caution to the wind as Thunderpussy says above. In fact I'd started typing out this post even before reading Thunderpussy's post so that we both independently arrived at this conclusion should tell you something of its likelihood. As Thunderpussy says above Fleming was never what you might call a stickler for detail or fact checking and his novels are filled with errors when it comes to dates and times so it is probably best not to scrutinise them too much or the whole thing falls apart. Heck, even John Gardner made mistakes about dates in his Bond continuation novels, such as Death is Forever and my favourite of his, Never Send Flowers, being set in the same year and at the same time, namely 1992, even though they were published a year apart! So I think that Fleming was not alone in this regard and it is fiction not fact after all and I suppose that anything goes... :) -{

    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... :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    edited August 2014
    ok gang enough of the breakfast menu :) does any one know (1) what typewriter I.F used, and (2) what happened to it after he died ?


    "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:

    royale-gold-1953-typewriter.jpg

    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. :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • The Domino EffectThe Domino Effect Posts: 3,631MI6 Agent
    Lucky b*gger. Hope he's still got it. He's such a classy guy, Pierce, that I can't even envy him owning it.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    edited August 2014
    Lucky b*gger. Hope he's still got it. He's such a classy guy, Pierce, that I can't even envy him owning it.

    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...
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    well done SM ,just one question did the type writer already come gold plated, or did Ian get it blinged up?
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • CmdrAtticusCmdrAtticus United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
    well done SM ,just one question did the type writer already come gold plated, or did Ian get it blinged up?


    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).
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    well done SM ,just one question did the type writer already come gold plated, or did Ian get it blinged up?


    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. :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • TecoloteTecolote Mississippi,USAPosts: 121MI6 Agent
    I'm sorry, but I am very confused. I thought most of DR NO took place in March: Certainly chapter 2 ,Choice of Weapons takes on a nasty March 1st,three weeks after Strangways and Trueblood are killed, and Bond apparently gets to Jamaica rather quickly.

    Don't get me wrong; I love August. My wife and I just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on the 14th :) .

    Regards,

    Tecolote
  • JamesBondBlogJamesBondBlog USAPosts: 34MI6 Agent
    edited September 2014
    I must be losing my mind. I see no reference in DR NO chapter 11 (AMIDST THE ALIEN CANE) to the date of August 12th.

    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:
    Fleming explicitly placed From Russia With Love in 1954 because he stressed in the whole of its chapter 13 that chapter 13's events took place on Friday, August 13. Although this is a fictional chronology, explicit dates that can be derived in a day of the week, month, day form - and correlate to a real calendar year and are constantly repeated in the narrative and by multiple characters are accepted as being valid.

    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.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    {[] Thanks for clearing that up, JamesBondBlog. -{

    We'll put it down to all the drugs Always Shaken did in his Hippy days. :p :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    Yes, thanks indeed, James Bond Blog! I do recall now that you mention it that passage being mentioned in The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson and that it was for FRWL.... :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    I took DR NO, with me on holiday, now obviously due to film ,had some idea of what to expect from my new book (£1-50 on Amazon) :D . MY opinion, :) it seems that the book is about the world price /demand for bird crap 8-) .and how various people are bumped off ,in its monetary value protection. It took me 2 days to read cover to cover, you cant stop,you have to keep turning those pages over.The numerous gin and tonics with lime, the smell of bacon,coffee, was just overpowering.
    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 :#. But a fantastic read non the less.
    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 :))
    RIU_KARAMBOA_SEPT_061.jpg
    The guy in the shop said ,wear these sir ,and you will have birds all over you, im not sure what he meant :) :)
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    Well done AS -{ Dr No is a superb Novel.
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    +1, Dr No is a great holiday read. {[]
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • mpoplawskimpoplawski New Jersey, USAPosts: 128MI6 Agent
    I am reading it right now too. Just at the last chapter. I agree with Always Shaken. It is a great read. The descriptions from cold rainy London; the flight; the sights of Jamaica; and of course the adventures on Crab Key are just great fun. Upon reading this book again I have to say it is one of my favorites of the series.

    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.
    Bond: "But who would want to kill me, sir?"
    M: "Jealous husbands, outraged chefs, humiliated tailors . . . the list is endless."
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I still cringe reading the bit with the centipede :o when it's
    Deciding whether to make a nest on Bond's love sausage ! :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • always shakenalways shaken LondonPosts: 6,287MI6 Agent
    I still cringe reading the bit with the centipede :o when it's
    Deciding whether to make a nest on Bond's love sausage ! :D

    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 :#
    By the way, did I tell you, I was "Mad"?
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    :)) Yes, Fleming had a talent for giving his leading ladies, a grand entrance ! :D
    ( This is not a Pussy Galore, joke ! ) ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • CmdrAtticusCmdrAtticus United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
    40_leg.jpg

    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.


    249847_10205111571937920_3552503853697142162_n.jpg
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Very informative CmdrAtticus {[] but even those photos of them
    Creep me out ! :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    There no Match for the bottom of my DC Trainers :))
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
  • CmdrAtticusCmdrAtticus United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
    Fleming was sort of like Stephen King...he was great at depicting things that creep us out.
  • AlphaOmegaSinAlphaOmegaSin EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
    Yes -{ The Squid as well
    1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
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