Have you ever wondered where the name James Bond came from? As with so many aspects of the Bond stories there are numerous theories to its origins. Perhaps the most popular is one where Ian Flemming sits down to pen his first of many Bond titles and quite simply lifts the name from a title on his bookshelf. The book in question was "A field Guide to Birds of the West Indies" by James Bond. Flemming was fascinated with wildlife and said to have been an avid bird watcher.
There is a clever homage to the origins of the name in the film "Die Another Day" starring Pierce Brosnan. In one scene Bond is seen hiding behind a copy of the Field Guide of West Indian Birds, disguising himself as an Ornithologist or bird watcher. Flemming was said to have reported in an interview years after writing the Bond titles that he always intended the character to have a brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon though masculine name. He felt it suited his anonymity.
The codename 007 is thought to have had a far simpler inception. One of the greatest successes of British Naval Intelligence in the 1st World War was the breaking of the code in the famed Zimmerman telegram in 1917. This single event is thought to have been a catalyst for the United States to enter the war and seal Germany's fate.
There is a clever homage to the origins of the name in the film "Die Another Day" starring Pierce Brosnan. In one scene Bond is seen hiding behind a copy of the Field Guide of West Indian Birds, disguising himself as an Ornithologist or bird watcher. Flemming was said to have reported in an interview years after writing the Bond titles that he always intended the character to have a brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon though masculine name. He felt it suited his anonymity.
The codename 007 is thought to have had a far simpler inception. One of the greatest successes of British Naval Intelligence in the 1st World War was the breaking of the code in the famed Zimmerman telegram in 1917. This single event is thought to have been a catalyst for the United States to enter the war and seal Germany's fate.
