Book Notes: The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into The Disturbing World Of James Bond

October 8th, 2007

By Simon Winder

A few months ago, I challenged myself to watch all the James Bond films… and so did the author of The Man Who Saved Britain, however he did it as a result of growing up in England. This thoroughly entertaining book is a simultaneous memoir, history tome, and James Bond tribute. It attempts to place the suave spy in British history, claiming that the popularity largely stemmed from how the British empire — spanning multiple nations worldwide and with a technologically superior fighting force — fell apart after World War II, and looking for something to believe in, latched onto the macho myth that is Bond.

As the Cold War descended, waning British power put forth a different sort of hero that displayed individual initiative and traveled the world to exotic places for action and adventure, proving the English were still necessary at least for working behind the scenes — no huge government with massive military force required. So England had a sixties spy craze: The Avengers, Danger Man, and Bond.

The author has an extremely vibrant writing style, weaving childhood anecdotes between the history and pop culture references. He’s also charmingly unafraid to admit problems with his thesis. At one point he claims author Ian Fleming wrote about a nude woman’s “black triangle” that the author held as a fond memory for many years, only to find out while researching this book that he had it wrong all along and Fleming wrote no such thing.

I found Winder’s recounting of British history fascinating. Early this century, the British Empire reigned supreme over many nations resulting in bizarre imported knick-knacks like a stuffed cobra fighting a mongoose, brass talismans, and maroon rugs stuffed into every British home. But during both World Wars, British military might was clearly checked and help from the Allies was essential to avoid becoming a German colony. Simultaneously, there was an elite, moneyed upper class in England that was completely inept in terms of physical force, they would be helpful with nutty campaigns as vigilantes. Being wealthy, they were never in any danger of being deployed to the front lines. It’s from this bizarre situation that James Bond author Ian Fleming came from.

The war was good to Fleming, tapping his imagination, forcing him to work within discipline. Fleming schemed, plotted, and carried out dangerous missions. From the famous Room 39 in the Admiralty building in London’s Whitehall, Fleming tossed out a myriad of off-beat ideas on how to confuse, survey, and enrage the Germans.

In a 1940 trip into a crumbling France, Fleming supervised the escape from Dieppe, juggling the security needs of his country against the crush of refugees seeking escape from the Nazi machine. With Fleming flair, he spent one of his last evening eating and drinking some of the best food in the country, and one of his last days coordinating the evacuation of King Zog of Albania.

The book suggests that after the war, as the British Empire collapsed, Fleming departed to Jamaica and wrote many of the Bond novels, reliving spy adventures that weren’t really possible anymore. It was a fantasy of a British man being able to wander the globe, comfortable in all situations, living a life of material luxury and political utility. But the dark side of empire is under the surface — the sexism, alcoholism, gluttony, moral ambiguity, and the racist view of a world to be exploited.

Yes, the book isn’t afraid to poke holes in Bond when it’s deserved. Winder claims Fleming’s best book is From Russia With Love while others like Moonraker are completely worthless. He’s similarly critical of the movies — a huge fan of the Sean Connery classics but feels that when Roger Moore takes over, the film’s fly off on some tangent completely unrelated to the original books. Moonraker is specifically singled out as a feeble attempt to cash in on Star Wars, and several times he heaps condemnation on the Die Another Day, in particular the debacle of the invisible car.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in James Bond or British history in general, I recommend checking out this book. Just due to the amusing writing style of Winder I finished it pretty quickly.