You read that right. I am about to take you inside the most intimate chamber of Ian Fleming’s domicile. But before I do so, enjoy three rare photos of Mr. F.
First, a rare color photo of Ian, from Redbook:
A brief q&a from Tatler:
A rare and rather wonderful photo, also from Tatler, which shows Fleming at his most debonair and dissipated:
Now we will step into Ian Fleming’s bedroom. These photos are from Robert Harling’s Vogue profile of the Flemings. We begin with a wide shot of the room:
Now let’s take at his “oddments”:
And mementos of his heroes:
Finally, we arrive at the bookshelf:
You’re probably wondering what house this bedroom is from. The answer is Fleming’s home at 16 Victoria Square (SW1), his last London residence, where he lived from 1953, right before the publication of Casino Royale, to his death in 1964. Ian’s bedroom and study was on the top floor. It was this house that was intended to receive a Blue Plaque. Unfortunately, Ann had sold the property in 1973, and the succeeding owner refused permission to erect the plaque. It was instead placed on Fleming’s Ebury Street residence in Belgravia. A pity, because Fleming stayed at the Victoria Square for a much longer time. Here’s a picture of 16 Victoria Square, taken by yours truly:
The house is a private residence and thus not open to the public.
Let’s wrap up with two more photos. Moving from Fleming to his creation, here’s an illustration for a 1964 printing of “Risico” in Rave Magazine:
As you can see, Connery was by now the face of the literary Bond. He also appears in this advertisement from a 1963 issue of Tatler:
Hope you enjoyed the photos. Now you can truthfully say you’ve looked around Ian Fleming’s bedroom!