Brainstorming a James Bond campaign

[Agemegos]

1. What might Bond have been doing between 1963 and 1978?

Possibly he returned to service with the Royal Navy. Possibly joined Felix Lieter as a PI not for Pinkertons but rather with their own agency and operating internationally. Another posiblity is working as a consultant with many friendly agencies, not MI-6 for the reasons detailed below.

All good suggestions. I am particularly taken with the idea that he might have set up a PI firm with Leiter and perhaps other old contacts.

Where should they be based? Jamaica? Hong Kong? Washington? Monte Carlo?

If he were to return to service with the RN, what do you think he might do? He is not enough of a seaman to command a ship, and he wouldn't be a lot of good as anyone's first lieutenant. Naval Intelligence, perhaps? Or something to do with the SBS?

3. What new arrangements and focus might a man like Bond introduce in the late 1970s?

Well first off he would bring back the 00 section which Sir Maurice (at the suggestion of his old chum) abolished in 1965. Bond would expand operations back up to full strength as Sir Maurice had been cutting things to the bone for years.

Good thought. My researches have brought me across several suggestions that the SIS (MI6, the Service, etc.) got bogged down in bureaucratic inertia in the 70s.

4. Is there anything in what I have specified that you think could be improved?

Just one thing, Bond was born in 1920 not 1918. on Armistice Day November 11th in Germany

This is arguable, since Fleming continually updated Bond's implicit biography to keep him abreast of the times and continually in his late prime (ie. young enough to do the job, old enough to be jaded about it--about 37) over the ten or twelve years in which he wrote the stories. The result is that from the evidence in the books one can argue any of several dates of birth from 1918 to about 1930. Some punters are very keen on 1923. The result is that I can defensibly pick a date to tune Sir James' age in my campaign date.

And speaking of a campaign date, I am toying with the idea to slip on year back, and have Sir James appointed by Margaret Thatcher on her first day in Number Ten.

Check out John Pearson's James Bond the authorized biography of 007 it's long out of print but you might be able to get a copy at your library or online at ebay.

I'll see whether the Inter-Library Loan Service can dig it out for me. The National Library of Australia ought to have a copy.

[Killer Shrike]

Moonraker. 1st chapter.

But now that I've told you I have to kill you. Sorry about that old boy.

Psst...I anticipated that and used a false identity. Watch your back; I could be anybody

[TheImperialKhan]

All good suggestions. I am particularly taken with the idea that he might have set up a PI firm with Leiter and perhaps other old contacts.

Where should they be based? Jamaica? Hong Kong? Washington? Monte Carlo?

If he were to return to service with the RN, what do you think he might do? He is not enough of a seaman to command a ship, and he wouldn't be a lot of good as anyone's first lieutenant. Naval Intelligence, perhaps? Or something to do with the SBS?

I was thinking Paris but Jamaica is also good and so is Monte Carlo. I don't think it would be Washington but that mainly because I see Bond as based primarily in Europe. As for Hong Kong neither one speak any oriental languages which would put them at a handicap.

In the Navy I like the idea of the SBS best, although Naval Intelligence would let him keep his hand in the business making it easier for Thatcher to tap him to head up the Service. He could then move from field work to analysis to head of a department. BTW according to Pearson, Bond pulled about a year of Destroyer duty as a young lieutenant in 1940 before being moved into Naval Intelligence at the request of one Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming, RNVR.

Good thought. My researches have brought me across several suggestions that the SIS (MI6, the Service, etc.) got bogged down in bureaucratic inertia in the 70s.

It was a time of budget cuts everywhere as I recall. So why not the Secret Service as well.

This is arguable, since Fleming continually updated Bond's implicit biography to keep him abreast of the times and continually in his late prime (ie. young enough to do the job, old enough to be jaded about it--about 37) over the ten or twelve years in which he wrote the stories. The result is that from the evidence in the books one can argue any of several dates of birth from 1918 to about 1930. Some punters are very keen on 1923. The result is that I can defensibly pick a date to tune Sir James' age in my campaign date.

And speaking of a campaign date, I am toying with the idea to slip on year back, and have Sir James appointed by Margaret Thatcher on her first day in Number Ten.

It's your campaign, Agemegos, do whatever you're comfortable with. Personally I think his jaded outlook has more to do with his experiences than his age. And I like the idea of Thatcher appointing him. I think it would fit her policies better.

I'll see whether the Inter-Library Loan Service can dig it out for me. The National Library of Australia ought to have a copy.

Enjoy. It's an interesting book supposedly takes place in 1973 so it might be useful for what you're doing.

[TheImperialKhan]

Psst...I anticipated that and used a false identity. Watch your back; I could be anybody

Psst... I don't wear all this armor just because it looks cool you know.

[ChuckB]

<<less those of the movies >>

What ? No orbital laser cannons controlled from a command-base located in an active volcano and protected by giant metal-toothed henchmen and hat-throwing assassins who also serve as bodyguards for a mastermind who loves furry cats and whose office is right in the middle of a shark-filled aquarium ?

You realize how silly you sound ?

[Agemegos]

You realize how silly you sound ?

[shamefaced]
I have a pretty good idea
[/shamefaced]

[Agemegos]

I was thinking Paris but Jamaica is also good and so is Monte Carlo. I don't think it would be Washington but that mainly because I see Bond as based primarily in Europe.

Two of the novels are set largely in Jamaica, of course, and You Only Live Twice and The Man with the Golden Gun have large sections set in the Orient. But Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Goldfinger have substantial parts set in the USA.

Bond is largely a European operative, I agree. But I think he might go to the US to help his friend Leiter. And Leiter's agency contacts might survive the Johnson and Nixon years better that Bond's Service contacts would under the atmosphere we suppose to exist in Britain. Moreover, ten years or more living in DC, dong occasional bits of work for the CIA would give Bond contacts that would look good to Thatcher in 1979.

As for Hong Kong neither one speak any oriental languages which would put them at a handicap.

One of the exra-canonical sources gave Bond a degree in Oriental Languages from Cambridge, but I consider it out of character.

In the Navy I like the idea of the SBS best,

By the age of 45 Bond will be a bit too old to go messing about in boats, but he would be a handy man for training the SBS and directing especially M squadron. But on the whole I can't say I like the idea of Bond becoming a Royal Marines officer, so perhaps it would be better to leave him in Naval Intelligence and give him a job that involves co-operation with the SBS.

although Naval Intelligence would let him keep his hand in the business making it easier for Thatcher to tap him to head up the Service.

Yes. Another advantage is that this would let me push him up to Captain or Rear Admiral.

BTW according to Pearson, Bond pulled about a year of Destroyer duty as a young lieutenant in 1940 before being moved into Naval Intelligence at the request of one Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming, RNVR.

Fleming is quite explicit that Bond was RNVR, not RN. A lot of RNVR types were put into anti-submarine operations early in the war (my father among them), but they were mostly pretty inexperienced (professional seamen in the reserves were RNR, not RNVR--the two were merged in 1958). Recalling that a naval lieutenant is significantly more senior than an army lieutenant, and usually occupies an important position on a small ship, Bond would have had to be something special to be both young and a lieutenant RNVR. According to Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea, the prerequisites for a [routine] promotion from sublieutenant RNVR to lieutenant RNVR were three month's service at sea and a minimum age of 28 years.

It was a time of budget cuts everywhere as I recall. So why not the Secret Service as well.

Indeed. And a combination of budget cuts and bureaucratic pettifoggery would irk Bond intensely.

Enjoy. It's an interesting book supposedly takes place in 1973 so it might be useful for what you're doing.

Indeed it might. I haven't had any luck yet borrowing a copy, so I ordered one from a second-hand book dealer in San Francisco. It ought to be here in six weeks.

[Twilight]

One of the exra-canonical sources gave Bond a degree in Oriental Languages from Cambridge, but I consider it out of character.

The movie in question was You Only Live Twice and wasn't that based on the book of the same name? At any rate, it's unlikely Bond wouldn't know any Oriental languages as the British Secret Service would've made sure to teach him how as he might need to be sent into an Oriental country. Just my two cents.

[Agemegos]

One of the exra-canonical sources gave Bond a degree in Oriental Languages from Cambridge, but I consider it out of character.

The movie in question was You Only Live Twice and wasn't that based on the book of the same name? At any rate, it's unlikely Bond wouldn't know any Oriental languages as the British Secret Service would've made sure to teach him how as he might need to be sent into an Oriental country. Just my two cents.

The movies that are based on novels all (necessarily and properly) have difference of detail from the novels on which they are based. I haven't re-read You Only Live Twice recently, so I can't be sure that it doesn't say that Bond has a degree from Cambridge. But I clearly recall from when i did read it that in the novel Bond spoke no Japanese: he had to pose as a deaf-mute to maintain a cover.

I wouldn't say it was out of character for Bond to speak several Oriental Languages. But I do think it would be out of character for him to spend three years at Cambridge studying for a degree. He is the sort of bloke who learns a language by going to a country where it is spoken, taking a lover, and mixing with people who do things.

[TheImperialKhan]

According to his SMERSH dossier Bond only spoke French and German. Besides English of course. From Russia With Love chapter 6 - Death Warrant.

The Cambridge line was added for the movie to simplify things for the audiance and to avoid using sub-titles.

[Twilight]

According to his SMERSH dossier Bond only spoke French and German. Besides English of course. From Russia With Love chapter 6 - Death Warrant.

The Cambridge line was added for the movie to simplify things for the audiance and to avoid using sub-titles.

It does make sense though. Why send an agent into a country where he doesn't speak the language? Wouldn't that hamper his effectiveness on the mission?

This is of course, just me picking nits.

[Agemegos]

It does make sense though. Why send an agent into a country where he doesn't speak the language? Wouldn't that hamper his effectiveness on the mission?

Indeed. So send him to language classes at the Foreign Office. Don't waste three years of his time on a superfluous course at Cambridge.

[Twilight]

Indeed. So send him to language classes at the Foreign Office. Don't waste three years of his time on a superfluous course at Cambridge.

Well I see your point there. However, didn't he study at Cambridge before he was recruited by the HMSS? Not sure if that's germaine to the conversation or not, I was just curious.

[Agemegos]

Well I see your point there. However, didn't he study at Cambridge before he was recruited by the HMSS? Not sure if that's germaine to the conversation or not, I was just curious.

Well, of course his personal history is pretty muddled by the continual revising and updating. But according to the obituary M wrote for him in You Only Live Twice Bond passed directly from school (Fettes) into wartime service with the RNVR at the age of 17, and was recruited into the Secret Service directly from there. So there is no time for study at Cambridge (or even the Royal Naval College).

In that timeline Bond was 17 (claiming to be 19) in 1941, so he must have been born in 1923 or 1924. If I adopt a date of 1918 (consistent with Moonraker rather than You Only Live Twice he would have a few years up his sleeve for pre-War studies at Cambridge. But I still don't think it is appropriate.