British author, journalist and Second World War Navy Commander Ian Lancaster Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling his adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories. Additionally, Fleming wrote the children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and two non-fiction books.

Ian Fleming was born in Mayfair, London, educated at Sunningdale School in Berkshire, Eton College, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was Victor Ludorum at Eton two years running, something that had been achieved only once before him. In World War II the Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, recruited Fleming as his personal assistant.

He was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant Commander, then Commander. His known codename was 17F. As the DNI’s personal assistant, Fleming’s intelligence work provided the background for his spy novels. In 1953, he published his first novel, Casino Royale in which he introduced secret agent James Bond, also famously known by his code number, 007.

On August 12, 1964, in Canterbury, Kent, England, fifty-six-year-old Ian Fleming died of a heart attack.