‘Beware women drivers and don’t waste your time on women who wear a bracelet on their left ankle’: Ian Fleming’s rules for life are revealed as James Bond creator’s private notebook goes up for auction
- The 007 creator filled his pocket notepad with ideas and observations
- He penned the notes while drafting 11th Bond novel You Only Live Twice in 1962
- The novelist took aim at women in two of the 13 notes
- Another piece of advice warned to ‘beware of people who smell’
A notebook containing rules for ‘how to live’ that was written by James Bond creator Ian Fleming has emerged 60 years on.
The 007 creator filled his pocket notepad with ideas and observations while drafting his 11th Bond novel You Only Live Twice, which was published in 1962.
Among his list of 13 rules was a warning to ‘beware of motorcars with two women in the front seat’.
He took aim at the opposite sex in another instruction, warning: ‘Don’t waste your time on women who wear a bracelet on their left ankle.’
And one piece of advice that would not be out of place in a Bond novel reads: ‘Don’t draw your gun unless you see both the other man’s hands.’
Others include ‘beware people who smell’ and ‘tread carefully in the company of moustaches, side-burns and beards’.
The 39-page notebook, with writing in blue and black ink, is going under the hammer with Heritage Auctions, of Dallas, Texas.
It has been consigned by a private collector and is tipped to sell for £17,000. ($20,000).
A notebook containing rules for ‘how to live’ that was written by James Bond creator Ian Fleming has emerged 60 years on
The 007 creator filled his pocket notepad with ideas and observations while drafting his 11th Bond novel You Only Live Twice in 1962. Among his list of 13 rules was a warning to ‘beware of motorcars with two women in the front seat’
The British writer also had no love for the country’s ruling class as he wrote ‘avoid people who call you Old Boy, and all politicians’.
And pet owners were also given short shrift as Fleming mused ‘don’t buy anything that eats’.
On a more serious note, he jotted down an alternative epigraph for You Only Live Twice.
It read: ‘You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you are about to die.’
It is very similar to the final version used om the book: ‘You only live twice: Once when you’re born, and once when you look death in the face.’
His final point, returning to the Bond theme, is ‘live until you’re dead’.
You Only Live Twice was published in 1964 and was then made into a film starring Sean Connery as 007 three years later.
It was Connery’s fifth appearance as Bond.
Joe Maddalena, vice president of Heritage Auctions, said: ‘James Bond has been around for so long, and become such an icon and in literature and film and pop culture writ large, that we take the character and his creation for granted; it’s like he’s always been there.
‘But these handwritten documents straight from his creator provide us with an insight and a perspective that often make 007 seem brand-new.
‘We’re allowed into the creative process; we’re over his shoulder as Bond is born.’
Fleming died in 1964.
The sale takes place on July 16.
The notebook is just the latest item connected to Fleming that has come up for auction in the past year.
In March, two first edition Bond novels given by Fleming to his assistant Una Trueblood went on sale for £60,000.
Fleming’s novel You Only Live Twice was turned into the fifth Bond film starring Sean Connery in 1967
Last November, a pair of cufflinks owned by Fleming that featured a spy-like secret code sold at auction for £4,000.
The 007 creator wore the cultured pearl set to the Dr No post-film screening party in 1962.
The backs of the cufflinks were inscribed with the letters ‘WUS’, ‘SIL’, ‘UDH’ and ‘NUF’ – believed to represent a so-far unsolved secret message.
Rule number 12 was: ‘Cut down on your drink when your eyes get red and on your smoking when your breath feels short. Don’t worry about cirrhosis of the liver or cancer. In his final rule, he added: ‘Live until you’re dead’
Who was James Bond author Ian Fleming?
James Bond author Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born into a well-off family with connections to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.
His father, an MP for Henley, died in 1917 during World War One.
Fleming’s work with Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division during World War Two – combined with his career as a journalist – formed the basis for his Bond novels.
He wrote Casino Royale, the first book in the series, in 1952. Its huge success sent demand skyrocketing and three print runs had to be commissioned.
Between 1953 and 1966, he wrote 12 Bond novels and two short story collections.
In total, 100 million copies of the Bond novels were sold worldwide and they remain hugely popular today.
Two months after his death, his only children’s novel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, was published.
Like his Bond novels, it proved hugely popular and was turned into a film in 1968.
Fleming was married to Ann Charteris – who he met while she was still married to the second Viscount Rothermere – and the pair had a son called Casper.
Fleming had a heart attack on August 11, 1964 and died the following day – Caspar’s 12th birthday – aged just 56.
Casper killed himself at the age of just 23 on October 2, 1975.
Ann died on July 12, 1981 and all three are buried together in St James’ Church in Sevenhampton.
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