Fleming died on August 12, 1964, 19 days after his mother and on his son Caspar's 12th birthday.
His James Bond novels had so far sold 40 million copies. Editing of Eon's 'Goldfinger' had just begun and upon its release four months later, the world plunged into Bondmania that lasted through the mid-60's.
William Plomer, who was Fleming's reader at Jonathan Cape and friend since 1929, eulogized him as "on top of the world, with his foot on the accelerator, laughing at absurdities, enjoying discoveries, absorbed by his many interests and plans, fascinated and amused by places and people and facts and fantasies . . an entertainer of millions."
Or perhaps just the man in the shorts, sandals and Sea Island cotton shirt . . typing away busily in a bungalow on the north coast of Jamaica.
