Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica

by Matthew Parker

  One of the extras was Karen Schleifer, niece of Marion Simmons, who now lived in her aunt’s house, Glory Be. She remembers one evening at the Sans Souci when filming had finished chatting to members of the crew. ‘So where is the famous Goldeneye?’ they asked her. When she replied that it was just up the coast, they asked to be taken for a look to pay homage to where it had all begun. Later during the filming, Roger Moore visited the house as well. He says he felt ‘a great sense of awe, and was quite humbled to think everything started within those simple rooms with the first Bond book’.

  Goldeneye was put on the market by the Fleming family soon after Caspar’s death. Blanche Blackwell still kept an eye on the place and swam off the beach. In 1976, Chris Blackwell took Bob Marley there for a look around. ‘I’d just paid him seventy thousand pounds in royalties,’ says Chris. ‘I talked Bob into buying Goldeneye – he said he would always let my mother swim there. But then he got cold feet, said it was too posh, so the next year, when I was flush again, I bought it myself. I thought of living there, but I never did – I just went there sometimes, swam there sometimes, let friends and family stay there sometimes. It was a house I used as an entertaining place.’

  At one point it looked like Goldeneye would be sold to a Canadian millionaire, who planned to build a lift down to the beach. Instead Blanche Blackwell persuaded her son Chris to buy the property.

  In 1989, Blackwell sold Island Records to Polygram, a deal that allowed him to invest in films and hotels and which eventually led to the development of Goldeneye as a high-end resort. In a tradition started by Sir Anthony Eden, guests are today encouraged to plant trees on behalf of the Oracabessa Foundation, which supports local sports and schools and has recently started a project to undo the damage caused to Fleming’s beloved reef by pollution and overfishing. These guests have included film stars, ex-American presidents, models and musicians. (Sting wrote ‘Every Breath You Take’ at Goldeneye; U2 wrote the theme tune to the GoldenEye film here.) It is as close as Jamaica now gets to the glory days of Sunset Lodge and Round Hill in the late forties and early fifties. A nearby airstrip has been renamed ‘Ian Fleming International Airport’, and Goldeneye plays host to film and other creative festivals.

  In 1956, the Edens planted a Santa Maria tree as a memento of their stay. Later visitors following the tradition include Michael Caine, Bill Clinton, Harrison Ford, Sir Richard Branson, Marianne Faithful, Naomi Campbell, River Phoenix, Yoko Ono and Princess Margaret.

  Tourism is now the key business for Jamaica, outstripped in foreign earnings only by remittances from the huge Jamaican diaspora in North America, the UK and elsewhere. The bauxite industry on the island, undercut by cheaper sources, particularly in Australia, is largely in mothballs.

  In the 1970s, the PNP government of Michael Manley, Norman and Edna’s son, moved the country sharply to the left, ending its alignment with the West, and under a programme of ‘democratic socialism’ sought to nationalise industry and banks. Manley explained his thinking in an interview with a US television station in 1977: ‘There are tremendous social pressures in Jamaica. Jamaica, like almost all countries that had a long colonial experience, is a product of that experience and reflected at the time of independence sharp class divisions, a very small and highly privileged elite, who were really the beneficiaries of colonialism and that imperialist process of exploitation, tremendous poverty, dangerous gaps between the haves and the have-nots; all those are colonial legacies and all those are charged with social tension. A lot of what we have tried to do as a government is to address those problems.’

  The experiment led to a further mass exodus of professional Jamaicans, a withdrawal of US support and credit, and the return in 1980, in an election marred by severe violence, of a right-wing administration. When Manley returned to government later in the decade, he was far more pragmatic. However, inequalities and divisions remain deep in Jamaica.

  This has led many towards a very Fleming-like romanticisation of the imperial past. Pearl Flynn comments: ‘We were looking forward to a better Jamaica, more jobs and so on, but people weren’t satisfied. We would have been better off without independence.’ Chris Blackwell concedes: ‘If you speak to most older Jamaicans, they will probably say that things were better before.’ His mother Blanche declared that independence was ‘the worst thing that could have happened to Jamaicans – they were simply not ready for it’. Others see the Manley experiment of the 1970s as a much-needed effort to wrest the country’s wealth and assets from a tiny elite who, along with foreign interests, arguably still control most of Jamaica. When, in 2005, he was asked about Jamaica at the time of filming Dr No, Timothy Moxon, who played Strangways, responded: ‘That wasn’t altogether a completely happy time. People were selected for jobs because of their colour and it was very Jim Crow, really. We’re going through a difficult time at the moment but I’m a great believer that Jamaica will come out on top again, as it always has done in the past. However, I don’t think Coward or Fleming would have cared for it much at the moment.’

  At the time of Fleming’s death, his books had sold thirty million copies and been translated into eighteen languages. Within two years, after the success of the Goldfinger and Thunderball films, sales had nearly doubled. The films were the dominant British movies of the 1960s and exported an image of Britain that was enjoyed globally, as all-pervasive as the Beatles (whose first album came out in 1962, the year of the first Bond film). The books remain popular, and the films go from strength to strength, spawning a host of impersonators and parodies as well as taking over $5 billion dollars at the box office.

  Their success cannot be put down to the car chases, jeopardy, beautiful people and exotic locations. Plenty of other films and books have done this without sharing Bond’s gargantuan success. Bond, like his creator, is in many ways pretty unlikeable. So why has he survived?

  The defining moment of all the films comes in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore, in an outrageous yellow ‘onesie’, is being chased on skis by a host of villains. He is heading towards a huge drop. Still the baddies come; Bond is hopelessly outnumbered. The music rises in pitch, then abruptly cuts off as Bond skis straight over the edge of a cliff and hangs in the sky, tumbling downwards in slow motion. Seconds pass. Then, suddenly, a parachute opens. A Union Jack parachute. And the theme music roars back in celebration.

  The audience, holding its breath, lets out a huge cheer. Then laughs. It is exciting and funny. Gripping but ridiculous. We are laughing at ourselves, and celebrating that self-consciousness. Americans call it one of the great moments of British humour.

  Just as the books don’t take themselves too seriously, with Fleming forever reminding us that we are reading a ‘comic book’ and that what the imperial hero calls home is now a country in sharp decline, so the films have continued this sense of fun and national self-deprecation. This can be seen in the very first film, Dr No, described by a reviewer at the time as ‘full of submerged self-parody’. Bond expresses our complicated relationship with our past, and our empire – at once a little bit proud, a little bit ashamed, and forever aware that our ‘greatest days’ are behind us.

  It is this complexity, born in the Jamaica of Fleming’s time, that gives continued life to James Bond and projects an image of Britishness that makes us likeable to ourselves, and to the rest of the world – who no doubt enjoyed the appearance of Bond in the Olympic opening ceremony almost as much as we did.

  Goldeneye today. The trees planted by Ian Fleming have grown to maturity but the banana groves that once surrounded the property are long gone.

  Several of Fleming’s novels and short stories were set in Jamaica, but the island’s influence is to be found everywhere in his writing.

  Kingston s premier hotel, Myrtle Bank, photographed for a postcard in the late 1940s. The hotel was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1907, but was destroyed by fire in 1966.

  Ian entertains two ladies off the Goldeneye beach

  Newly-electe
d Senator John Kennedy, on a visit in January 1953, poses outside Sunset Lodge, the hotel that launched the jet-set in Jamaica.

  Coward and friends on the Sunset Lodge beach. From left to right: Graham Payn, Noël Coward, John C. Wilson, Princess Natasha Paley and Joyce Carey.

  Ann on her first visit to Goldeneye, with her chaperone, the Duchess of Westminster, in the background.

  Aview over Port Maria harbour from Noël Coward’s house, Firefly, showing Cabrita Island, the inspiration for Mr Big’s Isle of Surprise in Live and Let Die.

  The beautiful Streamertail hummingbird, or ‘Doctor Bird’.

  Although in decline by the time Fleming built Goldeneye in St Mary, the banana business was still the most important economic activity in the Oracabessa area.

  Lucian Freud visited Goldeneye in 1953 and spent much of his time painting in a nearby banana grove. He had produced this portrait of Ann three years earlier.

  Ian and Ann at their wedding in Port Maria. Ian later wrote that the prospect of marriage had filled him with ‘terror and mental fidgets’.

  Montego Bay, 1953: Katherine Hepburn with her partner Irene Seiznick, one of the north coast’s many high-profile gay partnerships. In 1955 Ann wrote to her brother from Goldeneye, ‘We are the only heterosexual household for 50 square miles.’

  The private beach at Jamaica Inn. Some black Jamaicans found their depiction on tourist postcards offensive.

  The Tower Isle hotel swimming pool where Barrington Roper taught Caspar Fleming to swim.

  Blanche and Ian on the beach at Goldeneye in 1958.

  The staff who continued working at Goldeneye. From left: Miss Myrtle, Violet Cummings and Ramsay Dacosta.

  Chris Blackwell with Ursula Andress at the Ferry Inn during the shooting of Dr No in 1962. In the background can be seen director Terence Young and Sean Connery.

  Connery with a young fan. A fellow cast member remembers him being ‘very modest and bit bemused by the whole thing.’

  Blanche, Sean and Noël.

  1964: a tired-looking Ian shows off his latest catch.

  Roger Moore visiting Goldeneye in December 1972 during the filming of Live and Let Die.

  Acknowledgements

  So many thanks due for this book!

  First to two complete gentlemen, Fleming biographers John Pearson and Andrew Lycett. Rather than be annoyed by my blundering into their territory, they have been unfailingly enthusiastic and helpful, providing leads, unpublished notes and interviews, putting up with my constant questions and much more. I am greatly indebted to their books for their outstanding research, detail and insight. Both biographies are highly recommended.

  Although my greatest debt is to Lycett and Pearson, I have also found other work by writers on Bond extremely useful, in particular Simon Winder, David Cannadine, Raymond Benson, James Black, Jon Gilbert, Ben Macintyre and Henry Chancellor. Mark Amory, both in person and in his book of Ann Fleming’s letters, has had large input into this work.

  I am also greatly indebted to Ian’s extended family who agreed to be interviewed, provided contacts and gave expert feedback on my ideas about Ian and Jamaica. In particular thanks are due to Kate Grimond, Fionn Morgan, Lucy Williams and Lord O’Neill. I would also like to thank all at Ian Fleming Publications for their support.

  I am especially grateful to Blanche Blackwell, for putting up with hours of interviews with great patience and kindness. Likewise her son Chris Blackwell, who opened a lot of doors for me in Jamaica and has supported this project from the outset. Special thanks as well to Mark Painter, who undertook a lot of picture research for this book, and to Suzette Newman.

  I am grateful to everyone else who agreed to be interviewed for this book, who gave advice and encouragement, suggested leads or photographs or read and commented on early drafts. These include, from Jamaica: Cathy Aquart; Christopher Barnes, MD of the Gleaner, Dr Dalea M. Bean, UWI; Valerie Facey; George Faria; the late Patrice Wymore Flynn; Pearl Flynn; Pauline Forbes-Lewis of BITU; Marguerite Gordon (neé Le Wars); Jonathan Gosse; Olivia Grange-Walker; Ahon Gray; Ann Hodges; Donald Lindo; Kyle Mais, manager of the Jamaica Inn; Dr John McDowell; George Meikle; Ray Miles, Snr.; Donnalee Minott; Andrew Roblin; Sheree Roden of the Gleaner photograph archive; Barrington Roper; Karen and Ronnie Schleifer; Paul Slater; Kathy Snipper of Island Outpost; Winston Stona; Douglas Waite; Anthony and Jean Watson; Michael ‘Von’ White and Judi Moxon Zakka.

  And from elsewhere: Lady Fiona Aird; Raymond Benson; Hannah Barbara Blake; Barbara Broccoli; Alan Brodie and all at the Noël Coward estate; Professor Barbara Bush; Frances Charteris; Ąjay Chowdhury; John Cork; Julian Drinkall; Professor Mike Faber; Rachel Fletcher; Benjamin Foot; Professor Robert Hill; MarkHolford; Geoff Lucas; Sir Roger Moore; Mark O’Connell; Steve Oxenrider; Sheila Parker; Hal W. Peat; Lee Pfeiffer; Anne and Paul Swain; Ian Thomson; Alex Von Tunzelmann and Calder Walton.

  A special thank you to the late, much missed Sally Ford, at whose Welsh hill farm much of this was written and, more importantly, where she provided a magical place for several generations of my family.

  I have been blessed with a brilliant publishing team at Hutchinson, in particular Sarah Rigby, my hugely talented, supportive and hardworking editor. I am grateful to everyone at Hutchinson and Windmill for their efforts on behalf of this and my other books, as well as Jane Selley for her expert copy-edit, Mandy Greenfield for her meticulous proof-read, Chris Bell for the detailed index and Richard Carr for his superb design. As before, I was lucky to have the brilliant Martin Brown draw the map for this book.

  My agent Julian Alexander has, as always, provided expert advice and warm encouragement. I am also indebted to my US agent George Lucas and publisher Pegasus Books for their support for this project.

  Last, but by no means least, love and thanks to Hannah and our family, to Ollie, Tom and Milly, who have watched a lot of Bond films with me over the past few years and with good grace put up with my long absences researching this book and long distraction writing.

  Picture and Quotation Credits

  Integrated Pictures

  1. Bellevue, 1835. From Nature & On Stone by J.B. Kidd. Public Domain.

  2. Fleming boys with their mother. Courtesy of Lord O’Neill.

  3. Young Fleming © The Ian Fleming Estate.

  4. Map of Jamaica, 1752. Library of Congress.

  5. Goldeneye from the sea. Private Collection.

  6. Molly Huggins. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

  7. Whites Wharf, Oracabessa. Photographer: Eric B. White. Courtesy Richard ‘Von’ White.

  8. Fleming and Ivar Bryce. The Orion Publishing Group, London.

  9. Fleming at the back bedroom of Goldeneye. Getty Images.

  10. Fleming eating a sea urchin. Courtesy Island Trading Archive.

  11. Errol Flynn. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

  12. Molly Huggins presiding over a mass wedding. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

  13. Norman Manley. Courtesy of the National Library of Jamaica.

  14. Alexander Bustamante. Courtesy Bustamante Industrial Trade Union.

  15. Lady Rothermere and Lady Huggins. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

  16. Ann on the beach. Courtesy of Aitken Alexander.

  17. Ian and Ann on the rock. Courtesy of Aitken Alexander.

  18. Garden and sea from inside Goldeneye. Courtesy Island Trading Archive.

  19. Rafting on the Rio Grande. Courtesy Island Trading Archive.

  20. Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Courtesy Jamaica Inn.

  21. Noël Coward. © Estate of Noël Coward by permission of Alan Brodie Representation Ltd. www.alanbrodie.com.

  22. Evon Blake. Courtesy of the National Library of Jamaica.

  23. Fleming at the Traveller’s Tree. Private Collection.

  24. American military power. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

  25. Governor Sir Hugh Foot. Crown copyright. Centre of Information, National Archives.

  26. Gathering at Blue Harbour. Co
urtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

  27. Port Royal and Kingston Harbour, 1782. Library of Congress.

  28. A Jamaican Maroon. Public Domain.

  29. The Sunken Garden. © Estate of Noël Coward by permission of Alan Brodie Representation Ltd. www.alanbrodie.com.

  30. Ian and Ann with Caspar. Courtesy of the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s.

  31. Casino Royale. Courtesy Random House Archives.

  32. ‘Churchill to visit Jamaica’. Gleaner, 27 December 1952.

  33. Winston Churchill. © TopFoto.

  34. Fleming and a local fan. © The Gleaner Company Ltd.

  35. Negril. Courtesy of the National Library of Jamaica.

  36. Queen and Prince Philip. Popperfoto/Getty Images.

  37. Fleming and Felix Barriffe. Courtesy Island Trading Archive.

  38. Fleming at the main window. © Bradley Smith/CORBIS.

  39. Firefly. Courtesy of the author.

  40. Blue Mountains. © Estate of Noël Coward by permission of Alan Brodie Representation Ltd. www.alanbrodie.com.

  41. Fleming with Barrington Roper. Courtesy Island Trading Archive.

  42. Fleming in the water. Private Collection.

  43. ‘Eden: Sunshine Trip’. © Express Newspapers/Express Syndication.

  44. Anthony Eden. Photographer: Eric B. White. Courtesy Richard ‘Von’ White.