Shaken, Not Stirred
On visiting Goldeneye for the very first time last April, I could only imagine a cast of characters in evening gowns and white jacket tuxes, on the lawns, the original house in the background, overlooking the private beach and the Caribbean Sea. Oh yes, and how could I forget, everyone is barefooted and with a glass of champagne or a dry martini – shaken, not stirred.
On the north coast of Jamaica, in the town of Oracabessa, Ian Fleming created the most famous spy of all times, James Bond. Having built Goldeneye as his winter home, Fleming wrote his thirteen novels there. In the 1965 publication “Ian Fleming Introduces Jamaica”, edited by his Jamaican friend, Morris Cargill, Fleming wrote, “would these books have been born if I had not been living in the gorgeous vacuum of a Jamaican holiday? I doubt it.”
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Island Record founder, Chris Blackwell, today owns Goldeneye, which Fleming named after a wartime operation he ran in Spain. The three-bedroom house of jalousies is the centerpiece of the Goldeneye complex, with the James Bond Beach located to the west of the property. Within the house, Fleming’s original desk and chair remains.
Created at the very desk, the novels Dr. No, Live and Let Die, and The Man with the Golden Gun were each set in Jamaica. The Man with a Golden Gun is said to have been an ode to the island. Adapted for the big screen, each film in some way allows us to discover Bond’s (and Fleming’s) Jamaica. In fact, it was also Blackwell’s Jamaica as it is reported that Fleming had asked Blackwell to scout for locations for the filming of the first 007 film, Dr. No, in 1962.
Fleming infused his love for the island into the life of James Bond. Whereas Jamaica was transformed into the fictional San Monique in the film Live and Let Die, the novel itself makes reference to Bond enjoying a Jamaican breakfast and Blue Mountain Coffee on a veranda, gazing down on the capital city of Kingston and the infamous Port Royal. One can imagine Fleming penning Chapter 17 at Gap Cafe in the mountains, enjoying a cup of this brew – the most delicious in the world.
As David Leigh visits Jamaica in the series “The World of James Bond“, he notes Bond’s adventures from one end of the island to the other: the Blue Mountains, Port Maria, Oracabessa, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Negril, Savannah La Mar, Black River. Who too can forget our first image of a “Bond girl”, Ursula Andress, emerging from the Laughing Waters beach, just west of Ocho Rios.
Fleming had many visitors to Goldeneye, including British playwright, actor, songwriter, and raconteur, Noel Coward, who in turn had his own house, Blue Harbour, built down the coast from Goldeneye. Later, in the hills above Port Maria, Coward made Firefly his home. This became his retreat, and it is here that Coward spent the rest of his life and is buried.
In its list of “99 Things to Do before you die“, the Travel Channel suggests vacationing like James Bond. And vacationing like James Bond was definitely on the minds of an incentive group recently visiting from Russia. “They had no doubt that the James Bond theme would be a success in Jamaica”, says Charmaine Harrison of Great Vacations. “From the moment we met them at the airport, their experience began as they were greeted by a Bond girl, a cold drink, and a cold towel.” The theme continued throughout the trip, visiting the falls and rafting down the White River, a haunt of Bond and Honey Ryder, right through to the 007-like gala dinner.
Ian Fleming named the international spy James Bond after the author of the ornithological classic, Birds of the West Indies.
Firefly, now a museum with a display of Coward’s paintings and belongings, was originally named “Look Out” by the famous pirate, Henry Morgan. Coward renamed it for the “peeniewallies” that surround the house at nightfall.
“Jamaica Jump Up”, performed by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, was what was playing in Jamaican clubs at that time and used for the dance hall scene in Dr. No. Bryon Lee and the Dragonaires continue to perform and remain one of the most popular bands not only in Jamaica, but also throughout Caribbean.
Fleming had originally asked his friend Noel Coward to play the role of Dr. No, which Coward refused.
The children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, was written by Ian Fleming for his son.
