New 007 arrives with warships
2008-05-27 19:06
London - A catsuited model in stiletto heels strode the deck of a British warship with Royal Navy helicopters roaring overhead. It was not a bout of naval hijinks, but the year's most-hyped literary event - the publication of a new adventure for super-spy James Bond.
The larger-than-life launch on Tuesday of the novel Devil May Care proved that 100 years after the birth of 007 creator Ian Fleming, the Bond brand was stronger than ever.
A model in a speedboat
A large crowd of journalists and onlookers gathered to watch model Tuuli Shipster, whose silhouette adorns the cover of the book's British edition, bring the first published copies up the River Thames in a military speedboat before unpacking them aboard HMS Exeter, a destroyer moored near Tower Bridge.
"I can remember Uncle Ian's books being delivered wrapped in brown paper and string by a postman on a bicycle," said Ian Fleming's niece Lucy Fleming as she stood on the destroyer's gunmetal-gray deck. "The Royal Navy has upped the ante a little."
Britain's military appeared happy to play up its ties to the fictional spy, who held the rank of Royal Navy commander before going to work for MI6.
The navy loaned the Exeter and its 250-strong crew for an elaborate photo opportunity for "Devil May Care," written by Sebastian Faulks and published to mark Fleming's 100th birthday on Wednesday.
Fleming, a journalist and wartime intelligence officer, wrote 14 James Bond books before his death in 1964.
Faulks's licence to thrill
But Faulks' license to thrill, which coincided with actor Daniel Craig's reinvigoration of the Bond film franchise, generated a renewed sense of excitement around the character.
The book's publishers - Penguin in Britain, Doubleday in the United States - were keeping its contents under wraps until it hit shops on Wednesday. This much was known: the book has a 1960s Cold War setting; there were locations in Paris, Rome and the Middle East; there was torture and there was romance.
Hardcore 007 aficionados were optimistic the result would be classic Bond.
- SAPA