Ian fleming estate jamaica
Writer Ian Fleming's House In Jamaica
Everything you’ll need to know for your stay at Fleming Villa
F leming lived an extraordinary life and through extraordinary times. He amplified and translated that life with style, wit and imagination. He could have made his home anywhere in the world. And yet, he chose to make this spot his own.
View Fleming Villa Rates & Factsheet
Secluded and set apart, Fleming Villa is tucked inside a lush garden, behind tall trees and tropical bush. It has its own private beach (no paparazzi, no prying eyes), private pool, self-contained gardens and its own media room with wet bar. When you book the villa, it comes with dedicated resident staff. Your butler will arrange for anything you’d like to do during your stay; your cook will prepare local Jamaican specialties. Your housekeeper will arrange for meals to be served wherever you’d like on the property (two favorite choices: between the two almond trees in the sunken garden or on the beach, where there’s a grill chiseled into the side of the rocky cliff).
And while you never have to leave Fleming Villa, you may want to book a massage at the FieldSpa, meet for snacks at Bizot Bar, browse the boutique and explore all things GoldenEye.
Really, it’s the best of all worlds — and the very best of Jamaica.
The villa sleeps up to 10 adults.
Fleming Villa, the original structure that Fleming designed, has three bedrooms — a master suite, a queen-sized bedroom, and a bedroom with two twin beds. Each of these bedrooms has its own large, tropical garden bath area with claw foot tub and a garden shower. Newer additions to the property include two very private, stand-alone one-bedroom cottages, Sweet Spot and Pool House. Each has its own veranda, claw foot tub, outdoor shower and king sized bed. The cottages sleep two adults and an infant crib is available on request. (Want more specifics on the Fleming Villa layout? You can find floor plans here.)
Everything! To get a sense of all there is to do at GoldenEye, take a look at our activities, restaurants and spa treatments.
Fleming Villa is situated inside the GoldenEye resort on Oracabessa Bay, in a secluded, private compound. The villa is located 20 minutes east of Ocho Rios, an hour and 45-minute drive from Montego Bay and Kingston, and less than a 10-minute drive from Ian Fleming International Airport. We can arrange for a driver to pick you up from the airport to reach the villa with ease.
Latitude: W76° 58′ 09″ Longitude: N18° 24′ 15″
If you’re flying private, Ian Fleming International, located less than a 10 minute drive from Fleming Villa, is your best travel choice. Of course, we’re happy to arrange all the details surrounding your trip.
We suggest you call the dedicated reservations team who will walk you through the basics, answer any questions you have and make specific suggestions for tailoring your visit to Fleming Villa to suit your desires. Tel: 1-800-OUTPOST Email: [email protected]
ORACABESSA BAY, ST MARY, JAMAICA +1 876 6229 007
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History of the Hotel & Property › Ocho Rios, Jamaica
GoldenEye has a rich and colorful history. Rather than tell you, let us show you!
1939
Ian Lancaster Fleming is recruited by Her Majesty’s British Naval Intelligence.
1942
Periscope up! Nazi U-boats in the Caribbean? Commander Fleming is sent to investigate, working on a naval operation called GoldenEye. The beauty of the place and its people made it difficult for the 34-year-old to keep his mind on the fighting. He knew that when the war ended, he’d return.
1946
Fleming discovers that 15 acres of tropical overbrush, formerly a donkey racetrack, is for sale in the small, buzzy banana port town of Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica. Fleming telegraphs the local realtor, “PRAY PAUSE NOT. IAN”. Fleming sketches his dream villa on desk blotter, naming it, GoldenEye. He returns to dream up his super agent 007, James Bond.
1949
After falling in love with Jamaica on a visit to GoldenEye, playwright Noël Coward builds a beach home nearby, Blue Harbour. But besieged by a never-ending parade of glamorous guests, Coward buys an escape from his escape, a few miles up the hill from GoldenEye. Coward christens his new retreat, Firefly.
1950
The acclaimed travel writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor, visits GoldenEye. He writes: “Here, on a headland, Commander Ian Fleming has built a house called GoldenEye that might serve as a model for new houses in the tropics. Trees surround it on all sides except the sea, which it almost overhangs. The windows that look toward the sea are glassless, but equipped with outside shutters against the rain: enormous quadrilaterals...tame the elements, as it were, into an ever-changing fresco of which one can never tire.”
— The Traveller’s Tree: A Journey rough the Caribbean Island
1952
Typing out 2,000 words a day, Fleming writes Casino Royale, the first of his 13 James Bond novels, all of which were written in his bedroom at GoldenEye. Three of the books — Dr. No, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun - are set in Jamaica.
1955
After attending school in England, Chris Blackwell returns to Jamaica where his family has lived since the 18th century.
1956
Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his wife spend three weeks at GoldenEye. Eden writes to Fleming:“I do not think that there is any other place anywhere that could have given me the rest I have to have. The bathing, the beach, the seclusion, the size of the grounds were all just perfect to enjoy and be concealed.”
Before leaving, Eden plants a tree in the garden at GoldenEye— inaugurating a custom that continues today.
1959
After returning to the Jamaica of his childhood and following stints as an aide de camp to the governor then as a waterskiing instructor, Blackwell records blind pianist Lance Heywood, whom he first heard perform at the Half Moon resort. This recording session begins the story of Island Records. A brilliantly independent label just off the coast of the music industry, Island did more to change the cultural landscape than any record label in history. Island Records brought reggae music to the world outside Jamaica, with Blackwell himself producing Bob Marley and the Wailers. Island broke British acts like Traffic, Bad Company, ELP, Free, Fairport Convention, King Crimson and the greatest of world music from the Irish traditionalists The Chieftains to Africans like King Sunny Ade. It brought us such independent spirits as Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Sparks, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits and that Irish band, U2.
1950s - 1960s
The sexy social vibe of Jamaica’s North Coast seduces Errol Flynn, Lucian Freud, Katharine Hepburn, Cecil Beaton, Laurence Olivier, Evelyn Waugh, Alec Guinness, John Gielgud, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren and Truman Capote. Enchanted, the smart set whirls among Fleming’s GoldenEye, Coward’s Firefly and Blanche Blackwell’s house, Bolt.
1961
Dr. No, the first Bond novel made into a film, is shot in Jamaica. At Fleming’s suggestion, Chris Blackwell is hired as a location scout and consults on the movie’s soundtrack.
1962
My boy lollipop! You make my heart go giddy up.
Blackwell produces “My Boy Lollipop. ” Six million copies sell worldwide. Jamaican singer, Millie Small, rockets to stardom. Island Records has arrived. A brand new beat takes over popular music.
Jamaica, land we love, Jamaica, land we love.
On August 6, 1962: Jamaica declares itself and independent country.
1964
Playboy publishes the last interview with Fleming. In it, he explains the inspiration behind the name of his villa: “I had happened to be reading Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers, and I’d been involved in an operation called Goldeneye during the war: the defense of Gibraltar, supposing that the Spaniards had decided to attack it.” Fleming passes away on August 12th.
1965
The Bullshot is the cocktail du jour. Coward tells Queen Mum, “You must try one!” Queen Mum obliges and drops in for a drink at Firefly while visiting Jamaica.
The Bullshot:
3 oz. vodka
4 oz. strong cold beef bullion
salt and pepper
1970
Throughout the 1970s, Island Records rocks. The label is host to acts including Traffic, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Robert Palmer, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Marianne Faithfull, Black Uhuru and Burning Spear, to name a few.
1972
Island Records releases Bob Marley and the Wailers, Catch a Fire in the now-famous Zippo-lighter record sleeve. Marley becomes a superstar, igniting the “rebel romance” of Jamaica around the world.
1973
The Harder They Come, the film starring Island Records reggae singer Jimmy Cliff hits the screen. Love Jamaica? This is a must-see!
1974
American writer and journalist Jon Bradshaw publishes Backgammon: The Cruelest Game following many heated games at GoldenEye.
1976
Chris Blackwell buys GoldenEye. “I thought of living there,” he says, “but I never did—I just went there sometimes, swam there sometimes, let friends and family stay there sometimes. You could say it was a house I used as an entertaining place.” Watch Chris Blackwell talk about GoldenEye here!
1982
Dickie Jobson directs the film Countryman. Blackwell produces. Many cocktails are consumed at GoldenEye while discussing the details.
1983
The Police top the charts with “Every Breath You Take.” The song was written at GoldenEye while Sting was vacationing.
1989
Blackwell sells Island Records and founds the Island Outpost group of boutique hotels, buying the Marlin in Miami’s South Beach and kicking off the fabled city’s rebirth as a hip destination.
1998
Blackwell founds Palm Pictures, releasing the innovative, poetic music often heard at GoldenEye, including Ernest Ranglin, Baaba Maal, Gigi, Sidestepper and many more.
2002
Bono inducts Blackwell into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2004 - 2006
Blackwell is awarded the Order of Jamaica medal from Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke and receives the International Humanitarian Award from the American Friends of Jamaica.
2007
Having already added 25 acres to the original 15-acre estate over a period of 30 years, Blackwell announces plans to add cottages and huts to the mix of villas that make up GoldenEye.
2008
The Jamaica Observer asks Blackwell, “What was the inspiration for your great and uniquely Jamaican hotels?” Blackwell expounds, “I focus on finding stunning locations and then putting hotels on them.... I try to turn people onto the natural beauty of Jamaica and encourage them to meet its people.”
2009
IN APRIL, Music Week names Blackwell “Most influential U.K.- based industry executive of the past five decades.”
IN MAY, Island Records celebrates 50 years with a string of concerts.
2010
GoldenEye closes for major renovations.
2011
GoldenEye garners accolades and acclaim: Travel + Leisure puts it on their “It List: Best New Hotels 2011,” the World Travel Awards put it on their “Hot List: Best New Hotels & Resorts of 2011,” and Smart Luxury Travel names it the Caribbean’s Number One Boutique Hotel.
Ian Fleming International Airport, located about five miles down the road from GoldenEye, is named for the area’s world-famous literary star.
2016
GoldenEye introduces...the Beach Huts! Blackwell fell in love with the beach hut concept on a trip across Jamaica back in the 1980s. Now, he’s built a hamlet of huts. All are designed so you feel one step away from sleeping under the stars.
"I like to whip you": Ian Fleming's love correspondence with his wife will go under the hammer
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Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Ian and Ann Fleming have been married for 12 years, but their relationship has not been easy
Correspondence between James Bond author Ian Fleming and his wife Ann will be sold at Sotheby's. In the letters, the couple not only discussed Fleming's literary work, but also shared sadomasochistic fantasies. nine0014
More than 160 letters (about 500 pages of text) written over 20 years are up for auction. As expected, the total price of the lot will be from 200 to 300 thousand pounds.
According to Sotheby's book and manuscript specialist Gabriel Heaton, much of this correspondence has never been published before. In anticipation of the auction, the auction house decided to publish some fragments of the spouses' letters. The auction is expected to take place in early December.
- Who invented James Bond first: Ian Fleming or Phyllis Bottom? nine0022
- "Real Bond": the director of the 007 films was a spy
Fleming met his future wife Ann in 1934 when she was married to Baron Shane O'Neill. After his death in 1944, Ann married media mogul Esmond Harmsworth, while continuing to date Fleming. In 1952, Jan and Ann finally got married.
In the same year, Fleming's son Caspar was born and he began writing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, which brought him literary success. nine0005
Fleming preferred to write his Bond novels at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, which he built in 1946. In one of the letters, the writer tells how the work on the novel "From Russia with Love" was going on: I'll stop soon, but for now it's going well and I'm passionate. The first half [of the book] is about Russia, which has always interested me. They (the Russians) decided to kill Bond 9 " .
At the same time, in another letter, the writer admits that he can no longer write stories about agent 007, because he is "terribly tired of this damn Bond." famous actors, musicians, writers and politicians, for example, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his wife lived in the estate for about a month in 1956. Fleming also mentions other guests in his letters:
" [American novelist] Truman Capote came. Can you imagine a more ridiculous company for me? He rushed after the telegram and chirped something here, covering his tiny face with the uniform cap of the Russian commissar . .. He had just arrived from Moscow ,
The 007 James Bond novels made Fleming world-famous
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Much of the letters deal with the difficult relationship between spouses over the years.
In the early letters, when Jan and Ann were still lovers, there is an almost youthful passion with notes of sadomasochism. For example, Fleming writes:
" I like whipping you, squeezing you, pulling your long hair, and then we are happy together again and we stick pins in each other, love each other and don't feel so grown up " .
Later, in one of her response letters, Ann confesses to her lover: with a whip made of rough cowhide in my hand, so that I will ensure your good behavior for forty years ... "
In 1948, Ann became pregnant by her lover and gave birth to a girl who lived only eight hours. Fleming wrote touching letters to her, while continuing to play golf with her cuckold husband:
" I have nothing to say to console you. After all this torment and pain, everything seems bitter. I can only reach out my hands to you, give you my Love and prayers " .
Author photo, Getty images
Signature to the photo,Fleming preferred to write in his estate on Yamaika
However, almost immediately after the third marriage of Ann began to jealous one of the letters complained that the writer no longer loved her:0014 " - the only person you stopped sleeping with when they ended was me! "
" There is no one in my life, but there is a whole crowd in yours. I envy your high life and your mind, and you probably envy my active life and the pleasure that I draw from books ... I am hopeless, I am like a caged animal in the living room and dining room, and there is nothing I can do about it ... In this twilight, we hurt each other to such an extent that life becomes almost unbearable " .
Despite the difficulties in their relationship, Fleming and Anne lived in marriage for 12 years - until the writer's death in 1964. During this time, Fleming wrote 14 books about James Bond and became one James Bond one of the most successful writers in the world Ann Fleming died in 1981
His name is Fleming Ian Fleming - Money - Kommersant
1K 14 min. . .. nine0005
Stripe 099 Number No. 41(396) dated 10/22/2002 His name is Fleming. Ian Fleming |
Her Majesty's Intelligence
In 1990, a curious television film was released in the UK, which sheds light on both the personality of the "father" of the literary Bond and the image of agent 007. The name of the picture speaks for itself: "The Secret Life of Ian Fleming", and the actor played the main character with provocative surname Connery. Only not Connery-peer, but Connery-son - Jason.
The adventures of the hero begin with the fact that he is expelled from Eton University for his increased interest in married women and clearly insufficient interest in the sciences. Then the young Fleming becomes a newspaperman, and a difficult journalistic fate throws him all the way to Soviet Russia. Instead of covering the course of one of Stalin's show trials, the correspondent starts an affair with a beautiful countess and part-time agent of the Cheka. A dizzying escape saves him from the Lubyanka, but not from the acquired "drug addiction": a born adventurer and playboy likes such a life! And when, upon his return to London, he is approached with proposals of a certain kind by naval intelligence officers, no recruitment is required: the client has matured himself. After that, not life begins, but a Bond movie - secret missions in France and Portugal; adventures on a nameless island in the North Sea, where Hitler's bosses secretly gathered; chases, shootouts and, of course, novels. nine0239 As in the books of the main character of the film, truth and fiction in this story is 50/50. It is based on real events, but they are richly flavored with unabashed fiction.
Fate brought Ian Fleming first into journalism, then into the secret services, and from there straight to Jamaica to write spy novels |
It is true that he visited Moscow in 1929 and even published several reports from the trial of "saboteurs". But he returned home decorously and peacefully, without incident, although, as it turned out later, he was already carrying out delicate assignments from the Foreign Office that refused to hire him. In London, Fleming felt bored with journalism. In addition, this craft did not bring as much money as a young playboy needed. He tried to go into business - he served in a bank, in a brokerage firm, but he did not win any special laurels in this field either. In short, when The Times correspondent Ian Fleming reappeared in Moscow at 1939, his journalistic ID was nothing more than a "roof".
In naval intelligence, the future writer served throughout the war, rising from reserve lieutenant to captain of the 3rd rank. And since Fleming's administrative abilities clearly exceeded his operational ones, he was given a bureaucratic position - secretary to the head of intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey, from whom the chief of agent 007 M.
would later be decommissioned In his autobiography, Fleming wrote a lot of things. As if he took part in the evacuation of the Allied troops from the French port of Dieppe, at 19The 39th organized the escape of the Albanian dictator king Zogu, and towards the end of the war he personally conducted secret negotiations in Washington with the future founder of the CIA, General Donovan. In fact, all this time, Fleming was engaged in affairs mainly on paper. Only one "special operation" carried out by him, and even then a fiasco, is documented. The authorities instructed him to interrogate the captured commander of a German submarine. And Fleming did not find anything better than to bring him to a bar in Soho in the hope of "splitting" at the bar, but he miscalculated - the sea wolf with Nordic equanimity knocked over one shot of whiskey after another, becoming less and less talkative. nine0239
You only live twice
However, it was precisely the work in intelligence, where there was more paperwork, bureaucratic slingshots and internal squabbles than romantic adventures, that ultimately led the notorious loser to the main, as it turned out, the path of life.
In 1945, Fleming went to faraway Jamaica on business and finally saw the light: life did not go there and not like that! The tropical island was warm, sunny, peaceful. No nightly bombings and food cards, fruits were lying under the trees, and the stalls of local markets were bursting with seafood delicacies - a paradise, in a word. Fleming retired from the service and, continuing to work for pennies with several British newspapers, he began building a house on the north coast of Jamaica. He called his dwelling "Golden Eye", and later this name migrated to one of the novels, and then films about agent 007.
On
A rare Briton does not like to drive fast. Fleming also liked to steer, and his hero is completely worn on everything that moves |
It was 1952. Waiting for the end of the divorce proceedings of his passion, Fleming, for the sake of boredom, set about writing a spy action movie called "Casino Royale". When it came time to give a name to a hero-super agent, in which there was much of Fleming himself, but even more of an unsatisfied dream of another, unlived life, the author accidentally caught the eye of the scientific work "The Birds of the West Indies" by a certain James Bond. And the famous number with two zeros was suggested by the great compatriot Kipling, one of whose stories is dedicated to train 007.
The success of the novel, published the following year, exceeded all expectations. Fleming did not become famous overnight, but immediately received an offer from the publisher to write something else in the same vein. The first novel was followed by a second, a third. Going to Jamaica every year after Christmas to write a new novel about 007 soon became another routine for Fleming, from which he tried so hard to escape. True, with each book (a total of 14 were released, including two posthumous volumes), fame grew, and with it, fees. nine0239 But both fame and fees soon found themselves in the shadow of others, disproportionately large. By August 1964, when Fleming died of a heart attack, two films about 007 had been released and a third was on the way, taking second place in the list of box office record holders of the year. After that, not thousands of readers, but millions of moviegoers began to go crazy for Sean Connery, sometimes not suspecting that he had a literary prototype.
Only with extraordinary fantasy on the covers of cheap 50s pocketbooks could one see the hero of Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan. However, Hollywood producers still saw |
Never say never
Connery became the first and, according to most, the best James Bond. He starred in the first five films of the spy saga: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Operation Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice "(1967). Neither disgusting English (the nationalist Highlander Connery was even proud of his Scottish accent), nor early thinning hair, nor the lack of aristocratic gloss in the plebeian Scot did not interfere. This was the Bond the audience wanted to see, the time required. nine0239
But Broccoli and Saltzman did not think to give up. Two years later, in the film "Her Majesty's Intelligence" for the role of agent 007, the Australian George Lazenby was tried. The public took it sourly, and this Bond was immediately put into circulation. After that, the producers had no choice but to confess to Connery, agreeing to all his conditions. And in the next film "Diamonds are forever" (1971), the audience again saw their favorite - albeit aged, and with an obvious lining on his balding forehead, but still just as irresistible.
Then came the turn of Roger Moore. Over the course of ten years, six films with his participation were released: Live and Let Die (1973), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977),
Irvin Kershner's unexpected film Never Say Never Again (1983), a remake of Operation Thunderball, wedged into Moore's unbeaten streak. The fact is that the rights to Fleming's novel of the same name somehow got not to Broccoli and Saltzman, but to another producer. He, of course, did not miss his, and as a result, the audience again saw the old Connery, who was assisted by such world cinema stars as Klaus Maria Brandauer and Max von Sydow, and a new one was seen among the Bond girls - Kim Basinger. Having finally shown such a spectacular fiddle to his offenders-producers, Bond number one tied up with Bondiana completely and irrevocably. Yes, and 58-year-old Roger Moore, who played in the film "A View to a Kill" (1985), reasonably stated that he would not want to become Agent 070.
The next baton was picked up by Timothy Dalton, who bypassed Peter Brosnan and “highlander” Adrian Paul, bound by contracts on television. Dalton played in only two films - "Live Lights" (1987) and "License to Kill" (1989), trying to combine the images of two agents 007: bookish (cruel and primitive) and cinematic (noble and well-trained). The result was disappointing. According to critics, it was Dalton who came closest to the literary original. However, hundreds of millions of moviegoers who had never read Fleming's novels did not care at all. nine0239 And finally, the turn of the Irish Pierce Brosnan has come. He has completely stopped looking back at the old-fashioned novels of Ian Fleming, and sculpts his own Bond - modern and politically correct. So far, Brosnan has played in three films - "Golden Eye" (1995), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) and "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) - and is promised to the public in the fourth, anniversary.
The Spy We Love
Why did he conquer everyone so much, this agent 007, that even after 40 years he continues to collect full halls and bring tens and hundreds of millions to his creators? nine0239 It has become commonplace to repeat that James Bond today is no longer a literary hero, but a mass myth and a super-successful hyped brand. However, writer Ian Fleming did not know what one of the most enduring myths of the 20th century was doing. He only intuitively caught the demands of the collective unconscious of his contemporaries and compatriots. Cinema, on the other hand, put the myth on stream, turning it into a brand.
Fleming's ideal, when he wrote his stories about the super-spy-superdandy, was the real first dandy of English history - a friend of the Prince of Wales and the future King George IV, George Brummel, nicknamed Handsome. He lived a long time ago, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, and left a memory of himself as a trendsetter, a man who instilled style and taste in the English court. Handsome Brummel wore, drank and smoked all the best and stylish, invariably emphasizing the difference between the discreet sophistication of an aristocrat and the "make us beautiful" nouveau riche. nine0239
George Lazenby only played Bond once. Perhaps because his Bond allowed himself to get married |
So the literary agent 007 from the very beginning was set as an ideal, an idol, a person-style of a certain time and a certain social stratum. However, tastes and fashions change, and it would be suicidal to keep agent 007 the way he was dreamed of by a real loser agent of the 50s, who was notorious because of his non-aristocratic origin, decades later. Therefore, Bond on the screen was constantly updated according to the trends of the times. The Rolex watches worn by the literary Bond were replaced by Omega, which was more popular by that time, the elite British Aston Martin - first with Lotus, and then, to the horror of the British, with BMW. The latest Bonds wear costumes exclusively from Brioni, and they drink what they have to. Because cinema is show business, and hundreds of millions, with all the desire, cannot be taught to order Dom Perignon champagne of vintage 1953 years old, like a dry martini exclusively on Sapphire Bombay gin. Yes, "shake, but do not mix"!
The James Bond brand can turn anything from watches and cars to rarities like Ursula Andress' bikini from Dr. No's £50,000 auction into a bestseller |