ETON

Michaelmas Half, Autumn 1921. Ian joins his father’s alma mater, Eton College, a year after his brother Peter. The welcome from his housemaster is a challenge. ‘I’m going to break you, Fleming’ he says. Ian sees a gauntlet thrown down, and rebels. In contrast to his brother, he fails to excel in the classroom but shines on the athletics field and is twice awarded Victor Ludorum, Champion of the Games. Elected a member of the elite Eton Society – commonly known as Pop – Ian enjoys a special dress code and unique privileges around school. However, he is often in trouble and is regularly disciplined by his masters for playing truant, driving cars and entertaining girls. In 1925 he co-edits an issue of The Wyvern, Eton’s school magazine and sees his name is in print for the first time. The Ordeal of Caryl St. George, the first ever Ian Fleming short story, is published. A literary career is founded.

In 1926, after a minor scandal, Ian’s mother and his housemaster come to an agreement that it might be best if he leaves Eton a year earlier than planned, to join Sandhurst Military College. A clue to the reason for Ian’s early exit? He writes Bond’s obituary in You Only Live Twice, given by M when 007 is presumed dead: ‘It must be admitted that his career at Eton was brief and undistinguished and, after only two halves [terms], as a result… of some alleged trouble with one of the boys’ maids, his aunt was requested to remove him.’