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MI6 digs up one of 007's in-the-field postcards to Sir Miles Messervy whilst on the Dr No mission...
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Postcards From Bond - Kingston
13th July 2009
Ian Fleming's tropical
bound James Bond novel "Dr
No" sees 007 investigating the suspicious Chinese
recluse Dr Julius No on his Island of Death, Crab Key.
MI6 dusts off the archive and uncovers unseen material
from Bond's mission in Jamaica.
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Above: Never-before-seen postcards from the MI6 archives - postmarked Kingston 1956... |
Dr No Locations
Ian Fleming's connection to Jamaica stems from a
visit
to the island during the Second World War for an Anglo-American navel conference.
Fleming went with his great friend, Ivar Bryce, whose wife owned Bellevue, one
of Jamaica's most beautiful great houses. It was also attractive to Fleming,
as one of his heroes, Nelson, had once stayed there.
His own home in the tropics was designed to his specifications
and later dubbed "GoldenEye" after a secret operation in Spain.
Today, Fleming's house is part of the Goldeneye Complex, which belongs to Chris
Blackwell's
Island Outpost. Chris Blackwell is the son of Blanche Blackwell, with whom
Ian Fleming had an affair after meeting on the island, and founded Island Records.
Villas at the luxury resort are named after a variety of Bond girls: including
Honeychile, Tiffany Case, Domino and Solitaire.
Jamaica's original inhabitants, the
Arawaks, were virtually wiped out by the mid-sixteenth century by the
Spanish, who used Jamaica as a base to plunder the treasures from Mexico.
The island was ruled from what is now known as Spanish Town, but in 1655 the island was captured for the British, who imported African slaves to work on the sugar plantations. Today's capital, Kingston, was founded in 1694 after an earthquake destroyed Port Royal on the other side of the harbour. The natural harbour is the seventh largest in the world and boosted Kingston's importance as a trade centre, becoming Jamaica's capital in 1872.
Prior to the sixth 007 adventure, Bond concluded a
mission in Jamaica in the 1954 adventure "Live And Let Die", where
he rendezvoused with John Strangways and Quarrel - the friendly
and fit Cayman Islander.
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On the "Dr No" mission, Strangways is murdered in the mist
of his investigation of the villainous Doctor. In Jamaica once again, 007 books
a single room with shower in Blue Hills Hotel - a comfortable old-fashioned
hotel with modern trimmings - probably based on the Blue Mountain Inn.
The balcony to his room on which he breakfasts overlooks a "riot of tropical
gardens to Kingston, five miles below" and once again he spends most
of his time with Quarrel, who takes Bond to "The Joy Boat" restaurant,
down on Kingston harbour. The restaurant is owned by his friend Pus-Feller,
named on account of his one-time fight with a big octopus and to "the
throb and twang of calypso music" they eat broiled lobster.
Bond spends time at King's House before setting out for Beau
Dessert, on the Junction Road to the North Coast. Bond is planning to make
a visit to Crab Key, thirty miles north of Galina Point in Jamaica and 60 miles
south of Cuba.
007 journeys with Quarrel to the deadly and mysterious isle of Crab Key. Here they meet the lovely Honeychile Ryder bathing nude on the shores but before long the secret agent is thrown into a nightmarish obstacle course! The climax of Dr No's torturous challenge is a confrontation with a gigantic squid.
MI6 Literary Locations Guide
London, UK
Kingston, Jamaica
Related Articles
Locations Coverage
Literary Index
Dr No
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Postcards From Bond
Delve into the MI6 archives and uncover never before seen postcards from Bond's missions around the world to various MI6 personal. Recipiants include M, Moneypenny, Loelia Ponsonby and May - 007's housekeeper. |
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Paris
Rome
Saratoga
Kingston
Dover
Miami
New York
Istanbul |
