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MI6 digs up one of 007's in-the-field postcards to Felix Leiter whilst on the Goldfinger mission...
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Postcards From Bond - Miami
8th April 2009
On this mission, James
Bond is tracking the villainous Goldfinger from
Miami to Kent and across to France, before catching up
with the
gold-obsessed smuggler in Geneva. 007 must infiltrate Goldfinger's
organization and pit his wits against the manic villain
just to stay alive. The plot climaxes at the gold repository
at Kentucky's Fort Knox and 007 must foil Goldfinger's
greedy scheme. MI6 dusts of the archive and uncovers unseen
material from the early stages of Bond's mission in Miami.
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Above: Correspondence
from the MI6 archives - postmarked Fontainebleau, Miami circa
1957... |
Goldfinger Locations
Bond has visited the East coast on a number of missions, in fact "Goldfinger" finds 007 in glitzy Miami beach for the second time in seven adventures. Readers join the mission when the Secret Agent is nursing a bourbon on the rocks at Miami International, on rest and recuperation leave from MI6, albeit temporary.
By this time, Bond is lamenting a normal, easy life after
a grueling assassination mission in Mexico before he is recruited by an old
acquaintance
to help unravel the technique of a devilish card cheat, Auric Goldfinger.
To spy on the game between Goldfinger and his American acquaintance, Du Pont,
Bond heads to the extravagant Fontainebleau hotel. Opened in 1954, the real
Fontainebleau has the distinguished record of having been host to ever American
President since Eisenhower. Fleming takes
his hero to Joe's Stone Crab restaurant on the bright beachfront before facing
off with Goldfinger. One of the regular fixtures of Miami beach, the restaurant
was founded in 1913 and remains a popular haunt today. Bond comments that Joe's
Stone Crab turns out the most delicious meal he had ever experienced.
Just when he thinks he is getting a taste of becoming a PI to the wealthy and superstitious, Bond discovers that there's more to Goldfinger than a card cheat and is recalled to the UK to investigate the matter in his official capacity as an agent for the British government.
Bond heads to Kent to face off on the
links with the brash and bold Goldfinger. Bond checks into Channel
Parket in Ramsgate before teeing off at Royal St. Marks Golf Course,
Sandwich.
Bond,
an adamant golfer like Fleming, since his teens reportedly played
a round every weekend at the courses nearby to his London flat but Fleming
reports that his secret agent had not played at St. Marks in a
score
of years.
The Royal St. Marks was a semi-fictional Fleming concoction
- heavily based on his favourite course, Royal St. Georges. Fleming
changed the name of the club professional of the time from Alfred Whiting
to Alfred Blacking and the name of one of the bunkers from "the
Maiden" to "the Virgin". Incidentally, the 1964 film
sees 007 and Goldfinger face off at the Stoke Poges, doubling for the
Royal St. Georges.
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After the in-depth golf match Bond tails Goldfinger in his Aston Martin DB III, courtesy of MI6. Bond is able to keep his distance from the villains Rolls Royce as he weaves through the French countryside on the N1 through Abbeville. The secret agent looses track of Goldfinger when a fork in the road sees 007 heading towards Paris whilst the homing device attached to Goldfinger's Rolls forked off to Evreux and Chartres. After a night in the Hôtel de la Gare, a inconspicuous station hotel, Bond continues his patient tracing of the villain towards Nevers and Moulins. Before Bond can reach the turn for Moulin, 007 is distracted by a Triumph, driven by a pretty girl.
Finally, the trail ends in Geneva, Switzerland - where the real life Chateau Staël resides. Bond assesses the nearby area and calls into the Secret Service post at Quai Wilson before checking into the Hôtel des Bergues.
Bond calls in for supper at "the Bavaria, a modest Alsation brasserie that had been the rendezvous of the great in the days of the League of Nations." Whilst casing Goldfinger's heavily guarded headquarters Bond runs into Tilly Soams, whom he recognizes as the driver of the Triumph. In the confusion they are discovered by the Korean heavy, Oddjob and taken to Goldfinger who declares: "they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.' Miami, Sandwich and now Geneva. I propose to wring the truth out of you."
Bond is flown in Goldfinger's private jet to New York and by road to Kentucky, home of the gold repository, Fort Knox. The famed and illustrious bullion store is the ideal place for Goldfinger to prove his worth as a master thief, although the practicalities of shifting tons of bullion from the vaults in no time at all was something Fleming seems to have overlooked in his aurum-tinted adventure.
MI6 Literary Locations Guide
London & Kent,
UK
New York, USA
France
Geneva,
Switzerland
Miami, Kentucky & Fort Knox, USA
Related Articles
Locations Coverage
Literary Index
Goldfinger
Postcards from Bond - Istanbul
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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 |
