Possibly other authors do or did it differently, but for those studying the works of Ian Fleming and his creation James Bond, the books generally will give clues as to season and that's about it with several exceptions. Christmas is very prominent in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", March First is mentioned when the story turns to London in Dr No although the initial events of the story are several weeks old by that time, Moonraker takes place during a 5 day period in England where good walking weather abounds, Las Vegas is visited during the summer period in Diamonds are Forever. Other weather related clues that one can turn into time periods may be present in the other books but we didn't notice. But, there is one of his books where there is no doubt as to the days that the events occur and this book is "From Russia With Love". A particularly announced date is August 12th. The 12th of any month has the same possibilities. The 12th is one day ahead of the 13th and in our society, when the 13th falls on Friday (and therefore the 12th on Thursday), we generally take notice. It's the rare individual who will walk under ladders, specifically make the acquaintance of black cats, deliberately walk on cracks, open an umbrella indoors, etc as the day itself is supposed to represent bad luck and who among us wants to increase our risks. The last picture in this montage is found on the internet and indicates a variety of nono's to do on Friday the Thirteenth or at anytime.
In "From Russia with love", we are specifically told that it is Thursday, August 12th as the story focuses on our hero, James Bond. The first third of the book - chapters 1 through 10 subtitled "the plan" - describes the cast of characters who plot to kill and defame Bond and you get an idea of the plot they weave although there are plenty of surprises as the tale unfolds. Beginning with Chapter 11 to the end of the book- subtitled "the Execution" - we meet up with Bond. "At 7:30 on the morning of Thursday, August 12th, Bond awoke in his comfortable flat," we are told. If you're interested, we can pose several questions to you: what significance does August 12th have to the personal life of Ian Fleming to make this significant and second, what year in the 1950's did August 12th fall on a Thursday?
Some general information: The book was written during the winter months of 1956. It was Fleming's practice while he was producing his one a year James Bond thrillers to write the base of each book during his vacation in Jamaica which spanned a two month period starting sometime in January and ending up early March. Fleming would write about 2000 words a day for approximately 30 to 40 consecutive days and then bound up the pages to be worked on further as he returned to London. In March, when back at his reporting/columnist job at the Sunday Times of London, he would double check his facts and make his final edits. A professional typist would come in to finalize the version that would be sent to his publisher, Jonathon Cape, and after further discussions with the Jonathon Cape editors, the book would be type set and readied for publishing. The printing itself would occur during the spring of the next year so even though the book was copyrighted as of 1957, the vast majority of work to get it into printable form occurred during 1956. This montage shows pictures of Jonathon Cape himself and William Plomer, a literary editor at this publishing house who was instrumental in getting the Cape organization to publish Fleming's books.
We should add that the Cape publishing house in now a part of Random House but while independent (It began to lose independence in 1969 finally being sold to Random House in 1987) it was the publisher for many of Len Deighton's espionage thrillers and many of Kingsley Amis' books which is quite ironic as Amis is connected in a complicated way with Fleming and Bond fiction.
Given the years 1956 and 1957 as indicated above, one might expect that a Friday the 13th in August would occur in one of those two years. This is not the case. In fact, even 1955 doesn't have one. One has to go back to 1954 for such an August Friday the thirteenth. Mathematically, given the extra day for leap year, one gets the pattern that for any month after February six years is needed at first between years having August Friday then 13ths and then there will be a gap of 11 years. We can see this by studying the month of August. The Augusts of 1948 and 54 had such. It would not be until 1965 that August would again have such a Friday and then one would start the next 6 yr/11 year cycle. In this montage we have provided multiple calendars for various years of the 50s and 60s for you to study.
Why does Fleming go back to 1954 and why does he know that August 12th, 1954 is a Thursday, the day before a Friday the Thirteenth. This question is answered by studying Fleming's life where August 12th twice is a significant event although only one, we're sure, would have influenced the date structure of "From Russia With Love".
Ian Fleming meets Ann Charteris O'Neill (nee Ann Charteris) sometime in the late 1930's. In some ways they mirror each other. Charteris is the daughter of a wealthy family although the wealth is through her parents. Fleming is also part of a wealthy family but the wealth of his family derives through his grandfather. Charteris at this point is married to Shane Edward Robert O'Neill, with at least two children while Fleming is still single with multiple girlfriends and affairs. In this Charteris was similar to Fleming as she also reportedly had multiple male liaisons during this time.
Apparently both enjoyed Sado Masachistic tendencies if any of multiple reports are to be believed. Apparently they took turns in whipping each other (although it was Fleming who most often commandeered the whip) before a passionate night of love making. This montage displays pictures of a young Ann Charteris as found on the internet.
However passionate Fleming was in whipping Ann, his ardor stopped at marrying her even after her husband was killed in action during World War II (Fleming also was in service at that time but was a part of the administrative arm of British Naval intelligence and was based in London while Ann's husband was supposedly killed in action in North Africa). With Fleming refusing to move further than these S/M trysts, the widow Charteris O'Neill marries Esmond Harmsworth, designated as Viscount Rothermere, who owned a major paper in England. Even with this new marriage, Charteris' trysts with Fleming continued and it is said that this resulted in her 1948 pregnancy where the child died shortly after birth. Harmsworth was very aware that he was not responsible for her pregnancy and suspected that Fleming was the culprit and he warned his wife that further such doings would be cause for a divorce. This montage has pictures of Ann's first two husbands with Lord Rothermore rightmost.
In the meantime Fleming had purchased some "North coast" Jamaican property and on it built his Jamaica house which he named Goldeneye. Goldeneye had been one of many code names used for Naval intelligence projects during the war when Fleming was assistant to the Chief of British Naval Intelligence. You can today rent the Fleming estate to vacation while in Jamaica but we assume the amenities at this estate to be quite different than originally put into operation by Fleming. At first the house had few amenities - even hot water was not provided - and its main attraction in those days was that it abetted a cove providing an abundance of sea life. We mention this because if you are Ann Charteris Rothermore in 1949 - fresh from your husband's warning to stop seeing Fleming, yet still so fascinated by this man that you continue to visit Jamaica to be with him - this limited Bachelor pad with no running hot water is much too open to the local gossips and too limiting for you to stay in as you continue these trysts. So, you need an alternate location to stay in to continue the affair when visiting Jamaica.
Fleming was not the only Brit to make Jamaica home after World War Two. A famous playwright and wit also made the move. It's possible that Fleming may have met Noel Coward before the war in some manner but he and Coward became fast friends as both were creating and adapting to Jamaican residences post wwII. Coward apparently had use of one house in Jamaica but this became much too congested with visitors many of whom hung on in their visits. So he built a second place, designated as Firefly, designed for himself and the selected few. Fleming and Coward became fast friends and a release of some of Fleming's correspondence over the years shows that Coward became a part of Fleming's inner circle. Coward was given advance copies of the James Bond books and his review of Fleming writings were of avid interest to the creator of James Bond. These exchanges are among the correspondence found in a new book about Fleming, "The Man With The Golden Typewriter" compiled by Fleming's nephew, Fergus Fleming.
After Ann's hospitalization and the premature death of the child, Ann would tell her husband every year that she wanted to visit Noel Coward at Firefly, Coward's home in Jamaica. This was of course a ruse to continue her sexual escapades with Fleming. Coward took note of this and in his only book - remember Coward was primarily a playwrite - Pomp and Circumstance, he recreated these furtive moves using a fictional South Pacific island as a replacement for the Atlantic based Jamaica.
Of course neither Fleming or Charteris could keep these trysts secret in the tight knit British cliche of the Jamaican colony. They were photographed eating out and no doubt the various whippings waged on each other whenever Ann slept over at Goldeneye became somewhat known. The Viscount Rothermere had had enough and sued for the divorce. Ann found herself in an awkward position requiring Fleming to do the gentlemanly deed of marrying her on March 24,1952 once the divorce was final. Besides the marriage, Ann was pregnant with what would be the couple's only child, Casper, who was born on August 12th, 1952. Notice the date here: Here is the first instance where Aug 12th is a memorable day in Fleming's life as no doubt the birth of his first child made a significant impression on him.
So, it should be clear that 1952 was a significant year in Fleming's life. March would see his first and only marriage, August would see the birth of his only child and March would also see the first draft of Fleming's first attempt at writing a novel: The first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale" which can still be bought on Anazon as indicated in this montage. Fleming claimed that he wrote the novel while in Jamaica to ease the tension waiting for his marriage to Charteris. No doubt the March date was set as the couple waited for a finalization of Ann's divorce and financial settlement.
As far as Casino Royale is concerned, when the couple returns to England, Fleming sets up a lunch with William Plomer. Plomer, as mentioned above, was associated with the British publisher Jonathon Cape and was an author in his own right as this montage shows. In the late 1920's Fleming had been so affected by his reading of one of Plomar's novels, "Turbott Wolfe" published in 1925, that he started a correspondance with Plomar which lasted throughout his lifetime. This would not have been surprising. Throughout his life Fleming took an interest in the written word and this interest encompassed the Fleming collection of books that now resides at the University of Indiana in Bloomington; The Book Collector - a small magazine dedicated to the world of book collecting that Fleming established this same year, 1952; and even to the level of the physical binding of books. Plomer was probably one of many writers that Fleming kept in touch with on a regular basis (probably at lunches). Fleming always said that Plomer's interest was spiked when Fleming asked him at lunch, probably in April, 1952 how best to describe in words a woman exhaling cigarette smoke. "You've written a novel", was Plomer's reaction and, as Fleming probably expected, Plomer volunteered to read this first draft of Casino Royale and subsequently passed it along to his employer, Jonathon Cape.
The result was that in the Spring of 1953 Casino Royale was released to the world. There is no way that this web site can figure out to what degree Fleming researched his thrillers before finally putting them to paper each year. It seems that the aforementioned Casino Royale was a fictional rendition and enhancement of an event that Fleming was a part of in wartime Portugal. The additional early books (Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Diamonds are Forever) that Fleming penned probably were the result of limited research using locations that Fleming visited in the course of his daytime job of reporter. These books gained a following of readers and probably every year Fleming's works became more popular. But, they certainly didn't set the world afire. It is said that Fleming was somewhat torn as to whether he would continue to write an annual Bond thriller. But, if he was going to stop, no doubt he wanted to go out with a bang which would include an ending that could go either way: Bond living or dying. This would be similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Final Problem" that apparently killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893 until Doyle resurrected Holmes after a 10 year period. This montage includes a picture of Doyle and a graphic of Holmes' last minutes as described by Doyle.
Mid 1955 Fleming was scheduled to attend the Interpol 24 general assembly conference reporting for the Sunday Times of London. This interpol convention would take place in Istanbul and Fleming was scheduled to be housed at the newly built Istanbul Hilton. Before discussing Fleming's participation in this, let's talk a little bit about Interpol. In 1914, mass communication had advanced enough that several police officials in Europe began talking about an international police force. The outbreak of World War I negated these plans. In 1923, the plans of 1914 came to fruition. Originally Interpol was constrained to European countries and this created a second problem for Interpol as World War II erupts. The Nazi government of Germany was in a position to, and in fact did, gain control of the organization and morphed it into its own needs. After the war Interpol was restarted with headquarters set in Paris. Today, most countries of the world are members and Interpol leads a world wide force against crime.
So, in June 1955, Ian Fleming is accredited to the 24rd Interpol general assembly. Fleming doesn't realize it at the time but he has entered a maelstorm of discontent. Although the facts are debatable as to what ignited such, what's not debatable is the rioting that hits Turkey, especially Istanbul, with riots and acts of terror against the non turkish population - especially Greeks - in the city. Fleming made the most of his chance for on-scene reportage leaving the safety of the hotel to report (no doubt by courier) from the streets. The riots were a fortuitous event for Fleming as it allowed him to make the acquaintance of Nazim Kalkavan, who had been educated in England. As the riots continue, Kalkavan plays host to Fleming (and keeps him safe) as Fleming begins to do research on the next novel featuring James Bond which he will write in 6 months. Those who have been able to analyze Fleming's notes of the assembly indicate that much of what he doodled would be plot points in his forthcoming novel and it is clear that Fleming modelled Darko Karim, the fictional head of the British Secret Service in Turkey, on Kalkavan. The pictures of this montage show the effects of the riots which were quite violent as you can see. The last picture is from the www.mi6community website reportedly of Kalkavan.
Even the eventful train trip on the Orient Express that would become a part of "From Russia With Love" was experienced by Fleming on this trip. Apparently Fleming's expectations and eventual description of the service was something like twenty years out of date as the days of exquisite services on this train were long past. But apparently Fleming expected no less and it's thanks to Kalkavan that James Bond's creator was supplied with food at the last minute before departure so that Fleming did not have to depend on the almost non existant rail food service.
Six months later, Fleming is hard at work creating one of his most memorable novels, "From Russia With Love". This is a favorite of any Bond afficiando and why not. Everything that a fan finds interesting in Fleming's writing style is on display here. Where detail is necessary, detail is given, but when the action starts, it's like a tidal wave. It is very clear that Fleming was ready with his story from the very first day that he sat down at his typewriter sometime in January, 1956. Besides his acquired knowledge of Istanbul and the Orient Express as indicated above, Fleming had been the recipient of questionable information about the secret and clandestine intelligence services of the Soviet Union apparently provided by Russian intelligence operators who had defected. This time period was at one of the several cold war low points of East-West relations and Fleming used this somewhat fictionalized information to make the entire organization of Smersh responsible for the plot against Bond and the British secret service. But, as a vehicle that leads into the Smersh operation against Bond, Fleming creates a meeting between all the various security services of the then Soviet Union that recounts the various recent failures of the entire soviet intelligence apparat against the West. One such failure, as Fleming has the fictionalized chief of Smersh Colonel General Grubozaboyschikov (known as General G) relate, involves a Petrov and his wife in Australia. Googling "Petrov Australia" - and in truth we have used google to give you informastion on this and the next three montages - you can find that this is a real incident occurring in April, 1954. Petrov is a colonel in the KGB working with his wife in and through the Russian embassy of Australia who defects. His defection is a surprise to his wife who remains at the embassy. The Russian attempt to strongarm her back to the Soviet Union is met with protests by Australian citizens at the airport and she also chooses to defect, but in a more public way. Both of these pictures are from http://petrov.moadoph.gov.au with the first picture of this montage showing Petrov changing cars in his defection
Another failure claimed pertains to an Igor Gouzenko who is responsible in 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, in tipping off Canadian intelligence as to the extent of Soviet espionage throughout Canada. His name reappears in media early in 1954 as it is revealed the Gouzenko has also been quizzed by US experts in intelligence as well. When he first defected he was given a new identity and his picture was banned from publication which necessitated his wearing a hood where applicable as you can see in one of these pictures. Later on in his life he could shed the face mask.
Another name mentioned is Grigori Alexandrovich Tokaev whose background was in jet propulsion and rocketry acquired prior to and during World War II. Directly afterward, Tokaev was a principal in the Soviet Union's attempt to round up German scientists who would be shipped eastward to advance Soviet military capability. Tokaev defected to the British in 1947 and subsequently published several books about his experiences as an intelligence operator for the Soviets including "Betrayal of an Ideal" published in 1954 and perhaps used as reference by Fleming as he prepared his thoughts and notes for "From Russia With Love". To be fair, somewhere Fleming did credit Tokaev for the information used to describe the Smersh organization.
A final reference in the meeting indicated above is the nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs who was one of the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's sources for stealing information about the Manhattan (atomic bomb) project during the war. The subsequent trial and execution of the Rosenbergs (arrested June, 1950 and executed in June, 1953) kept their's and Fuchs name in the news throughout the early 1950's.
Fleming uses General G to mention these four incidents, all of which - including the Rosenbergs as pertains to new revelations of their network - are specifically in the news in 1954 either as incidents, press releases or books. So, its not a surprise - in fact it seems quite reasonable - that Fleming is looking back to 1954 as he sits down at his typewriter to author "From Russia With Love". Probably he already had in mind the fast sequence of events that he would describe in this book once he got around to Bond: Arrival at Istanbul on Friday night during a harrowing flight affected by a severe storm en-route into Greece as a stopover, the next day meeting with Karim Bey on Saturday morning, the walk through the catacombs of the city to spy on the Russian meeting, the Gypsy encampment fight of that evening, the killing of Krilencu, the meetup with the girl in his bedroom that same Saturday night and the next day's escape from Istanbul on the Sunday evening Orient Express. One assumes that he was already going to mention how more eventful Bond's Saturday had been versus the events of Friday. So, why not set the travel day as Friday the thirteenth so that Fleming could muse (through Bond) when caught in the storm about the pros and cons of travelling on such a day. Since the book has Bond using BEA (British European Airlines) for travel to Istanbul with a stop in Athens, our montage here celebrates that airline which was merged with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) into British Airlines (BA) in 1974.
On August 12th, 1954, Casper Fleming would have been 2 years old and no doubt like any parents with a child entering the "terrible two's" stage of life, The Flemings probably did their best to celebrate his birthday with party and fanfare. As the calendar shows above in one of the montages, this would have been a Thursday with the Thirteenth being on Friday. Probably this sequence of days were embedded in the author's mind as he was looking at events occurring in 1954 and earlier. So, it's not surprising that Fleming used this time period for his novel although it was written in early 1956. If August 1954 is the date of the execution of the plan, the beginning plotting of the plan must be a few months earlier. This would tie in with the second paragraph of the first chapter of the book which indicates a watch reading 2:30PM, June 10th, Three quarters moon as we are introduced to one of the villians. We can now add that the watch would also indicate the year 1954. And, some 60 years after Fleming writes the book, we can put pictures to the set of villians arrayed against Bond in the book: Red Grant (Robert Shaw), Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) thanks to the 1963 James Bond movie adaptation of this novel.
If you only saw the movie, many of the events mentioned above might seem strangely absent from the movie script. On screen it is Spectre that instigates the actions of the story and the events spread out at least a week if not more as the movie adds a back and forth communication that Bond establishes with London. The only indication of Friday the thirteenth to moviegoers is when James Bond (Sean Connery) tells Darko Karim (Pedro Armanderiz) that he will tell Titiana (Daniela_Bianchi) that the operation to steal the decoding machine will be on the fourteenth although in reality the operation occurs on the thirteenth. In the movie it is only Bond's remarks to her when she acts surprised (Bianchi: "I thought it was tomorrow. Today's the thirteenth", Connery:It's a hellava time to be superstitious") in the Soviet Embassy that one gets any possible reference that the day is a Friday the Thirteenth.
So, the use of Aug 12, 1954 in "From Russia With Love" is the second important instance of that day in the life of Fleming. This leads us to the third and last use of August 12th in Fleming's life. This occurs 12 years to the day of the birth of his son. We are talking about his death which occurs in the vicinity of the Royal St George's golf club near Sandwich, England. Bond fans (and those who have read or seen the movie Goldfinger) will know of the Royal St George as the golf course where Goldfinger and Bond have their big game of golf and wits halfway through the novel (apparently another golf course was used when shooting these scenes in the movie). In the book Fleming changed the name of the course to the Royal St Marks.
St George's, located at Sandwich bay west of Canterbury, is very famous dating back to its formation in the late 1880's. Golf originated in Scotland and the first golf open outside of Scotland was at this club in 1894 (we list the British open winners to the right - click to enlarge - when the open has been played at St Georges). Fleming had been a member of the club post war and as the years progressed many of his visits to the club did not involve specifically playing the course as he was apparently part of the governing structure of the facility. Such was the case during the second week of August, 1964.
While it is clear that Ian and Ann were soul mates prior to and at the time of their marriage, and the marriage did produce Casper early on, this was a couple that really couldn't live with or without each other. This was clear in terms of the way the marriage progressed. For the first few years Ann would "accompany" Fleming on his trips to Jamaica but she apparently did this by ship given that she had a fear of flying. After a while Ann just stopped coming on a regular basis. With Ann away, Fleming, it is said, had multiple affairs in Ann's absence which would be a problem in any marriage. Of course Ann was having her own affairs. In addition, Ann's circle of friends looked down on Fleming's works - both journalistic and as a novelist - and made this clear at any social gatherings that the couple would attend. Fleming already was a heavy smoker and his smoking was consistent with his character, James Bond, who in the books smokes up to eighty Turkish tobacco cigarettes - Fleming attributed the cigarettes to Morland and Co. - daily. But the addictions would get worse.
Even at that point during the late 50's, early 60's, it was clear that this use of tobacco was life shortening. Fleming extended these risks by also enjoying quite a bit of alcoholic beverages. Interestingly enough, Fleming's favorite drink was not the famous James Bond martini, something he invented for use in Casino Royale. It is reported that Fleming enjoyed bourbon. No doubt the drinking was somewhat controlled in the earlier years but the events of 1960/1961 probably created the impetus to drink even more freely. Very late in the 1950's, Fleming was introduced to the infrequent movie producer, Kevin McClory, by his lifelong friend Ivar Bryce whose real name was John Bryce. Before we discuss the problems with McClory, we should discuss Bryce. Bryce claimed that he met Ian (and the other brothers) on the beach in England in 1917. Unlike Fleming, Bryce would make The United States home. He hooked back up with Ian during WWII when Bryce joined the OSS. After the war Bryce married Josephine Hartford, heir to the A&P fortune. While Hartford owned multiple homes around the world, a horse farm, the Black Hole Hollow Farm, in Vermont would become the couples favorite location. And, enroute to and from Jamaica each year, Fleming would be a frequent visitor.
Anyway, back to the meeting between Bryce, Fleming and McClory (pictured to the left in this montage). This meeting started an early effort to bring the world of James Bond into film. McClory brought in the screenwriter Jack Whittingham and the trio, McClory, Whittingham and Fleming worked on a proposed screenplay. While this effort would prove ineffective, it did provide the theme for Fleming's nineth book, Thunderball. Unfortunately, it also produced a plagiarism suit against Fleming by McClory. While each party of a lawsuit has their own opinion about the legitimacy of their position, there is no question that this lawsuit wore down and gnawed at Fleming and no doubt contributed to his increase in drinking. Given his problems with Ann, one doubts whether there was any guidance in his life that could have cautioned him per the effect on his health. Anyway, these vices and the lawsuit stressed his body to the point that he suffered a heart attack in late 1961.
The stress of this lawsuit, both to his body and his reputation (and of the loss of his greatest fan in the United States, John Kennedy, not to mention his Mother), somewhat forced Fleming to come to a settlement with McClory sometime late in 1963. But he was not a well man. If you read between the lines of reports of his activities during the early 60's you realize this is man who is aging far beyond his years. Even his personalitiy was changing to the point where he was becoming more introverted. This meant fewer trips around London to visit friends. If you dig into this with your own research, you will read of a man who started to seek darkness to ponder his fate as opposed to looking for the daylight.
As indicated above, among the various functions that Fleming contributed his time to was the Royal St George golf course. Besides membership, Fleming apparently was one of the governors. In fact, it is reported that he was the captain-elect by summer, 1964. We assume this title would indicate the titular leader of the board running the golf course. Although he was ill, he decided to attend a meeting of the Board of Governors scheduled to meet during the second week of August, 1964. One doubts that he would have been in any condition to play the course that he so loved during this visit. On Tuesday, August 11th, 1964 Fleming suffered a massive heart attack. Reports indicate that he was on site of the golf course when stricken and these same reports indicate that he apologized to the emergency rescue team for bothering them as they took him to a nearby hospital where he would succomb to the attack in the early hours of the morning of August 12th. He was 56 at the time of his death. His fame was such that word of his death spread around the world in the form of obituary pieces in various media. In this montage we've included the Phila. Inquirer using the AP's coverage and the New York Times. Notice that the NY Times obituary indicated the birthday of his son Casper.
In addition, in weeks the release of the Third James Bond movie, Goldfinger, his seventh book of the series, was scheduled and the publicity of his life just fed into the publicity for this movie. We've included in this montage several of the world-wide movie posters that would appear several weeks after his death.
Fleming's funeral on August 15th was a few days after his death and he was interred in Swindom not far from the house he had built nearby in 1963 where he expected to live on in retirement when not in Jamaica. With the movie Goldfinger's release, publicity about Fleming, whether alive or dead, was intense and this extended to the reading of his will in Nov'64. The fact that he bequeathed to several friends funds to spend on something "extravagent" was publicized way beyond its whimsical intent.
At the time of Fleming's death, his son, Casper, was celebrating his twelve birthday. One has to wonder about growing up in the household that Casper found himself with both parents carrying on multiple affairs as Casper entered his tweens. In addition, in the last few years, Casper had a father who was overdosing on both cigarettes and liquor. After Fleming's death, Casper himself had difficulties with drugs and he died of a drug overdose in 1975. Casper - this montage contains his markers- and Fleming's wife, Ann, who died in 1983 are also buried in the same cemetary that holds his father and her husband. It must be surprising for unaware visitors to see the same day, August 12, indicated as the birthday of his son and the day of Fleming's death.