Spotting the Differences
Leaving aside the statement that Ian Fleming's creation is a parallel for modern life; there clearly was a time when Bond was not about. Indeed before the year of 1953 there was no Bond - guns were agents of evil and sex was something kept well behind closed doors. Gritty heroes drank black coffee and battled their evils with words, not actions.

James Bond developed as a spark in the mind of creator Ian Fleming during his time in the forces. Although he never saw action as Bond did, Fleming was inspired to pen this extravagant character after a spell in the secret office of the British navy. But it was not the "who" that Fleming was fixated with, but the "what" and "how". Never did Fleming expect "the man with the boring name" to explode into a household legend and a time-changing character - he simply wished to write entertaining spy stories.

A Relic of the Cold War
Fleming thought nothing of labeling his enemies. At the time, it was "clear" to the West that the biggest threat to the civilised world lay in the East. From the frequency of rumours it wasn't unreasonable for Fleming to craft the sadistic Russian organization known as SMERSH who operated under the motto, "Death to Spies".

Since the end of the War in '45, the world was split down the middle. The Western world began to identify new threats and anti-communist propaganda spread freely throughout the UK and America. The words "Stalin", "evil" and "nuclear" were household terms and the West was poisoned with the idea of a Russian threat. With the surrounding anger, it was reasonable for Fleming to associate his villains and their master plans with the stereotype of the "Evil-East". James Bond was born in a time of suspicion, fear, and loathing for the unknown.

The 1950s were the heart of the Cold War - yet 1954, the year of "Casino Royale", saw some restructuring within both Russian and US politics. On the death of Stalin in '53, Nikita Khrushchev took up the presidency of the Soviet Union and in the same year President Eisenhower - the first Republican in 20 years - took up the Oval Office in America.

A New Spy for a New World
James Bond was successful and enduring, iconic and some might say invincible - but he was not born with this status. Granted, he grew quickly to become the most, if not profitable, then unarguably successful series ever.

Some might argue James Bond began in London, when "Casino Royale" hit the printers. Others say it was in Jamaica, when Fleming typed out those first famous words. But the concept of Bond actually began in 1944, when on the side of the road in Cherbourg, France, Fleming was asked about his post-war plans. It was here that Fleming announced he would write "the spy story to end all spy stories" and the pretext of Special Agent 007 was born.

But it was not enough for Bond just to exist. He had to be popular too. His popularity extended from the fact he was an anti-hero - a startling change from anything in fiction before or since. Bond set the standards for action, adventure and most controversially, brutality.

"Casino Royale" was released to satisfactory sales in the UK and many reporters paralleled Fleming to the already successful Raymond Chandler, author of the Philip Marlowe detective series. Fleming and Chandler would later become good associates, sharing a knowledge for the literary business.