Amis, Amis and Bond

By MI6 Staff

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Author Martin Amis passed away last month at the age of 73. His father, Kingsley Amis, was the first James Bond continuation author, penning 'Colonel Sun' in 1968 after Ian Fleming had died four years earlier. Kingsley Amis was a Bond fanatic and published 'The James Bond Dossier' and 'The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007 ' in 1965.

Back in 2007, BBC Radio 4 commissioned a special program for Martin Amis to explore his father's obsession with James Bond with fellow author Charlie Higson, who was at the height of his Young Bond powers at the time. Long lost online, MI6 delved into the archives and has remastered this 15-year-old radio program.

Program Summary
Forty years ago, Kingsley Amis undertook an unusual project analysing in detail all of Ian Fleming's James Bond books, and compiling a guide to being James Bond for prospective spies, based entirely on Fleming's writing.

Comedian and Young Bond author Charlie Higson talks to Martin about his father's Bond obsession, and Fleming's role in his life and work. Film and music extracts are used to add colour and texture and evoke the faded glamour of the Bond novels. The programme also paints a vivid and affectionate portrait of two much-loved, but very different, writers; gives listeners new insights into one of popular culture's best-loved characters; and reveals a hilarious and unknown piece of comic writing: The Book Of Bond.

Amis, Amis And Bond tells the story of all Amis's Bond writings in a funny, pacey, and highly textured fashion.

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on April 17th, 2007 at 11:30am GMT.