14. Fleming’s Bond was a reflection of his own experiences and fantasies
Both James Bond, at least as he was originally portrayed in the novels, and Ian Fleming shared a remarkable number of character traits. Both preferred the companionship of married women. Both smoked custom-made cigarettes, though Fleming used a holder, an affectation which he did not give his spy. Both enjoyed vodka at a time when gin was the preferred white liquor in the west. Both drove a Bentley (though Fleming soon switched to American cars), enjoyed scuba and snorkeling, and exhibited a staunch British stiff upper lip. Both were somewhat contemptuous of Americans. They used the same brands of personal hygiene products, exhibited the same tastes in clothes and foods.
Both James Bond and Ian Fleming were heavy smokers, averaging about 60-70 cigarettes per day (a factor in Fleming’s relatively early demise from heart disease). Both purchased their cigarettes from the London tobacconist, Morland’s of Grosvenor Street. Bond would purchase Chesterfield cigarettes when his own weren’t available, as would his creator. Both had a decided taste for scrambled eggs. Fleming didn’t provide details of Bond’s youth until after the first movies featuring his character appeared; when Scottish actor Sean Connery played him in Dr. No, Fleming added to the literary character’s background as a Scottish father and youth in that country, as well as a Swiss mother.