On 16 August 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, 'My love, This is only a
tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden
words since it is made of gold'. He had bought the gold-plated typewriter as a
present to himself for finishing his first novel, Casino Royale. It marked in
glamorous style the arrival of James Bond, agent 007, and the start of a career
that saw Fleming become one of the world's most celebrated thriller writers. And
he did write golden words. Before his death in 1964 he produced fourteen
bestselling Bond books, two