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BRIEF #1 – THE NEWSGROUP AND ITS FOCUS If you are checking out the newsgroup, welcome. This is the official FAQ for alt.fan.james-bond. Anything regarding James Bond is a valid topic here, including films and books, spoofs, actors, filmmakers and authors, collectibles, music, and on and on. The newsgroup has been the place for finding Bond information since 1992. As a result, you will find many of the denizens here have been acquainted for a while and have knowledge from the effortless to the arcane. Do not be put off by this. Being a non-moderated newsgroup, the only way to fail to ingratiate yourself is to troll or further trolling behavior, ask for everyone's "favorite" this or that or to fail to check out this FAQ for the simple questions contained herein. The FAQ does not aim to answer anything except FREQUENTLY asked questions. So if it is in here it has been asked before, repeatedly. alt.fan.james-bond is NOT a binaries newsgroup and you should not post large binary files. If you want multimedia files look for alt.binaries.james-bond, which is the place to find them. If your news server does not carry it you might suggest to them to start doing so. David Marsh wrote version 1.0 of the FAQ in November 1994. From there, it became the purview of Panos Sambrakos and the others listed at the top of the document starting December 18, 1996. They maintained it until version 5.0 was released October 13, 2000. Starting with version 2.2, the FAQ has carried the status of an "official" Internet FAQ. You are reading an original work based upon the previous incarnations. Micheal Reed was the previous caretaker and much of the work that he put into it is still here. This is the first FAQ that is no longer associated directly with Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the official web presence of the Ian Fleming Foundation for over ten years. Due to the editors private and professional lives pulling them into exciting and rewarding new directions, Panos Sambrakos informed alt.fan.james-bond that there would be no further updates to his website but all other content will be kept intact, a library to research the world of 007 before the time of Daniel Craig strapped on the PPK for his first turn James Bond in Casino Royale. With all endings come new beginnings as the Internet FAQ for alt.fan.james-bond finds a new "home" on Paul Baack and Tom Zielinski's website Her Majesty's Secret Servant. 4 – The character of James Bond James Bond is a fictional British secret agent. He holds the "double-o" prefix, which gives him a licence to kill in the course of his duties for MI6. He first appeared in novel form in 1953, created by author Ian Fleming. More information regarding Fleming and the books can be found in Brief #3, Sections #2 and #2A. Fleming based James Bond on an amalgamation of people he knew while in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, along with some of the exploits Fleming wanted to participate in himself. Fleming never got to spend much time in the field and unlike his creation's affinity for high stakes gambling, Fleming typically played for small change. The name of his handiwork came to pass by simple observation. His wife enjoyed a coffee table book entitled Field Guide To Birds Of The West Indies. Fleming wanted a simple, straightforward name for his workmanlike agent. He saw the author of that book was an ornithologist named James Bond and borrowed it. His character has no middle name. He later told the real James Bond that should a particularly foul species of bird be discovered, he would graciously lend his name to it. The Bond film Die Another Day features the actual book and the agent posing as the ornithologist. He chose the "00" designation after a real life occurrence. During his Whitehall tenure he pursued secret documents prefixed with "00". (Submitted by Rhino) |
