General Chat

I thought that reference to the "secret army" was interesting too -- it probably isn't new to anyone else, but I've only ever heard it in the title of Secret Army, one of my favourite TV series.

Early in the days of No.2 pressing his suit for my hand ... oh my goodness, this weekend is 2 years from when he first urged me to leave No.1 and marry him, the first thing he ever said to me ;) ... he proposed that we do the deed at Bletchley Park. That was just the most romantic thing I'd ever had said to me -- not to mention how impressed I was that a yankee boy even knew what it was!

Janey - I have a James Bond too!

I used to know a friend that was in charge of the Kent Secret Army - a wonderful man that died last year with a fasinating history.....that's where my interest lies.

i loved reading the james bond books they were better than the films i liked sean connery my husband likes roger moore he says hes the best bond

Yes, but did you know -- I am related to 007?

My old Ernest Monck/Hill was the son of a Ms Bond from St Stephens by Saltash, Cornwall. That clan is the "Bonds of Erth", who go back to the beginning of parish record-keeping in Cornwall, and in fact to the Domesday Book.

Their family motto is "Orbis Non Sufficit", which is Latin for .......... The World is not Enough. Yup, it was the family motto of Bond, James Bond. Ian Fleming did his homework indeed!

Actually, it seems that James never established his connection to the family/motto. Unlike moi! I mean, if we believe the Victorian tale that lays it all out. ;)

That is interesting about Fleming. A bit more from that wiki - his gravestone inscription:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fleming_(writer)

He travelled widely in far places;
Wrote, and was widely read.
Soldiered, saw some of danger's faces,
Came home to Nettlebed.

The squire lies here, his journeys ended -
Dust, and a name on a stone -
Content, amid the lands he tended,
To keep this rendezvous alone.

I wonder whether Ian wrote it?

That's really interesting, thank-you.

Did you know Ian Flemming author of 007 had a brother called Peter who is credited with setting up the forerunner to MI6?

Perhaps this is where Ian got his imagination from(?).

Peter Fleming was one of four sons of the barrister and MP Valentine Fleming who was killed in action in 1917, having served as MP for Henley from 1910. His younger brother was Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books.

Peter Fleming was educated at Eton College and then at Christ Church, Oxford. While at Eton, he was the editor of the Eton College Chronicle, and the Peter Fleming Owl (the English meaning of "Strix", the name under which he later wrote for The Spectator) is still awarded every year to the best contributor to the Chronicle.

In 1935, he married the actress Celia Johnson (1908–1982), best known for her role in the film Brief Encounter.

During World War II, he served with the Grenadier Guards; later Peter and his brother Ian were commissioned by Colin Gubbins to help establish the Auxiliary Units. This was to be the "secret army" of civilian volunteers that would fight on, behind enemy lines, as part of the British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. Fleming later served in Norway and Greece; his principal service, however, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of "D Division," in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia. He received an OBE in 1945 for his services.