This bullet catcher’s #TopFiveBonds challenge was taken up by folk across the globe and showcased the fun home-made creativity, brilliantly divergent opinions and personal passions folk have for all things Bond.
April 2023 marks the seventieth anniversary of the first publication of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale – a literary work that launched a legend, a pop culture icon and a British hero still adventuring across the printed page, cinema screens and headlines the world over.
So, this bullet catching Bond advocate had a mission challenge for all of us to turn our Fleming favourites into a fun celebration, pictorial tribute and survey of our man James in his anniversary year.
The mission was easy.
Simply draw up a 3-2-1 list of your Top Three Bonds as written by Ian Fleming. Jot them down, take a photo of your written list (or create any visual you like) and post a photo or image of your choices by using the #TopThreeBonds hashtag on any or all of your social media accounts.
The more loved an old Bond Pan paperback was the better as Bond readers were encouraged to dust off that cherished first edition, new Folio print gift or even screengrab a Fleming eBook. Many were confident in their faves, threw in some celebratory Fleming quotes, showcased their guilty pleasure cover art, and any Fleming novel or short story was valid.
This bullet catcher then sought out the world’s #TopThreeBonds hashtags across all the leading social media platforms, collated the results and from around one hundred responses the full run-down of folk’s favourite Ian Fleming works on this 70th anniversary is determined.
And the anniversary survey was aptly supported by Charlie Higson. The original Young Bond author for Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., Charlie threw his own #TopThreeBonds into the mix just as was announced that he is to mark the seventieth anniversary of Casino Royale, the birth of Bond and King Charles III’s coronation with a brand new and wholly contemporary Bond story, On His Majesty’s Secret Service.
So fourteen rankings for Ian Fleming’s fourteen literary Bond bullets…
14 / THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1965)
13 / OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1966)
12 / THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1962)
11 / DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1956)
10 / FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1960)
9 / GOLDFINGER (1959)
8 / YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1964)
7 / DR. NO (1958)
6 / THUNDERBALL (1961)
5 / LIVE AND LET DIE (1954)
4 / FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE (1957)
3 / MOONRAKER (1955)
And then something curious happened when tallying up the stats…
We have a joint number one!
1 / CASINO ROYALE (1953)
1/ ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1963)
A massive thanks to all the world’s agents, book and Bond fans who successfully completed the mission. It was not possible to credit and name everyone’s dossier or photo efforts, but each and every effort helped mark Double O-Seventy years of spy-making brilliance, readership and adventure.