The very real talents of the brother of James Bond's creator
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If Ian Fleming is famous, it is as creator of James Bond and therefore responsible for the film franchise based on the character.
But . . . Ian Fleming had a brother. And his brother, Peter Fleming, was an adventure story of his own. A great traveller (unexplored regions of Brazil, Central Asia, China), a travel writer, soldier, and generally always ready for an adventure.
In his quieter moments, he married actress Celia Johnson, of Brief Encounter fame, wrote short stories, was a correspondent for The Times and wrote essays for The Spectator.
It seems enough to put his brother's fictional hero in the shade.
What delights me most in this letter, though, is the revelation that he also had a wry, slightly wicked, sense of humour. And he read P.G. Wodehouse.