His missions, his exploits, his conquests ... James Bond fans know everything about agent 007 created by Ian Fleming in 1953, with the exception of one thing: the place where the most famous agent of the secret branch MI6 rests between two exploits saving the world. But this mystery has finally been solved, according to the British author William Boyd, who said Thursday in the Times literary supplement that the spy lives in 25 Wellington Square, in the chic Chelsea district, in the heart of London.
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Clues left by Ian Fleming in his novels
James Bond fan William Boyd reread the 14 novels written in the 1950s and 1960s to write his own sequel, and extracted clues left by Ian Fleming. To do this, he began by cross-checking the elements presented in various works in the series. In "Moonraker" (1955), Fleming portrayed James Bond's home as "a comfortable apartment overlooking a square planted with trees, next to King's Road", famous Chelsea Street.
William Boyd then used the description given in "Operation Thunder" (1961) that the apartment was not a short drive from Hyde Park to reduce its perimeter in Wellington Square.
The address of a friend of Fleming's
In order to determine the exact number, the British author then looked into the personal life of Ian Fleming, focusing inter alia on his period as a journalist for the Sunday Times . He then realized that one of his colleagues, the literary critic Desmond MacCarthy, lived at 25 Wellington Square. He and his wife were known to be "legendary trainers", who often received in their house "become a kind of living room".
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"The evidence is convincing"
"The evidence is convincing. It is very likely that Ian Fleming went to one or more of the MacCarthys' parties," said William Boyd. According to him, the couple's apartment did have a "long living room with large windows", as described in "Good Kisses from Russia" (1957), adding that if the spy's living room was described as "carpeted with books "was probably a nod to Desmond MacCarthy's profession.