Born on this day in 1908, author Ian Fleming captured the imagination of generations by writing spy novels about secret agent 007 James Bond. The books he began to write during the 1950s were very popular, and would lead to a series of James Bond movies. In fact, they’re still making them today–although a little more grown up than they were during other times. Nowadays, a child is best introduced to the James Bond movies of the 1970s–that being the ones starring Roger Moore. He’s a really good First James Bond for kids today.
It’s also always fun to watch the television show he created for America called The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (That stands for United Network Command For Law and Enforcement.) It looks like there’ll be a big-screen version of that ’60s spy show playing in theaters in a couple of years, so maybe that’ll get us some Man from U.N.C.L.E. reruns going.
Ian Fleming isn’t famous for just his spy novels, though. A lot of grown-ups are still surprised to learn that Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang–which used to be a popular children’s book about a flying car. It’s considered a classic nowadays–and it was a Broadway musical a few years ago–but families really need to rediscover the book. There was a movie that was a lot of fun, too.
Check out the trailer for that below, along with what might very well be the most kid-friendly of all the James Bond films. (We asked around to make sure.) These fun clips will have you wishing that Ian Fleming was still around. Especially since his goal was always to inspire readers both young and old to enjoy reading as literature. That’s a birthday gift that a lot of us got from Ian Fleming…
