peter fleming travel writer

Artistic Licence Renewed

The literary james bond magazine, expedition fleming: writer, traveller, soldier, spy.

Article by Dannielle Shaw

‘One reads him for literary delight and for the pleasure of meeting an Elizabethan spirit allied to a modern mind’. Vita Sackville-West on Peter Fleming.

Traditionally, the spy’s coterie has a shared interest and expertise in language, self-reliance, interpersonal skills, military experience, experience abroad, higher education, life experience, and a proficiency for storytelling. Peter Fleming had all of the above, and more. He had connections, and an excellent family background. Educated at Eton and then to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a first in English – he was both a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society and of the notorious Bullingdon Club, whose members have included an array of faces later seen tasked with tending to Britain’s political establishment. But this was not to be Peter’s fate. Instead, he became literary editor for The Spectator, but was a rather restless being and in 1932, after eschewing ennui for excitement, Peter embarked on a much-needed adventure by replying to his ‘favourite sort of advertisement’ in the Agony Column of The Times:

Exploring and sporting expedition, under experienced guidance, leaving England June, to explore rivers Central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Fawcett; abundance game, big and small; exceptional fishing’ ROOM TWO MORE GUNS; highest references expected and given. – Write Box X, The Times, E.C.4. (p.12 Brazilian Adventure).

Peter deliberated at first, and pretended to himself that it would be too absurd to ‘give up a literary editorship of the most august of weekly journals in favour of a wild-goose chase’, but relented, and wrote off to Box X with a laconic response: Peter Fleming, 24, Eton. Christ Church, Oxford. Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond series, described his brother, Peter, as a ‘law unto himself’, and as Peter chose to descend into the perilous Conradian backdrop of uncharted jungle and exotic tropical flora and fauna, we can begin to comprehend why Ian might say so.

Photo: The Press Reader

Aspiring to the improbable is what made Peter tick, that, and the hunt. Peter was an excellent marksman and loved shooting, and though the expedition failed – unable to ascertain the fate of Captain Fawcett – he had enough material to produce the best-selling travelogue Brazilian Adventure (1933).

Duff Hart-Davis, Peter’s only biographer to-date, noted that

The expedition as a whole left him outwardly unchanged, but it taught him a good deal about himself – that his powers of leadership, for instance, were considerable, and easily asserted themselves in a crisis; that his physical endurance was equal to anybody’s, and his tolerance of discomfort astonishing. (p.109, Hart-Davis)

But the most important thing that Peter learned on this trip was that he was compelled to seek adventure: he needed to battle danger, and he needed to write about the experience. From this, ‘he found enormous satisfaction and set the pattern of his life for the next few years’. After Brazil, Peter went on to the Far East and Moscow, and it was these adventures, combined with the skills gained in the Brazilian rainforest, that would furnish him with an advantage during the impending war.

Peter had extensive knowledge of the Far East, and was recruited to serve as an intelligence agent for field work and special duties. Peter’s knowledge and experience was so in demand that he was recruited an entire month before the Second World War was officially declared. His position in intelligence, would take him all over the globe – to Norway, Africa, Egypt, Greece, India, and China. Subsequently, Peter went on to work in strategic deception, something his brother Ian would later find himself doing for British disinformation strategies, such as Operation Mincemeat in 1943.

Whilst Peter is often referred to as one of the blueprints for Bond, it is important to understand that he was so much more than that. He was a best-selling author, a journalist, an adventurer, a travel writer, the husband of an Oscar-award-winning actress Celia Johnson (of Brief Encounter fame), a squire of his country estate in Nettlebed, father to three children, and an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Ian believed Peter ‘seemed so perfect’ growing up (p.7, Lycett), and from reading the illustrious list of aforementioned achievements, one can see why.

Though Peter acknowledged that the brothers ‘fought like cat and dog’, he maintained that they were close. Ian, however, perhaps understandably, felt like he was a pale imitation of his more successful, more distinguished older brother. In The Letters of Ann Fleming , Mark Amory, Ann’s literary executor and family friend, Amory remarks that,

He [Ian] was not however as classically handsome as his elder brother Peter; nor was he as clever, popular, rich, serious, or virtuous. Ian had grown up in the shadow of just about the most promising young man in the country and one on whom the elder generation beamed approval. (p. 35, Amory)

Ian lacked the academic capabilities that came so easily to Peter. And Peter’s formative years were not marred by scandals like Ian’s had been. There was only a year between them, but Peter often led the way with occupations and endeavours that Ian himself would later engage with. For example, Ian acquired his position in intelligence five months after Peter had first secured his.

Similarly, Peter wrote The Sixth Column (1952), an espionage-themed novel which satires the bureaucratization of the secret services, which he dedicates to Ian, an entire year before Casino Royale was published. Many marvel at how quickly Ian produced his novels, but with his brother forever pipping him to the post perhaps this gave Ian further incentive and fuel for the fire. It was at Peter’s behest that his first publishers, Jonathan Cape, were also to – rather reluctantly – become Ian’s. Ian continued to use Jonathan Cape for his famed espionage series for the rest of his life. He also used them when publishing his own well-humoured travelogue, Thrilling Cities (1963). Both brothers shared a deep passion for adventure, travel, and writing: the hybrid role of the traveller-intelligencer is a shared leitmotif in the Fleming brothers’ catalogue.

The influence Peter had over his brother has often been discussed by biographers of Ian Fleming including John Pearson, Andrew Lycett, and most recently by Robert Harling. Both born in May, almost a year apart with Peter on the 31 st and Ian on the 28 th . Peter, rather prematurely, became the man of the house at an early age when his father, the MP Valentine Fleming, a close friend of Winston Churchill, was killed in action by German bombs in Picardy, in 1917. Peter, in his own words, recalled the day that Evelyn Fleming received the telegram relaying Val’s death, and remembers being told ‘you must be very good and brave, Peter, and always help your mother: because now you must take your father’s place.’ Those words rang out for Peter, who acknowledged them and absorbed them instinctively.

Throughout his life, Peter continued to give his unwavering support to his family. Peter was always there for Ian, and took a special interest in his writing career; carefully editing, proofreading, and suggesting changes to character’s names, including Miss Moneypenny. Peter also continued to support Ann and Caspar, Ian’s wife and only child, after Ian’s death. In a letter to Evelyn Waugh, Ann Fleming discusses dealing with the solicitors after Peter’s mother’s death (Evelyn Fleming died less than one month before Ian). She describes the Flemings sifting through Eve’s goods, eldest first, but finishes the portrait with a sad and arresting illustration,

‘Peter Fleming gazed as one on a mountain in Tibet, puffing his pipe and nary a glance at his relations.’ (p.362 Amory)

Forever consumed by his travels, forever eschewing ennui or suffering with escapism. There is real deference to Peter as patriarch of the Flemings, evident when Ann, though vehemently against the Bond continuation series that Kingsley Amis was about to commence, notes ‘since Peter Fleming agrees to the counterfeit Bond, I am prepared to accept his judgement. Though my distaste for the project is in no way altered.’ (p.383 Amory) Ann valued, respected, and accepted Peter’s opinion, just as the other Flemings had done so.

Having established himself as an impressive adventurer and explorer, a military leader in time of war, and a proficient editor and writer long after his days with the Eton College Chronicle , Peter Fleming became the best-selling author of 19 books. These achievements should not be forgotten. He thrived as a writer, as a traveller, as a soldier, and as a spy.

On August 18 th 1971, Peter shot a brace of pheasants then collapsed and died after suffering a heart attack whilst on a shooting holiday near the Black Rock in Scotland. Characteristically, Peter had prepared for this event and had written a set of ten instructions regarding his funeral arrangements four years ahead of his untimely death. Requests from the list include having his dog present at the funeral; that his coffin be made from the wood from the estate; for any estate workers who attended or helped with the funeral ‘to be given a good, strong drink when it is over’; and for there to be ‘no mourning’. Along with these instructions was an epitaph, a draft form of which still exists in the Peter Fleming Papers at Reading University Library.

To understand the man that fashioned himself as a writer, traveller, and soldier, then we need look no further than to the self-composed epitaph that consolidates all that Peter was and how he wished to be remembered:

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.

Bibliography

Fleming, Peter, Brazilian Adventure , Jonathan Cape, (London, 1933)

Fleming, Peter, One’s Company , Jonathan Cape, (London, 1943)

Fleming, Peter, The Sixth Column , Rupert Hart-Davis (London, 1951)

Fleming, Peter, My Aunt’s Rhinoceros , Rupert Hart-Davis, (London, 1956)

Fleming, Peter, Invasion 1940 , Rupert Hart-Davis, (London, 1957)

Fleming, Peter, With the Guards to Mexico! Rupert Hart-Davis (London, 1957)

Fleming, Peter, The Gower Street Poltergeist, Rupert Hart-Davis, (London, 1958)

Fleming, Peter, The Siege at Peking, Arrow Books (London, 1959)

Lycett, Andrew, Ian Fleming, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, (London, 1995)

Hart-Davis, Duff, Peter Fleming , OUP, (Oxford, 1987)

Ed., Amory, Mark, The Letters of Ann Fleming, Collins Harvill, (London, 1985)

MS 1391 J/13, Peter Fleming Papers, The University of Reading Library

Incidental Intelligence

Danielle Shaw is a biographer who has written and published on numerous twentieth-century lives. She is currently completing a PhD on sixteenth-century soldier-spies. She works in the School of History at the University of East Anglia and lives in Norwich.

Remembering Ian and Caspar Fleming on August 12

To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria

The parallel lives of Peter and Ian Fleming  (Bond Memes)

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Fleming, Peter

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

(1907-1971) UK journalist, author and travel writer, brother of Ian Fleming , known mainly for such travel books as Brazilian Adventure ( 1933 ), whose gritty irreverence (both for the place visited and for the visitor) made him famous. In his spoof sf novel, The Flying Visit ( 1940 ), Adolf Hitler parachutes into the UK with amusing results (the book was published before Rudolf Hess's actual descent upon Scotland in May 1941). The tale was reprinted, along with a fantasy, "The Man with Two Hands", in With the Guards to Mexico! and Other Excursions (coll 1957 ). Some of the tales in A Story to Tell and Other Tales (coll 1942 ) are fantasies; The Sixth Column: A Singular Tale of our Time ( 1951 ), a political Satire set in an implied Near Future , verges on sf. Invasion 1940: An Account of the German Preparations and the British Counter-Measures ( 1957 ; vt Operation Sea Lion 1957 ), a nonfiction study of German plans to invade the UK, speculatively presents a successful outcome (see Hitler Wins ). [JC]

Robert Peter Fleming

born London: 31 May 1907

died Argyll, Scotland: 18 August 1971

• The Flying Visit (London: Jonathan Cape, 1940 ) [hb/David Low]
• A Story to Tell and Other Tales (London: Jonathan Cape, 1942 ) [coll: hb/]
• The Sixth Column: A Singular Tale of our Time (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1951 ) [hb/]
• With the Guards to Mexico! and Other Excursions (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957 ) [coll: hb/]
• Operation Sea Lion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957 ) [nonfiction: vt of the above: hb/]
• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Picture Gallery

previous versions of this entry

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Peter Fleming

• Bibliography
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Peter Fleming was born in 1907. His father, Valentine Fleming, a barrister, was MP for Henley 1910-1917 and was killed in action in 1917. Peter's brother Ian, the creator of James Bond, was born in 1908. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, Peter Fleming became literary editor of The Spectator and travelled widely, chiefly as Special Correspondent for The Times , for which he also wrote many Fourth Leaders during the later 1930s. He published popular travel books during this period, including Brazilian Adventure (1933), One's Company: a journey to China (1934) and News from Tartary (1936). In 1935 he married the actress Celia Johnson.

In 1939 he joined the Grenadier Guards, serving in Norway in 1940, in Greece in 1941 and subsequently in Burma, ending the war as head of strategic deception in South East Asia Command. In 1945 he received the OBE. After the war he retired to Merrimoles, his estate at Nettlebed in the Chilterns, to lead the life of a literary squire. He wrote pieces for The Times and The Spectator , the latter under the pseudonym Strix . He also published four books recounting historical episodes, including an account of the threatened invasion of Britain in 1940, the Younghusband expedition to Lhasa, the siege of Peking during the Boxer rebellion, and a study of the White Russian leader Admiral Kolchak. Peter Fleming died in August 1971, while on a shooting expedition to Scotland.

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Peter Fleming

(1907—1971) writer and traveller

Quick Reference

journalist and travel writer, brother of Ian Fleming, is remembered largely for his travel books, which include Brazilian Adventure (1933) and News from Tartary (1936), an account of an overland journey from Peking to Kashmir.

From:   Fleming, Peter   in  The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature »

Subjects: Literature

PETER FLEMING, 64, A BRITISH WRITER

LONDON, Aug. 19 — Peter Fleming author and explorer and brother of the late Ian Fleming, died yesterday while grouse hunting in Black Mount Argyllshire Scotland. He was 64 years old.

His first book, “Brazilian Adventure,” came about as a result of answering an ad in the Times of London inviting applicants to join a search party in the jungles of Brazil for three men who had disappeared.

Mr. Fleming went on the expedition but found that his companions had no taste for the wilds of the unexplored Matto Grosso. He arid a friend pressed ahead but soon they too decided they were not quite intrepid enough and they returned to civilization — even before the other party.

His book reflecting this was a successful parody of adventure stories, and effectively demolished the boastful type of travel books then being churned old.

Mr. Fleming traveled widely in the 1930's, in Asia and the Soviet Union and reported on his travels in “one's company” and “News from Tartary.”

Known Before His Brother

Thus, he was an established author long before his brother became famous as the creator of James Bond.

Peter Fleming had an unconventional career during the World War II in which he served as a colonel in the Grenadier Guards after the British withdrawal from Norway in 1.940.

Returning to an England expecting an invasion, he organized similar groups in the southeast burying arms and explosives for use behind the enemy lines if they ever got ashore. He did the same in Greece after the Germans had occupied that country.

Later he moved to the Asian Theater and he was‐instrumental in helping the evacuation of British troops from Burma into India He devised a dummy staff and a complex series of battle plans that the Japanese were convinced was the true British plan of battle for India and Burma.

After the war Mr. Fleming returned to live in the English countryside where he was active in local affairs in Ox fordshire where he had a home. He was fond of shooting and riding and wrote frequent articles for British publications. He occasionally went abroad as a special correspondent for The Times of London.

His other books included “Invasion 1940,” an account of Hitler's plans for the invasion of England, “The Siege at Peking,” “Bayonets to Ihasa,” and “The Fate of Admiral Kolchak.”

Son of a Major

Mr. Fleming was born in London May 31. 1907 the son of Maj. Valentine Fleming member of Parliament and Evelyn Beatrice Ste.Croix Fleming. He attended Eton and Christ Church College Oxford, where he edited the weekly Isis and graduated with honors in English literature in 1929.

He entered journalism as a staff member on The London Evening standard, worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation and conducted a department for The Spectator. His pen name for much of this writing was Moth. Travel, however remained his chief interest.

In 1935, he married Celia Johnson, the actress. They had one son and two daughters.

Peter Fleming (writer)

Peter Fleming ( 31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971 ) was a British adventurer and travel writer. He was brother to James Bond author, Ian Fleming, and one of the main people on whom the character was based.

Quotes [ edit ]

• One's company: A Journey to China , on the train from Pinsiang to Changsha, September 1933.

External links [ edit ]

• A short biography provided by the University of Reading
• A profile stressing his travel writing
• Peter Fleming's rook rifle – a correspondence
• Podcast talk and live blogging at the Shanghai International Book Festival with Paul French's talk on Peter Fleming
• "Peter Fleming" by Paul French

• Author stubs
• Travel writers
• 1971 deaths

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Peter Fleming (1907-1971)

IMDbPro Starmeter See rank

• 1960 • 1 ep

• Self (as Colonel Peter Fleming)
• 1970 • 1 ep
• Self - Panellist
• 1956 • 1 ep
• short story

Personal details

• Colonel Peter Fleming
• May 31 , 1907
• London, England, UK
• August 18 , 1971
• Black Mount, Argyllshire, Scotland, UK (heart attack)
• Celia Johnson December 10, 1935 - August 18, 1971 (his death, 3 children)
• Children Kate Grimond
• Relatives Amaryllis Fleming (Half Sibling)
• Other works Book: "One's Company".

Did you know

• Trivia Is the brother of author Ian Fleming .

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Master of Deception: The Wartime Adventures of Peter Fleming Hardcover – August 22, 2019

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 352 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date August 22, 2019
• Dimensions 6.51 x 1.28 x 9.24 inches
• ISBN-10 178831509X
• ISBN-13 978-1788315098
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Editorial Reviews

“Peter Fleming has been best remembered as an adventurous travel writer and brother of author Ian Fleming, making him an uncle of James Bond. In this readable account we are introduced properly to Peter Fleming, the wartime intelligence officer and master of the arts of deception against the Japanese Army in South East Asia. Alan Ogden's well researched biography reveals a little understood period in the life of an exceptional human being.” ― Professor Sir David Omand, former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator “Alan Ogden's masterly study of Peter Fleming, a man as brilliant as a Second World War intelligence officer (and brother of the better-known Ian) as a Times journalist, is a book about military intelligence at its best during the Second World War. Fleming's plans for 'stay behind' guerrilla units in Sussex and Kent (to fight the Wehrmacht on British soil, had the Nazis invaded Britain), his courageous (and highly explosive) acts of sabotage against the advancing German forces in Greece, as well as the intricate and intellectually refined strategies of deception and future 'Imperial Intelligence' that he developed to help win the war in the Far East, make this crisp study of the breadth and the depth of Fleming's skills a gripping introduction to the field.” ― Professor Anthony Glees, Director, Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, The University of Buckingham

About the Author

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Academic (August 22, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 178831509X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788315098
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.64 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.51 x 1.28 x 9.24 inches
• #3,879 in Political Intelligence
• #5,103 in Historical British Biographies
• #6,666 in WWII Biographies

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Peter Fleming (writer)

• View history

Robert Peter Fleming , OBE (31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971) was a British adventurer and travel writer . [1] He was the elder brother of Ian Fleming , creator of James Bond.

• 1 Early life
• 2.1 In Brazil
• 2.2 In Asia
• 3 Wartime Service and After
• 6 Quotations
• 7.1 Non-fiction
• 7.2 Fiction
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Early life [ ]

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. Peter's younger brother was Ian Fleming , author of the James Bond books. Fleming was educated at Eton College, where he edited the Eton College Chronicle . 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 . He went on from Eton to Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated with a first-class degree in English. In 1935 he married the actress Celia Johnson (1908–1982), best known for her role in the film Brief Encounter .

Travels [ ]

In brazil [ ].

In April 1932 Fleming replied to an advertisement in the personal columns of The Times : "Exploring and sporting expedition, under experienced guidance, leaving England June to explore rivers central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Percy Fawcett ; abundant game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns; highest references expected and given." He then joined the expedition, organised by Robert Churchward, to São Paulo, then overland to the rivers Araguaia and Tapirapé , heading towards the last-known position of the Fawcett expedition. During the inward journey the expedition was riven by increasing disagreements as to its objectives and plans, centred particularly on its local leader, whom Fleming disguised as "Major Pingle" when he wrote about the expedition. Fleming and Roger Pettiward (a school and university friend recruited onto the expedition as a result of a chance encounter with Fleming) led a breakaway group. This group continued for several days up the Tapirapé to São Domingo, from where Fleming, Pettiward, Neville Priestley and one of the Brazilians hired by the expedition set out to find evidence of Fawcett's fate on their own. After acquiring two Tapirapé guides the party began a march to the area where Fawcett was reported to have last been seen. They made slow progress for several days, losing the Indian guides and Neville to foot infection, before admitting defeat.

The expedition's return journey was made down the River Araguaia to Belém . It became a closely fought race between Fleming’s party and "Major Pingle", the prize being to be the first to report home, and thus to gain the upper hand in the battles over blame and finances that were to come. Fleming's party narrowly won. The expedition returned to England in November 1932.

Fleming's book about the expedition, Brazilian Adventure , has sold well ever since it was first published in 1933, and it is still in print.

In Asia [ ]

Fleming travelled from Moscow to Peking via the Caucasus, the Caspian, Samarkand, Tashkent, the Turksib Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway to Peking as a special correspondent of The Times . His experiences were written up in One's Company (1934). He then went overland in company of Ella Maillart from China to India on a journey written up in News from Tartary (1936). These two books were combined as Travels in Tartary: One's Company and News from Tartary (1941). All three volumes were published by Jonathan Cape.

According to Nicolas Clifford, for Fleming China “had the aspect of a comic opera land whose quirks and oddities became grist for the writer, rather than deserving any respect or sympathy in themselves”. [2] In One's Company , for example, Fleming reports that Beijing was “lacking in charm”, Harbin was a city of “no easily definable character”. Changchun was “entirely characterless”, and Shenyang was “non-descript and suburban". However, Fleming also provides insights into Manchukuo , the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, which helped contemporary readers to understand Chinese resentment and resistance. In the course of these travels Fleming met and interviewed many prominent figures in Central Asia and China, including the Chinese Muslim General Ma Hushan , the Chinese Muslim Taoyin of Kashgar, Ma Shaowu , and Pu Yi .

Of Travels in Tartary , Owen Lattimore remarked that Fleming, who "passes for an easy-going amateur, is in fact an inspired amateur whose quick appreciation, especially of people, and original turn of phrase, echoing P. G. Wodehouse in only a very distant and cultured way, have created a unique kind of travel book". Lattimore added that it "is only in the political news from Tartary that there is a disappointment," as, in his view, Fleming offers "a simplified explanation, in terms of Red intrigue and Bolshevik villains, which does not make sense." [3]

Wartime Service and After [ ]

During the Second War he served initially with the Grenadier Guards , but later he and his brother Ian were commissioned by Colin Gubbins to help to establish the Auxiliary Units , which were to be a "secret army" of civilian volunteers who would fight on behind enemy lines if Britain was invaded. Peter Fleming later served in Norway and Greece, but his principal service, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of D Division, in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia. He was awarded the Order of the Cloud and Banner, a Chinese military honour, and in 1945 he received an OBE (Military Division) for his services. [4] [ citation needed ]

After the war Peter Fleming retired to squiredom at Nettlebed , Oxfordshire. He is buried in Nettlebed Churchyard.

After the death of his brother Ian, Peter Fleming served on the board of Glidrose , Ltd, the company purchased by Ian to hold the literary rights to his professional writing, particularly the James Bond novels and short stories. Peter also tried to become a substitute father for Ian's surviving son, Caspar, who overdosed on narcotics in his twenties.

Peter and Celia Fleming remained married until his death of a heart attack in 1971, while on a shooting expedition near Glencoe in Argyll, Scotland. He was also survived by their three children:

• (Valentine) Nicholas Fleming (1939–1996), known as Nichol Fleming , writer and squire of Nettlebed. He deposited Peter Fleming's papers for public access at the University of Reading in 1975. These include several unpublished works, as well as the manuscripts of several of his books that are now out of print. Nichol Fleming's partner for many years was the merchant banker Christopher Roxburghe Balfour (b. 1941), brother of Neil Balfour , second husband (1969–78) of Princess Jelizaveta of Yugoslavia . Nettlebed is now jointly owned by his sisters. (Source: obituary in The Independent and thepeerage.com).
• (Roberta) Katherine Fleming (b. 1946), writer and publisher, is now Kate Grimond, wife of Johnny Grimond, foreign editor of The Economist . Grimond is the elder surviving son of the late British Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond , and grandson maternally of Violet Bonham-Carter , herself daughter of the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith . Kate and John have three children, Jessie (a journalist), Rose (an actress turned organic foods entrepreneur) and Georgia (a journalist at The Economist online).
• Lucy Fleming (born 1947), now Lucy Williams, is an actress. In the 1970s she starred as Jenny in the BBC's apocalyptic fiction series Survivors . She was first married in 1971 to Joseph "Joe" Laycock (d. 1980), son of a family friend Robert Laycock and his wife Angela Dudley Ward, and was on honeymoon at the time of her father's sudden death in Argyllshire. Lucy and Joe had two sons and a daughter, Flora. Flora and her father, Joe, were drowned in a boating accident in 1980. At the time of their deaths Lucy and Joe were separated on good terms. Lucy later married the actor and writer Simon Williams. Her sons are Diggory and Robert Laycock.

Peter Fleming was the godfather of the British author and journalist Duff Hart-Davis , who wrote Peter Fleming: A Biography , published by Jonathan Cape in 1974). Duff's father Rupert Hart-Davis , a publisher, was good friends with Peter, who gave him a home on the Nettlebed estate for many years and gave financial backing to his publishing ventures. (Source: "Celia Johnson" , retrieved 17 September 2013).

The Peter Fleming Award, worth 9,000 pounds, is given by the Royal Geographic Society for a "research project that seeks to advance geographical science". [5]

Fleming's book about the British military expedition to Tibet in 1903 to 1904 is credited in the Chinese film Red River Valley (1997).

Quotations [ ]

• "São Paulo is like Reading, only much farther away." – Brazilian Adventure
• "Public opinion in England is sharply divided on the subject of Russia. On the one hand you have the crusty majority, who believe it to be a hell on earth; on the other you have the half-baked minority who believe it to be a terrestrial paradise in the making. Both cling to their opinions with the tenacity, respectively, of the die-hard and the fanatic. Both are hopelessly wrong." – One's Company
• The recorded history of Chinese civilization covers a period of four thousand years.

Fleming's works [ ]

Fleming was a special correspondent for The Times and often wrote under the pen-name "Strix" (Latin for "screech owl") an essayist for The Spectator .

Non-fiction [ ]

• 1933 Brazilian Adventure — Exploring the Brazilian jungle in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett .
• 1934 One's Company : A Journey to China in 1933 — Travels through the USSR, Manchuria and China. Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary .
• 1936 News from Tartary : A Journey from Peking to Kashmir — Journey from Peking to Srinagar via Sinkiang. He was accompanied on this journey by Ella Maillart (Kini). Later reissued as half of Travels in Tartary .
• 1952 A Forgotten Journey — A diary Fleming kept during a journey through Russia and Manchuria in 1934. Reprinted as To Peking: A Forgotten Journey from Moscow to Manchuria (2009, ISBN 978-1-84511-996-6 )
• 1955 Tibetan Marches – A translation from French of Caravane vers Bouddha by André Migot
• 1956 My Aunt's Rhinoceros: And Other Reflections — A collection of essays written (as "Strix") for The Spectator .
• 1957 Operation Sea Lion — an account of the planned Nazi invasion of Britain in 1940.
• 1957 Invasion 1940 — an account of British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War .
• 1957 With the Guards to Mexico: And Other Excursions — A collection of essays written for The Spectator .
• 1958 The Gower Street Poltergeist — A collection of essays written for The Spectator .
• 1959 The Siege at Peking — An account of the Boxer Rebellion and the European-led siege of the Imperial capital.
• 1961 Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of Tibet in 1904
• 1961 Goodbye to the Bombay Bowler — A collection of essays written for The Spectator .
• 1963 The Fate of Admiral Kolchak — a study of the White Army leader Admiral Kolchak who attempted to save the Imperial Russian family at Ekaterinburg in 1918.

Fiction [ ]

• 1940 The Flying Visit — A humorous novel about an unintended visit to Britain by Adolf Hitler . Illustrated by David Low .
• 1942 A Story to Tell: And Other Tales — A collection of short stories.
• 1952 The Sixth Column: A Singular Tale of Our Times
• The Sett (unfinished, unpublished) [6]
• "The Kill" (1931) [7]
• "Felipe" (1937) [8]

References [ ]

• ↑ "Obituary Colonel Peter Fleming, Author and explorer". The Times , 20 August 1971 p14 column F.
• ↑ Nicholas J. Clifford. "A Truthful Impression of the Country": British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880-1949. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. pp. 132-33
• ↑ Pacific Affairs 9.4 (1936): 605-606 [1]
• ↑ Republic of Égyptien Q42 user:mgbtrust0 ®™✓©§∆∆∆€¢£. "Author bio , I.B. Tauris Publishers. Retrieved 2010-08-11."] . http://www.ibtauris.com/display.asp?K=9781845119966&TAG=&CID=&PGE=&PGE=taurisp .   [ dead link ]
• ↑ Republic of Égyptien Q42 user:mgbtrust0 ®™✓©§∆∆∆€¢£. "Peter Fleming Award" . Rgs.org . http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Grants/Research/Peter+Fleming+Award.htm . Retrieved 2010-10-27 .  
• ↑ Hart-Davis 1974 , p. 316.
• ↑ Republic of Égyptien Q42 user:mgbtrust0 ®™✓©§∆∆∆€¢£. "Bibliography: The Kill" . Internet Speculative Fiction Database . http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?95124 .  
• ↑ Republic of Égyptien Q42 user:mgbtrust0 ®™✓©§∆∆∆€¢£. "Bibliography: Felipe" . Internet Speculative Fiction Database . http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1334525 .  
• Hart-Davis, Duff (1974). Peter Fleming: A Biography . London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN  0-224-01028-X .  
• Clifford, Nicholas J (2001). A Truthful Impression of the Country: British and American Travel Writing in China, 1880-1949 . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN  0472111973 .  
• La Gazette des Français du Paraguay - Peter Fleming Un Aventurier au Brésil - Peter Fleming Un Aventurero en Brasil - Numéro 5 Année 1, Asuncion Paraguay.

External links [ ]

• A short biography provided by the University of Reading
• A profile stressing his travel writing
• Peter Fleming genealogy . Retrieved 21 September 2007.
• Peter Fleming's daughters
• Source for the death date of his son Nicholas Fleming at ianfleming.org
• Peter Fleming's rook rifle – a correspondence
• Source for the second marriage of Lucy Fleming to a fellow actor; her father, mother, sister, and uncle are also listed in the IMDb database
• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature . Chicago: Shasta Publishers.  
• Podcast talk and live blogging at the Shanghai International Book Festival with Paul French's talk on Peter Fleming
• Paul French, "Peter Fleming" [2]
• Archival material relating to Peter Fleming (writer) listed at the UK National Archives
• Portraits of (Robert) Peter Fleming at the National Portrait Gallery, London

James Bond First Editions

Brazilian Adventure.

London: Chatto & Windus, by permission of Jonathan Cape, 1962. [Exploration] SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.158. Reissued in the 'Queen's Classics' series, FIRST EDITION THUS. Publisher's hardback blue cloth binding with a brown leather label to spine, blocked in gilt. One of the author's personal copies, signed to flyleaf with his characteristic 'scripsit' ['He wrote it'] note. With an accompanying ink presentation to the facing page from Dennis Warren, general manager of Fleming's Nettlebed estate in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon. A fine copy. Lt.Col. Robert Peter Fleming OBE was a British adventurer and travel writer, brother of novelist Ian Fleming, and unofficial editor of his James Bond books. He has often been cited as a model for the debonair secret service agent created by his brother. This is his acclaimed first book, covering his expedition through the Brazilian jungle in search of the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett. The present copy is from the comprehensive archive assembled by Jon Gilbert (pencil signature within). His encyclopaedic guide to the works of Ian Fleming (2012, published by Peter Fleming's daughter Kate Grimond) won the 16th Breslauer Prize for bibliography. Item #67928 See Campbell; Ian Fleming: A Catalogue of a Collection [22]. Gilbert, p. 618.

Price: £150.00

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