In case there’s any doubt—

Ian Fleming created James Bond.

On January 15, 1952, at his home, Goldeneye, in Jamaica. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, it all began with these words.

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino combine together and hit the taste-buds with an acid shock at three in the morning.

Feel free to confirm this history for yourself. You’ll find Ian Fleming’s first-draft manuscript for Casino Royale in the Lilly Library archives, Indiana University at Bloomington. That’s where I took the time to do my own original research into into this aspect of the James Bond legacy.

Elsewhere in the world, from what I’ve been seeing on the ‘net and print, tomorrow’s gonna be a big day as anniversaries of the Eon Productions 007 movies go. I’m looking forward to it.

But today, I’m remembering that it all began with Ian Fleming. Six decades ago.

With his wife-to-be, Ann.