William Boyd launched his new 1969-set James Bond novel, Solo, this morning at the Dorchester on Park Lane alongside Ian Fleming’s niece, Lucy. Also standing by was a septet of BA stewardesses waiting to take copies of the book — numbered 001 to 007, naturally — in a fleet of vintage Jensen cars to Heathrow airport and then on to seven destinations that are associated with the book.
Lucy Fleming said if her uncle could see the phenomenon his suspense novels had become he’d be looking down — “or possibly up” — and smiling. “Ever since the publication of Thunderball in 1964, I’m told there are authors who don’t believe they’ve arrived until they have a bullet hole on their cover,” she added. “Well, Solo is riddled with them.”
Boyd, who has worked on films with three actors who have played Bond, said if Solo were ever filmed he would like to see Daniel Day-Lewis in the role, believing he was the closest to Fleming’s original description of the character.
