Sublime

Luisa and I are leaving for California; the Broccolis have kindly loaned us their house in Beverley Hills, Hollywood, where I have been asked to present the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’. Without wishing to sound too partisan, I hope I hand it to my mate, Michael Caine, who is nominated for his performance in Sleuth.

Fleming spent every winter in Jamaica from 1946 until his death, in 1964. It was where he wrote all the Bond books. Jamaica was also where Fleming conducted an affair with a rich widow named Blanche Blackwell, who was in turn having an affair with Fleming’s neighbor, Errol Flynn. Scampering underfoot at Goldeneye was Blackwell’s young son, Chris,