The James Bond Collector - with Mike VanBlaricum

Summary

Mike VanBlaricum (X; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his journey as a James Bond fanatic and collector. Mike is the President of the Ian Fleming Foundation.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• How Mike became an obsessive James Bond collector with 10,000 artifacts
• Mike’s favorite Bond cars, movies, and books
• How From Russia with Love was one of John F Kennedy’s favorite books
• Mike’s tips on the best place to start if you want to read the Bond novels

Reflections

• The passion of a collector
• Pop culture influencing the “real” world

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“I've always been fascinated about the study of creativity. And so, between wanting to understand spy craft and that whole human side as well as creativity, creativity like Fleming – How one person can change popular culture, you know, ultimately, something that came out of his mind can change popular culture is just fascinating to me.” – Mike VanBlaricum

Resources

SURFACE SKIM

*SpyCasts*

• 70th Anniversary of James Bond, Special with Alexis Albion on 007, Part 1 of 2 (2023)
• 70th Anniversary of James Bond, Special with Alexis Albion on 007, Part 2 of 2 (2023)
• CIA Officers Turned Authors with David McCloskey and James Stejskal (2022)
• My Life Looking at Spies and the Media with Paul Lashmar (2022)

*Beginner Resources*

• How to Watch All the James Bond 007 Movies in Order, P. Saperstein, Variety (2023) [Short article]
• Bond In Motion Exhibition at the International Spy Museum! International Spy Museum (2024) [2 min. video]
• Ian Fleming Life Timeline, Ian Fleming Publications (n.d.) [Timeline]

DEEPER DIVE

Books

• For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond, B. Macintyre (Bloomsbury USA, 2008)
• Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films, J. Chapman (I.B. Tauris, 2008)
• Ian Fleming, A. Lycett (St. Martin’s Press, 1995)

Primary Sources 

• FBI Targeted a Fictional Spy (1980)
• E. Germany Brands 007 As ‘Fascist’ (1965)
• Memorandum For the Record from Marshall S. Carter (1964)
• Our Spy-Boss Who Loved Bond by Allen Dulles (1964)
• A Spy’s Spy, a Knight vs. Dragon – That Was the Image of James Bond (1964)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Who’s The Deadliest Bond? Pierce Brosnan – And by a high margin! Brosnan’s 007 had an average of 27 kills per movie. His runner-up, Roger Moore, clocked in an average of 16.6.

o Read the stats by movie here. License to Kill indeed...