Thunderball is the ninth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, and the eighth full-length Bond novel. It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 27 March 1961, where the initial print run of 50,938 copies quickly sold out. The first novelisation of an unfilmed James Bond screenplay, it was born from a collaboration by five people: Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo, although the controversial shared credit of Fleming, McClory and Whittingham was the result of a courtroom decision.
First edition cover, published by Jonathan Cape
The Avro Vulcan: closest relation to the fictional Vindicator
Ordzhonikidze was a Sverdlov-class cruiser, similar to that shown in this photograph (Alexander Nevsky).
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
Ian Fleming
The Glenelg War Memorial, listing Valentine Fleming, Ian's father
Eton College, Fleming's alma mater from 1921 to 1927
The Admiralty, where Fleming worked in the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War
