January 4, 1900
- James Bond circa 1974
Although possibly one of fictions greatest stars, James Bond is most certainly not fictional, or at least his namesake isn’t. On January 4, 1900 a precious baby boy was born in Philadelphia named lovingly by his parent’s as James Bond. Bond worked as a ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences as a curator of birds and became an accomplished writer when his book, Birds of the West Indies was published in 1936.
So how did Bond’s namesake become an iconic fictional character? Author and bird watching enthusiast, Ian Fleming, was familiar with Bond’s Birds of the West Indies book when he began writing Casino Royal in 1953. It is documented that Fleming even wrote to Bond’s wife regarding the use of his namesake, stating “”It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born.” Thus, Philly Happened on this day when the real James Bond was born.
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