During our visit to Boston last week, I picked up a copy of Ian Fleming's Thrilling Cities at the Harvard Bookstore in the recently published William Morrow imprint. Given that it was written more than a lifetime (in Fleming's case) ago, it is remarkable that it is still in print, particularly given some of the views espoused within it, combined with the 'incidental intelligence' telling readers where to find five-star hotel rooms around the world for around £15 per night. Still, when there is a new run of the 14 Bond books, it seems like publishers know that if they tag on copies of this and the Diamond Smugglers, there will be enough nutjob Fleming completists (like me) to make it worth their while. The only challenge for the bookstores is to know where to shelve it to attract sales. Should they deliberately misfile it at put it with the Bond books, or do they take a chance of it languishing in what can be fairly haphazard travel sections. Thankfully the Harvard store had a decent 'travel writing' section.
Fleming's tour of his 14 chosen cities was undertaken in two stages (and indeed when it came to publish the book in paperback form, this gave Pan the excuse to spread it into two volumes) over 1959 and 1960. The first was a globe-spanning trip, starting in South-East Asia, and from there, via Hawaii to mainland USA. A few obvious points from this part of the book. He seemed to enjoy his adventure in Asia, and it certainly seemed a fairly thinly disguised initial research trip for his 12th Bond book, You Only Live Twice, which was published in 1964. The real life versions of two of the characters (Dikko Henderson and Tiger Tanaka) were right there, along with some fairly familiar-sounding stuff. Notably, quite a lot of reference to the nightlife (included throughout most of the book) albeit he seemed at pains, at times, to emphasise the fact that he was an innocent observer. I wonder whether those parts were included for the benefit of his wife, who didn't seem to be accompanying him on this part of his tour.
As for his impressions of the USA as it ended the 1950s - not good. He had a fair amount to say about increasing crime and a failing moral standards. In fact, he was so unpleasant about the country that there was some initial concern about how the book would be received when published in America. To soften the blow, the first US edition included a Bond short story (007 in New York) almost by way of an apology.
The second part of the book, touring Europe by car in 1960, with Ann along, certainly for most of it, didn't quite have the same sense of adventure. Again, Fleming wrote whatever he fancied and, like the first half, this is very much travel writing more than travel guide. The most vivid memory that will stay with me is that, whilst visiting Geneva, he went to have dinner with his friend Noel Coward who, by the sound of things, was something of a tax exile there at the time (Fleming devotes a short passage to proposing an amendment to UK tax laws to give tax breaks to those - such as Coward and, no doubt, Fleming too - who've done marvellous things for their country!) and his neighbour, Charlie Chaplin. Now, that would be a dinner party worth attending!
