Re Dave's comment:
"The book claimed that Fleming had Bond use the Baretta .25,
I believe it
was, and that Fleming received at letter from one Geoffrey
Boothroyd
(sp?) after 'From Russia With Love.' (the second book.)
Boothroyd
apparently told Fleming that the gun was much too wimpy for
someone of
Bond's caliber, and he would never use it. Boothroyd
recommended the
Walter PPK 9mm, which soon became Bond's main squeeze."
*From Russia With Love* was the fifth Bond book, preceded by
*Casino
Royale*, *Live and Let Die*, *Moonraker*, and *Diamonds Are
Forever*. He
used the wimpy Berreta .25 in all of them. (However, he also
slept with
a .38 revolver under his pillow for things that went bump in
the night).
Disappointed by the novels' lack of success, Fleming decided
to kill Bond
off at the end of *From Russia*. He did this by having the
Berreta snag
on his trousers' waistband as he was drawing it on the
villainess, SMERSH
agent Rosa Klebb. The delay made it possible fro Rosa to stab
him with a
poison-tipped blade concealed in her shoe. When he was
persuaded to
bring Bond back to life, he opened the next book, *Dr. No*,
with a
chapter in which Major Boothroyd, named for the real-life
figure who
wrote to Fleming, replaced Bond's Berreta with the Walther
PPK.
Typically, Fleming still managed to get it wrong. The
real-life
Boothroyd had suggested *either* a Walther PPK or a Smith
& Wesson
Centennieal Airweight .38. If Fleming chose the latter
weapon, Boothroyd
further suggested equiping Bond with a Berns-Martin
upside-down shoulder
holster in which to carry it. Fleming wound up arming Bond
with the
Walther (a semi-automatic pistol), then had him carry it in
the
Berns-Martin ( holster specifically designed and molded for
revolvers).
Imagine Donald Hamilton making a flub like that ! - Jim
Doherty
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