Winder, Simon 1963-

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Winder, Simon 1963-

PERSONAL:

Born 1963.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Andrew Wylie, The Wylie Agency, 17 Bedford Sq., London WC1B 3JA, England.

CAREER:

Penguin Books, London, England, publishing director.

WRITINGS:

(Compiler) Sea Longing, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1998.

The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Simon Winder is a writer and editor and serves as publishing director for Penguin Books. In The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond, Winder mines his childhood obsession with all things 007 in order to take a close look at the political atmosphere in Great Britain that led to Bond's popularity. At the time of Bond's appearance, the nation was struggling to find its place in the global arena and to reconcile to its considerably lessened circumstance as a world power after World War II. Winder addresses the national spirit during the 1950s and 1960s, a time when the country faced an economic crisis that included high unemployment, strikes, and skyrocketing inflation. James Bond, in contrast, reflected a posh, sophisticated image and a jet-set lifestyle, complete with luxury hotels, beautiful women, and the excitement of life as an international spy fighting for the honor of queen and country. The character served as a means of escape to readers who welcomed the chance to indulge in a bit of fantasy. In addition, he provided an image for young men of a certain age to emulate. Winder includes anecdotes of his own fascination with Bond, explaining that, upon securing his first job, he set out to purchase the proper wardrobe for the position, one that was heavily influenced by Bond's own clothing choices.

The Man Who Saved Britain offers readers a combination of cultural and political history and commentary, literary criticism, film analysis, and memoir. Not only does Winder discuss the state of Britain at the time the Bond books were written, he analyzes author Ian Fleming and his service during the war that helped to inspire the books. In addition, he provides commentary on the series of movies based on the books, discussing the history of casting the role of Bond himself, from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan. In a review for the New York Times Online, Michiko Kakutani called Winder's effort "entertaining and very funny," and went on to remark: "Mr. Winder's thesis is hardly an original one—academics and journalists alike have made similar arguments many times before—but he explicates it with uncommon wit and élan, joining the pantheon of scholars and well-known authors … who have found a multiplicity of literary and philosophic meanings in Ian Fleming's debonair creation." Charlie Higson, writing for the Guardian Online, stated: "I enjoyed this book enormously, and it's a refreshing antidote to the generally uncritical fan sites and countless other Bond books on the market." A contributor to Curled Up with a Good Book found the book to be "both a mournful but witty remembrance of the colossal loss of face suffered by the Brits in the latter half of the twentieth century, and a studious if humorous treatment of the harmless if sometimes annoying and puerile romps of their favorite secret agent."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, October 20, 2006, Benjamin Svetkey, review of The Man Who Saved Britain:A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond, p. 89.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2006, review of The Man Who Saved Britain, p. 833.

Library Journal, September 15, 2006, Carol J. Binkowski, review of The Man Who Saved Britain, p. 63.

New Statesman, June 26, 2006, Christopher Tayler, "Overseas Adventures," review of The Man Who Saved Britain, p. 63.

Publishers Weekly, August 21, 2006, review of The Man Who Saved Britain, p. 61.