Ornithologist. "The name is Bond. . . . James Bond." As a child he moved to England with his father and brother, where he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. Later Bond returned to the Philadelphia area. In 1936, he became an ornithologist at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences; he eventually was named curator of birds. He also authored books and scholarly papers on birds and bird watching. One book, "Birds of the West Indies," caught the attention of author Ian Fleming, who had just completed writing "Casino Royale." Fleming, an avid birdwatcher, saw "Birds of the West Indies" in his collection. Later Fleming would say that he glanced at the book and thought the author's name was "brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine--just what I needed." Originally published in 1936, "Birds of the West Indies" is still in print today. Bond died of cancer.

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James Bond (January 4, 1900 – February 14, 1989) was a leading American ornithologist whose name was appropriated by writer Ian Fleming for his fictional spy James Bond.The real Bond was born in Philadelphia and worked as an ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in that city, rising to become curator of birds there. He was expert about Caribbean birds and wrote the definitive book on the subject: Birds of the West Indies, first published in 1936 and, in its fifth edition, still in print (ISBN 0618002103).Ian Fleming, who was a keen bird watcher living in Jamaica, was familiar with Bond's book, and chose the name of its author for the hero of Casino Royale in 1953, apparently because he wanted a name that sounded 'as ordinary as possible'. Fleming wrote to the real Bond's wife, "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." In the twentieth James Bond film, Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan, playing the fictional Bond, can be seen examining the book Birds of the West Indies in an early scene that takes place in Havana, Cuba.Bond was once denied access onto an aircraft when he showed his passport to the staff, bearing his name. It took quite a bit of explaining.Bond won the Institute of Jamaica's Musgrave Medal in 1952; the Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists Union in 1954; and the Leidy Medal of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1975.He died in the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia at age 89

Ornithologist. "The name is Bond. . . . James Bond." As a child he moved to England with his father and brother, where he was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. Later Bond returned to the Philadelphia area. In 1936, he became an ornithologist at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences; he eventually was named curator of birds. He also authored books and scholarly papers on birds and bird watching. One book, "Birds of the West Indies," caught the attention of author Ian Fleming, who had just completed writing "Casino Royale." Fleming, an avid birdwatcher, saw "Birds of the West Indies" in his collection. Later Fleming would say that he glanced at the book and thought the author's name was "brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine--just what I needed." Originally published in 1936, "Birds of the West Indies" is still in print today. Bond died of cancer.

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James Bond (January 4, 1900 – February 14, 1989) was a leading American ornithologist whose name was appropriated by writer Ian Fleming for his fictional spy James Bond.The real Bond was born in Philadelphia and worked as an ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in that city, rising to become curator of birds there. He was expert about Caribbean birds and wrote the definitive book on the subject: Birds of the West Indies, first published in 1936 and, in its fifth edition, still in print (ISBN 0618002103).Ian Fleming, who was a keen bird watcher living in Jamaica, was familiar with Bond's book, and chose the name of its author for the hero of Casino Royale in 1953, apparently because he wanted a name that sounded 'as ordinary as possible'. Fleming wrote to the real Bond's wife, "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." In the twentieth James Bond film, Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan, playing the fictional Bond, can be seen examining the book Birds of the West Indies in an early scene that takes place in Havana, Cuba.Bond was once denied access onto an aircraft when he showed his passport to the staff, bearing his name. It took quite a bit of explaining.Bond won the Institute of Jamaica's Musgrave Medal in 1952; the Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists Union in 1954; and the Leidy Medal of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1975.He died in the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia at age 89

Bio by: Peterborough K