The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Dennis Wheatley and Ian Fleming

Iwan Hedman speaks to DW about his relationship with Ian Fleming

What DW says about Ian Fleming to Iwan Hedman

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DW's Swedish fan and friend Iwan Hedman was interested in the DW/Ian Fleming relationship, and must have asked a question about it in correspondence, because in a letter to Hedman on 13th July 1966, DW wrote:

Regarding Ian Fleming, I greatly enjoy his books, particularly the gambling scenes. I also knew him before he started writing, as he was in Naval Intelligence at the Admiralty and I had quite a number of dealings with him when I was in the War Cabinet Offices. However, I knew his brother, Peter, very much better than I knew Ian.'

Later on, in October 1971, Hedman had lunch with DW at his home in Cadogan Square, and as part of the visit, Iwan interviewed DW. Iwan recorded the interview and later published the transcript in his bibliography 'Fyra Decennier med Dennis Wheatley' ('Four decades with Dennis Wheatley').

Having asked DW if he had ever read Ira Levin's 'Rosemary's Baby' and been told that DW had not read it but had enjoyed the film (perhaps significant), Iwan then went on to ask two questions about Ian Fleming:

IH: Have you ever met Ian Fleming during your work in the Joint Planning Staff?

DW: Ian Fleming was not a member of the Joint Planning Staff but in Naval Intelligence and during the war I met him several times but never knew him well (my underscore - C.B). On the other hand Peter Fleming who died recently was our man in the Far East who was the head of the organisation there which handled all our deception plans against the Japanese, and Peter was for many years a personal friend of mine.

IH: How do you like Ian Fleming's books?

DW: I enjoyed Ian Fleming's books particularly the first, CASINO ROYALE, which I thought was his best, but some of the others such as the one about the Chinese doctor in the Caribbean were, I thought, so improbable as, to my mind he was written out.

'Dr. No', which featured the Chinese Doctor in the Caribbean, had been filmed in 1962, so DW might have been familiar with the story from the either the film or the book. However the only film that had been made of 'Casino Royale' at the time of the interview was a parody starring David Niven, which was released in 1967, and DW cannot have been talking on the basis of that. Assuming DW was replying truthfully and not just bluffing (which one cannot entirely rule out), it would therefore appear likely that even if he did not read the later novels, DW probably read the first James Bond book.