In the writing of this novel I have been governed by the details and chronology of James Bond’s life that were published in the ‘obituary’ in You Only Live Twice. The novel was the last to be published in Ian Fleming’s lifetime. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that these were the key facts about Bond and his life that he wanted to be in the public domain – facts that would cancel out various anomalies and illogicalities that had appeared in the earlier novels. Consequently, as far as this novel is concerned, and in line with Ian Fleming’s decision, James Bond was born in 1924.