Dimensions
135 x 216 x 26mm
As victory over Japan was declared in 1945, Britain was a relieved but also a profoundly traumatised country. It was a very peculiar trauma, created by having won the war while in many ways losing it. The war had ruined Britain's image of itself as a great power. It had only prevailed through the assistance of the two greatest nations on earth; and it now found itself bankrupt, dependent and – despite the efforts of the new Labour reform government – with no discernible future. This feeling prevailed for decades and it still seeps into national life today.
The Man Who Saved Britain explores this trauma through a figure who can now be seen as the quintessential British figure of the time, the great necessary invention who provided a palliative of sorts to many millions of people: James Bond. Ian Fleming was an upper-class wastrel who found purpose and excitement in the War, working on spying operations, finding a legitimate glamour and heroism for himself unguessed at before hostilities broke out. For him as so many others, the elation over British survival was more than stifled by the reality of the new British impotence.
