Goldeneye was the name given by
Ian Fleming to his estate in
Oracabessa, on the northern coastline of
Jamaica. In 1946 he purchased the land next door to
Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach and the Caribbean Sea. The original house, constructed from a sketch by Fleming, was a modest structure, windowed with wooden
jalousies, consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming pool.
[1] Fleming's coterie of friends who visited him at Goldeneye included actors, musicians and filmmakers.
[2] Ian Fleming's house, Goldeneye
It now operates as
Goldeneye Hotel and Resort, an upscale hotel consisting of Fleming's main house and several cottages.
Fleming claimed a number of origins for the name of the estate including Carson McCullers's Reflections in a Golden Eye and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming developed during the Second World War in case of a Nazi invasion of Gibraltar through Spain.[3]
Fleming negotiated a contract with his employers, The Times whereby he could spend two months of each year – between January and March - at Goldeneye; and on 17 February 1952 James Bond first appeared on his typewriter in the first novel, Casino Royale.[4] It was during those two months for the next fourteen years here that he wrote all his James Bond novels.[5] A number of the Bond movies, including Dr. No and Live and Let Die, were filmed near the estate.[6] In 1956 British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his wife Clarissa spent a month at Goldeneye after Eden's health collapsed in the wake of the Suez Crisis. The attendant publicity helped to boost Fleming's writing career.
In 1976, 12 years after Ian Fleming's death, the property was sold to reggae musician Bob Marley. Marley sold the estate in 1977 to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.[7] Eighteen years later, the estate's name would be the title of the seventeenth James Bond film, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.
Goldeneye is located in the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, which was established in 2011 to protect Oracabessa’s marine ecosystem.[8] It is adjacent to James Bond Beach, home of international concerts and festivals.
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