For Your Eyes Only

We all know that James Bond and his creator Ian Fleming were the ultimate in Savoir Faire when we delved into the world of spies and such. Bond has become the definitive spy and his past and future adventures continue to inspire movies, books and the way we dress.

Where fictional characters are involved I am always interested to see how, when it comes to illustrating these characters and stories what direction the artists take in doing so. Growing up and even now I am intrigued by a series of Bond covers done for Pan Paperbacks in the mid to late 60’s.

The incredibly graphic and singular approach was once described as having "a stark elegance... consistently menacing and memorable. Each has a single photographic image on a plain or textured background. Blurb is dispensed with. It’s the visual equivalent of a cruel, sardonic smile”

The continuity of style over the series was a great exercise in brand recognition and management. These are instantly memorable, and the fact that the artist/designer made the words JAMES BOND twice the size of those for the titles of the books and of their author Ian Fleming, a whole new marketing approach was anticipated.

So of course Savoir Faire wanted to know who was behind these fantastic covers that he loved so much. Only one of the titles was ever credited with the artist and that was Thunderball. “Its cover is the best of an outstanding set of images and the acknowledgement of the designer suggests the publisher thought so too."

For Thunderball, the artist fills the cover with a close-up of a man’s naked back, perforated by two bullet holes. These are actual holes, die-cut into the card. Surrounding each is a torn-paper effect. It’s not the man who has been shot, it’s the book – and, as proof, the bullets can be found inside, depicted on the opening page. Bond’s life is so dangerous, this cover tells us, and even books about him aren’t safe. Read on if you dare”

So the artist, who was behind this wonderful marketing strategy, was one Raymond Hawkey. A gentleman, who was as equally suave as the man whose exploits he was illustrating and a trend setting graphic designer, who designed newspapers, magazines and book covers, he revolutionised British design at the height of the Cold War.

Whereas previous Bond covers had been rather illustrative covers in the Pulp Fiction genre nicely painted, but not exactly stylish, Hawkey’s covers were a radical departure. Neither hero nor villain is pictured. A minimalist aesthetic was used shared with close cropped, photographically based single elements of the story illustrated.

Take for example the cover for “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”; a wedding ring rests in some blood spattered snow. This is just a hint of what was to become when Bond finds himself on duty in the Swiss Alps.

The cover for Dr. No is again striking in its simplicity with the title “Dr. No” taking the form of a spider at the centre of its web, highlighting the sinister form of the title character.

One of my favourites was the cover for “The Man with the Golden Gun” highlighting the BOAC boarding pass. Being an airline nut, this one particularly catches my attention. I am sure that BOAC (now British Airways) hastened to agree to the use of their logo recognising a bit of free advertising when they saw it.

Widely regarded this set of visually striking covers is the most successful series of republished James Bond novels, and it seems that Mr. Hawkey himself had just as much Savoir Faire as Mr. Bond.

I Spy With Savoir Faire.

I am sure that all of us at sometimes or another has wished we were a devilishly handsome spy (or a femme fatale, who just happened to be a spy) dashing through obscure European countries or over the top sci fi film sets, hoping to save the world. We would fight our arch nemesis, get the girl or man and do it with indubitable style. Even our villains were stylish and it was a match of wills to see who could come out on top.

Of course the most famous spy to come to mind is 007 himself who has had many reincarnations since he exploded onto the scene. Mr Bond was stylish, handsome, knew what he wanted and was ruthless. Bond was the quintessential spy, and of course there is some debate who is the best Bond, but I think Connery and Lazenby were the best, and of course Mr Craig does deserve an honourable mention.

In the 1960’s espionage was cool, and for those of us who couldn’t get enough of the gadgets, the style and the action there were several TV series that satisfied our rather carnal desires.

Britain created “The Avengers”, which had suburban males drooling over Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel. The name might have been a bit frumpy, however she was not. For Mrs Peel, leather cat suits were de rigueur and these were a perfect compliment to Patrick McNee’s ever so conservative John Steed.

I can' resist putting the below photo in of Mrs. Peel in mortal danger, just waiting to be saved

Spies were running rampant across the Atlantic in the States with “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” and “Mission Impossible”.

The Man From Uncle series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team for a fictitious secret international law-enforcement agency, the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement with American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughan) and Illya Kuryakin.

U.N.C.L.E.'s archenemy was a vast organization known as T.H.R.U.S. H, the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. How fabulous is that!

Then of course there was Mission Impossible. Who could ever forget the protagonist Jack Phelps receiving the instructions for the next mission through a tape that would self destruct! The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations, and crime lords.

The world might have been in constant threat of being taken over by the likes of SPECTRE or THRUSH, but we were safe in the knowledge that we were going to be saved by an Organisation or spy with the savoir faire to do it with style!