The Diamond Smugglers Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1950s

Fleming's publishing career was brief, from his first novel, "Casino Royale", in 1953 to his last collection of short stories, "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" in 1966. "The Diamond Smugglers" was released in the UK in 1957 and the US in 1958. It was published on the coat tails of Fleming's fifth novel "From Russia With Love" which came out in April 1957. Despite Fleming's star being on the rise at the time "The Diamond Smugglers" did not do as well as expected; the major disappointment for Fleming fans was that it was not a tale about James Bond.

Answer: The Sunday Times

At the time of the articles Ian Fleming was working for "The Sunday Times" as their foreign manager. The articles evolved from conversations that he had with Sir Percy Sillitoe in 1954 and the research Fleming conducted as a result of the interviews. The book goes on to expand on the work in the articles, which are also re-printed in a section of the book.

Answer: Africa

Africa is a continent rich in both diamonds and conflict. It is rather ironic that conflict diamonds play a central role in the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" (2002). The smuggling operations that Fleming researched centred on mines in both Johannesburg (South Africa) and Freetown (Sierra Leone). The line that Fleming would follow would lead him out of Africa and into European centres such as Paris, Antwerp and Moscow as well as Beirut in Western Asia.

Answer: MI5

Sir Percy Joseph Sillitoe (KBE) was the Director General of MI5 from 1946 to 1953. After his retirement he was asked by De Beers to head up the International Diamond Security Organisation (IDSO), a company they had created in an attempt to stem the flow of diamonds being smuggled out of their mines. Sillitoe did manage to seal the pipeline out of the Sierra Leone operation before IDSO was closed down in 1957. Sir Percy then went on to head the company known as Security Express Limited until his death in 1962.

Answer: 10 Million

Dubbed the "Million Carat Network" this was a substantial operation. Little wonder De Beers were anxious to see it shut down. Ian Fleming's book delves into the tools that the smugglers used as well as the many and varied techniques the traffickers employed to get the diamonds out. It also highlights the security (or lack thereof) that existed at the mines.

Answer: Percy Sillitoe's agent who penetrates the smuggling operation

John Blaize was the alias used by John Collard when he penetrated the smuggling ring under the guidance of Sir Percy Sillitoe. To this point De Beers had toyed with a number of options to restrict the smuggling but without any great success. These included x-raying their workers but, in the words of Blaize, "you can't go x-raying men forever even if they're black".

They attempted to irradiate some of the stones but the issues here were (a) the number irradiated were small in comparison to the number that got through the system and (b) to contaminate a larger number may create health risks (and a larger legal issue) if any of these stolen stones found their way into the community. Blaize was also interviewed by Fleming as part of the author's research and would contribute the introduction to the finished product.

Answer: Spend 48 hours gambling intensely in Monte Carlo

Casinos have played significant roles in Ian Fleming's "James Bond" series, in particular the books "Casino Royale" and "Moonraker". In "The Diamond Smugglers" John Blaize is looking to the casino as a way to "wash the last three years and the African continent out of my system".

Although Fleming takes care to paint Blaize in a quiet light to avoid comparison with his fictional hero, in real life Blaize did exhibit a number of Bond's idiosyncrasies, including a penchant for fine white silk shirts. John Blaize, James Bond ... same initials ... same author .... irony or coincidence? Yoga is a trait of the fictional spy Nick Carter-Killmaster who appeared in a series of novels between the 1960s and the late 1990s, the orchid collector is Nero Wolfe, a fictional detective created by Rex Stout, and Matt Helm, a spy portrayed by Dean Martin in four films, used the cover of a photographer taking pictures of glamorous models.

Answer: USSR and China

When Ian Fleming met up with John Blaize to discuss this operation Blaize gave Fleming certain assurances, quoting "our man in East Berlin" that China and the USSR were each taking a quarter of the smuggled diamonds and the rest were being spread amongst various nations in Eastern Europe, presumably for use in weapon production.

There was also mention of the stones being used in some Arab countries to fund rebellions. The main areas of concern were Syria which was going through the process of gaining independence from France, Algeria which was just about to pursue the same dream and Iraq which was unhappy about being under British Rule.

Answer: Making his villains a little larger than life

"The Diamond Smugglers" provides a re-telling of a three year operation to bring down a large diamond smuggling organisation. Its factual nature, however, does not prevent Fleming imposing literary licence to some of his characters. There are times you half expect Sir Hugo Drax ("Moonraker") or Auric Goldfinger to leap from the pages. For example, the main fence for the diamond smugglers is Monsieur Diamant described as "a big chunk of a man", "enormously wealthy, outwardly respectable and utterly ruthless" and "at the helm of an evil empire".
Even the telephone call that would lead Fleming to his meeting with John Blaize is written in sentences shorouded with a veil of secrecy; "The telephone rang. It was a friend. He sounded mysterious". This is followed by "I've heard some of it and it's terrific. But you'll have to meet him in Africa - Tangiers probably. Can you get away?"
The other three traits recorded above are red herrings. Fleming was a stickler for detail and constantly used brand names for effect "speckled brown eggs from French Marans hens and toast with Cooper's Vintage Oxford marmalade" ("From Russia with Love" - 1957). James Bond was never backward in being forward with women. The only rejection he's ever received in a Fleming novel is by Gala Brand in "Moonraker" (1955). Despite the number of times you may hear "Oh James" in the movies Fleming's female characters were never damsels in distress, they generally stood on their own, had inner strength and, usually, a dedicated agenda.

Answer: Diamonds Are Forever

Ian Fleming's interest in diamond smuggling was initially aroused by an article that appeared in "The Sunday Times" in 1954 that related to the Sierra Leone operation. He immediately set up a meeting with Sir Percy Sillitoe. It wouldn't be a great leap for the cynic to think that the novel was the ultimate goal for Fleming and that the newspaper article and the non fiction book were merely icing on the cake. "Diamonds Are Forever" became the fourth in the series of Bond novels and was published in 1956.

It follows Bond as he traces a smuggling pipeline that starts in Sierra Leone, moves to Europe and ends up in Las Vegas. "From Russia With Love" (1957) involves a SMERSH plot to assassinate James Bond, "The Hildebrand Rarity" appears in a short story collection entitled "For Your Eyes Only" (1960), which involves Bond in the hunt for a rare fish and "The Property of a Lady" is also a short story that appears in the 1966 publication "Octopussy" where Bond flushes out a double agent at the auction of a clock crafted by Peter Faberge.