James Bond, super-suave uber-spy may, on the surface, appear to have very little in common with a popular breakfast cereal. But underneath the Saville Row suit, there are a number of threads between him and the man who invented Cornflakes.
Scots
As Ian Fleming, the creator of the James Bond series, was half-Scottish, it is little wonder that he gave his greatest character a Scottish father and had him education at Edinburgh's Fettes College. It may be that Fleming was not just incorporating his own ancestry when he was writing, but might have emphasized Commander Bond’s Scottishness after watching Sean Connery in the role.
Whilst not of recent Scottish ancestry, John Harvey Kellogg, born in 1852, is reputed to be descended from Scottish immigrants who set up home in Michigan. Kellogg, a strict Seventh-Day Adventist, ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium for the church, where he imposed his particular regime of exercise, enemas and the partaking of a morning corn-based cereal.
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Cold showers Most Bond films feature a shower scene where our near-naked hero steps out clad only in a mini-towel. Odds on that this was a “Scottish Shower” as a cold ablution is sometimes called. Immersing the body in cold water has long been regarded as beneficial and became popular in the 19th century when a German called Vincenz Priessnitz began touting the benefits of hydrotherapy – a cold water cure for everything that could possibly be bothering you. It quickly spread to America, reaching its zenith at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where Kellogg believed whole-heartedly in the benefits of the treatment. This and his preoccupation with enemas formed the backbone to his treatment. In order to maintain a “squeaky clean intestine” Kellogg advocated a daily intake of yoghurt: half taken orally and the other half (ahem) not. It is not recorded whether Bond felt this to be a necessary daily ritual. Breakfast “Room service? I’d like to order breakfast. Half a pint of orange juice, three eggs, lightly scrambled, with bacon, a double portion of café Espresso with cream. Toast. Marmalade. Got it?” So speaks Bond in Casino Royale where his love of a good breakfast is made clear. In this he is like Kellogg, who also believed in the importance of the first meal of the day, although it bore little resemblances to the spy’s. His insistence on a cereal-based breakfast led him to devise a new breakfast staple which he then began manufacturing on a large scale with his brother Will. Thus in 1892 the two brothers set up the Sanitas Food Company to manufacture Corn Flakes, as they had ingeniously decided to name them. John later fell out with his brother over Will’s insistence on adding sugar to the recipe. Unsurprisingly, it was Will’s flakes that won the battle of the brand. Exercise Kellogg instituted a rigorous exercise regime for all of his patients, believing that this would help defend the body against many ailments. In the movies, Bond too must be careful to undertake a rigourous workout – how else can he maintain the six pack for which he’s famed. That said, there are only little clues as to how James keeps himself buff as he certainly doesn’t seem to spend an hour in the gym every day. He plays golf, skies, “founded the first serious judo class at a British public school” – but that’s it. (Except for a tantalizing glimpse in From Russia With Love where a bored Bond does 20 slow press ups, some straight leg-lifts and toe touches and a few arm exercises. If only that was all it took.) Sex From here on in Bond and Kellogg cease to have any similarities, indeed, begin to be as opposite as two Scots who like breakfast and exercise could possibly be. Kellogg had an unusually heightened fear of any sexual excesses and advocated sexual abstinence, advising that too much was dangerous. His obsession extended to a morbid fear of masturbation, warning of the dangers of a practice where the “victim literally dies by his own hand”. As for Bond, well, what can you say about a man whose sexual partners include Plenty O’Toole, Xenia Onatopp, Holly Goodhead, and Pussy Galore? Bevvy and fags As part of his drive to suppress the sexual appetite, Kellogg banned any substances that might over-excite. So a strict no-booze, no-cigarettes rule was followed. Unlike Bond who smokes up to 60 a day of mild, sweet Turkish tobacco, cigarettes specially made for him by Morland’s and whatever the local brand of smokes happens to be. And as for drink. Well, I’ll leave that to the great man himself:"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet." "Oui, monsieur." "Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"
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