Goldfinger was a man who thought big, a champion of communism, an eccentric, a bully who put people in fear. And that was just Goldfinger the architect.
The story of Erno Goldfinger's vehement reaction when the author Ian Fleming appropriated his name -- and aspects of his character -- with deliberate savagery for the villain and title of the James Bond novel was disclosed to the Guardian Hay (literary) festival in Wales on Thursday.
The dispute led to legal action. When the film Goldfinger came out, the architect was afflicted by spoof calls in the middle of the night. Callers would intone in bad Sean Connery accents, "Goldfinger? This is agent 007," or sing the film's theme tune, "an irritation still endured by members of the family who list their names in the telephone directory," Nigel Warburton, of the UK's Open University, told a breakfast-time festival audience.
Fleming turned the dominating, overtowering Erno into the impish, imperious megalomaniac Auric Goldfinger, who nearly succeeds in stealing the US gold reserves at Fort Knox for the Soviet Union.
Erno -- like Auric -- was a British-naturalized foreigner and a Marxist who spent much of the second world war raising money for the Soviet cause. Otherwise there were differences between the two, as Warburton noted, discussing his new book Erno Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect, published by William Stout, the first biography to be published.
But when Erno's business associate Jacob Blacker was asked for his opinion of a proof copy of the Bond story, he told Erno ironically that he could find only one substantial difference: "You're called Erno and he's called Auric."
Erno Goldfinger was one of the 20th century's prime advocates of London tower blocks. One story explaining Fleming's animosity is that he lived for a time in Hampstead, north London and disliked Erno's design for terraced houses in neighboring Willow Road, according to Warburton. Fleming knew of Erno through a golfing friend who was related to Erno's wife.
The friend appears in the novel -- but his woman relative has been transformed into a heroin addict. Erno somehow heard about the novel when it was in the publisher Jonathan Cape's presses in 1959. His response was, "Shall we sue?"
After hearing Blacker's view, Erno ordered lawyers to act. Cape agreed to pay his costs and agreed out of court to make clear in advertising and in future editions that all characters were fictitious.
Fleming, in turn, was livid. He asked Cape to insert an erratum slip in the first edition changing the character's name to Goldprick, a name suggested by the critic Cyril Connolly. Luckily for the film posters and theme tune of the future, sung by Shirley Bassey, Cape demurred. Warburton said the clarification did not appear in the novel's current edition.
The real-life Goldfinger, however, deserved to be remembered as a visionary architect who wrote in 1941: "Cities can become centres of civilisation where men and women can live happy lives. The technical means exist to satisfy human needs. The will to plan must be aroused."
"There is no obstacle but ignorance and wickedness."
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS