Secret donations to Winnipeg charities made in 2001 in memory of James Bond creator Ian Fleming are being revealed now to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the author's birth.
The money was raised when Winnipeg business tycoon Albert D. Cohen's personal correspondence with Fleming and autographed first-edition copies of his books were sold at auction by Christie's in London.
Albert Cohen with a caricature of Ian Fleming that appeared in Maclean's in 1965.
"I'm probably the only Canadian who knew Ian Fleming as a friend," said Cohen, chairman, president and CEO of Gendis Inc. The low-key, media-shy mogul agreed to talk about the gifts now as an homage to his late friend, who would be 100 if he were alive today.
Cohen met Fleming through a mutual friend, William Stevenson. Stevenson had told Cohen to look up Fleming the next time he was in London, and gave him two novels, Dr. No and Casino Royale, to read.
Cohen had plenty of time on his flight back to Winnipeg to read the books, and he quickly established a bond with Bond... James Bond.
Later, Bond's creator would become intrigued by the mild-mannered Manitoba businessman. Cohen's globe-trotting, wheeling and dealing in places like Tokyo and his adventures in Soviet-era Eastern Europe inspired the author to inscribe a first-edition copy of Thunderball: "To Albert D. Cohen -- Man of Action. From Ian Fleming."
When Cohen first met Fleming in 1959, it was after Cohen and his Czech-born wife, Irena, escaped from behind the Iron Curtain during a visit to Prague.
A decade earlier, a 20-year-old Irena had fled the country before migrating to Canada and marrying Cohen. She stayed in touch with her parents in Czechoslovakia and when it seemed the Communist regime was opening up to the outside world, Cohen started doing business there.
"They needed hard currency," he said. Cohen was able to establish a business relationship he hoped would help his wife get back to the country to visit her family.
Before making the trip, though, Cohen checked with the embassy in Ottawa and was told Irena, by now a Canadian citizen, would have no trouble visiting the Soviet regime. They took their three-year-old son, Anthony, with them to Prague where Irena saw the family she hadn't seen in more than a decade.
They had to surrender their passports at their hotel, where their phone calls were monitored. When it was time to leave, Irena's passport was withheld. She was told the police wanted to see her. They were scared.
Cohen had been warned by another official in Ottawa about visiting Prague with Irena.
"Don't ever let your wife enter an office without you being there -- they'll snatch her, and you'll never see her again," Cohen was told. If that happened, Cohen was to get in touch with the official in Canada and use the code word "Red River."
At the police station, officials did try to take Irena into an office away from Cohen, who refused to leave her side. He told the police her passport was the property of the Canadian government, and they would get into trouble if they took it. "They told us we had 24 hours to get out."
They did and flew to Paris, where Cohen contacted Fleming, who sent a car to meet them at the airport in London. At his home, the author welcomed the Cohens who were total strangers and still shaken from their trip to Prague.
"Ian said 'You don't know how lucky you are -- you stuck your head in the lion's mouth and you got out,'" Cohen recalled.
He and Fleming kept in touch over the years.
In 2001, Cohen sent the books Fleming gave him and their correspondence to Christie's in London. At auction, the collection fetched $10,000 Cdn. Cohen donated the proceeds to the Health Sciences Centre Foundation, the Victoria General Hospital Foundation, St. Boniface General Hospital Research Foundation and the Winnipeg Free Press collection for the Christmas Cheer Board in memory of Ian Fleming.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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