Biography
Peter Fleming was one of four sons of the barrister and MP Valentine Fleming who was killed in action in 1917, having served as MP for Henley from 1910. His younger brother was Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books.
Peter Fleming was educated at Eton College and then at Christ Church, Oxford, where he got a First in English. While at Eton, he was the editor of the Eton College Chronicle, and the Peter Fleming Owl (the English meaning of "Strix", the name under which he later wrote for The Spectator) is still awarded every year to the best contributor to the Chronicle.
In 1935, he married the actress Celia Johnson (1908–1982), best known for her role in the film Brief Encounter.
During World War II, he served with the Grenadier Guards; later Peter and his brother Ian were commissioned by Colin Gubbins to help establish the Auxiliary Units. This was to be the "secret army" of civilian volunteers that would fight on, behind enemy lines, as part of the British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. Fleming later served in Norway and Greece; his principal service, however, from 1942 to the end of the war, was as head of "D Division," in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia. He was awarded the Order of the Cloud and Banner (Chinese military honour) and he received an OBE for his services in 1945.
After the war, Peter Fleming retired to squiredom at Nettlebed, Oxfordshire. He is buried in Nettlebed churchyard. The gravestone reads:
- He travelled widely in far places;
- Wrote, and was widely read.
- Soldiered, saw some of danger's faces,
- Came home to Nettlebed.
- The squire lies here, his journeys ended –
- Dust, and a name on a stone –
- Content, amid the lands he tended,
- To keep this rendezvous alone.
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