Plomer

A Labour Party spokeswoman, Phoebe Plomer, said Mr. Lightwood would spend the final days of the campaign telling voters that by defeating the Tories in Wakefield, they had a chance to force Mr. Johnson out of power.

Mr. Plomer also offered more practical criticisms, noting how improbable it was that a fly-button would be the first thing to dislodge from Bond’s pants as he lay spread-eagle on a saw table, a circular blade whirring toward his groin.

My favorite exchanges are those between Fleming and two of his most trusted readers, William Plomer and Daniel George, to whom he sent early drafts of each Bond installment.

While they almost always found something wonderful to say — “I got so fond of Dr. No I was quite sorry to see him vanish under a mound of excreta,” Mr. Plomer wrote in 1957 — they were positively unsparing in their critiques of Fleming’s stylistic tics and idiosyncrasies.

“Didn’t other objects get in the way first,” Mr. Plomer asked, “or does Bond have undescended testicles?”