Fans queue for hours for `Devil May Care` whilst launch party kicks off in London

29-May-2008 • Literary

They had a special mission and were given a licence to stay up all night ... James Bond fans braved stormy weather to be the first to buy the new novel marking the centenary of the birth of 007 creator Ian Fleming.

A number of fans endured thunder and rain to be at Waterstone's in Piccadilly, London, at 8am today where 200 signed and numbered editions of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks went on sale at Â£100 each - reports ThisIsLondon.

First was Steve Norris, 39, from Hackney, east London, a housing manager, who started queueing at 4pm yesterday. He said he had been a Bond fan "ever since I can remember". As he got his hands on his copy he said: "It feels absolutely brilliant. It was worth the wait."

Second and third in the queue were Aron Taylor and friend Daniel Woolman, both aged 25, from Barnet. Mr Woolman, a self-employed inventor, said: "We came for the adventure. Every British boy wants to be Bond."

Faulks, author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, wrote the novel in six weeks after being commissioned by Fleming's estate. The launch party at the private members' club Fifty in St James saw Faulks in attendance alongside the model Tuuli Shipster, who is featured on the cover of the new book. Absent - for at least part of the evening - were Faulks's children William, 17, Holly, 15, and Arthur, 11, who fell victim to the club's strict "over-21" door policy. "If anyone knows how to bend some arms around here tonight, that would be much appreciated," exclaimed Faulks. "My children have worked very hard for tonight as well and I know they're dying to be allowed in."