Ernő Goldfinger of Brutalist architecture. Goldfinger was known as a humourless man given to notorious rages. He sometimes fired his assistants if they were inappropriately jocular, and once forcibly ejected two prospective clients for imposing restrictions on his design. A discussion about Ernő with Goldfinger's cousin, on a golf course prompted Ian Fleming to name the James Bond adversary and villain Auric Goldfinger after Ernő (Fleming had previously been among the objectors to the pre-war demolition of the cottages in Hampstead that were removed to make way for Goldfinger's house at 2 Willow Road). Goldfinger consulted his lawyers when "Goldfinger" was published
Goldfinger (novel) "Goldfinger", saying "the whole preposterous fantasy strikes me as highly entertaining." Meanwhile, the critic for the "New York Herald Tribune", James Sandoe considered the book to be "a superlative thriller from our foremost literary magician." Anthony Burgess, in Ninety-nine Novels, cited it as one of the 99 best novels in English since 1939. "Fleming raised the standard of the popular story of espionage through good writing — a heightened journalistic style — and the creation of a government agent — James Bond, 007 — who is sufficiently complicated to compel our interest over a whole series of adventures. A patriotic