Sunburn vs. suntan? Marrow bone?

[Johnny_L.A]

I’ve read most of the James Bond books by Ian Flemming. In them, he wrote on more than one occasion that Bond was “working on his sunburn”; or M (or someone) would say, “Nice sunburn.” In the 1950s when these books were written, did “sunburn” in Britain mean “sun tan”?

Also: In one book M and Bond are at a club. M orders “marrow bone”. What is “marrow bone”? I have an image of a bovine femur split in half length-wise, exposing the marrow which M then ate with a fork. Is this some sort of delicacy? Is it still eaten?

[Ice_Wolf]

Yes, I’ve heard of marrow being cooked especially. From this page:

Often a marrow bone is cooked together with the meat (marrow is considered a delicacy). If marrow is used wrap the bone with a piece of cheesecloth and tie with string to prevent the marrow from dispersing in the broth while cooking. Add the marrow bone halfway through cooking.

I’d say, regarding the “sunburn” comments in Ian Fleming’s books, that they were a product of their time. In this interview, Roger More speaks about having skin cancer, and that:

… I suppose over having been exposed so much for so many years, having been told the sun was good for us, and the advertising used to be all handsome men are slightly sunburn…

[Johnny_L.A]

Thanks, Ice Wolf. I wasn’t sure if “sunburn” was being used seriously or jokingly.