fbpx
Wikipedia

Inspirations for James Bond

February 24, 2023

A number of real-life inspirations have been suggested for James Bond, the fictional character created in 1953 by British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming (1908 – 1964); Bond appeared in twelve novels and nine short stories by Fleming, as well as a number of continuation novels and twenty-six films, with seven actors playing the role of Bond.

Although the stories and characters were fictional, a number of elements had a real-life background, taken from people whom Fleming knew or events he was aware of. These included the spy's name, which Fleming took from the American ornithologist James Bond, and the code number—007—which referred to the breaking of a World War I German diplomatic code. Some aspects of Bond's character and tastes replicate those of Fleming himself.

An inspiration for the James Bond spy novels may have come from the writings of William Le Queux, who wrote related novels between 1891 and 1931;.[1] As well, inspiration for the James Bond films, on the other hand, may have come from the early silent films of German director Fritz Lang, including the 1922 film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler,[2] and the 1928 film Spione.[3]

Origins of the name

 
James Bond, ornithologist; provider of Bond's name

On the morning of 17 February 1952, Ian Fleming started writing what would become his first book, Casino Royale, at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. He typed out 2,000 words in the morning, directly from his own experiences and imagination[4] and finished work on the manuscript in just over a month,[5] completing it on 18 March 1952.[6] Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".[7]

When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard.

Ian Fleming, The New Yorker, 21 April 1962[8]

On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, 'James Bond' was much better than something more interesting, like 'Peregrine Carruthers'. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."[9] After Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as "a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke".[10] The ornithologist was obliquely referred to in the film Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan's Bond picking up a copy of Birds of the West Indies and posing as an ornithologist.[11]

Character inspirations

 
Zsa Zsa Gabor and Porfirio Rubirosa, circa 1954

Dominican playboy, diplomat, soldier, polo player and race car driver "Porfirio Rubirosa" was the main influence for the character according to lawyer and historian "Daniel J. Voelker". Rubirosa was a man who made his mark for his international lifestyle, jetsetting and massive success with women; out of his five spouses, two of them were the richest women in the world at that time. Voelker wrote that Fleming refrained from publicizing his muse for fear that racism would harm the sale of the book - Rubirosa was from mixed racial background and Fleming's audience in the 1950s and early 60s may not have been accepting of such revelation. He also wrote that out of all the rumoured inspirations for the character, only Rubirosa checks all the boxes, claiming the similarities between the two are uncanny, he brought comparisons between Fleming's and Rubirosa's lives, interests, lovers, admirers and circle of friends over a 30 year old period and all of them seem to coincide.[12]

In other interview, Voelker stated that: "Two of the main focal points can be found through internationally famous celebrities Errol Flynn and Noel Coward. Friends with both Fleming and Rubirosa, these two lived between Fleming and Rubirosa in the Caribbean, traveled and partied with both of them and even shared a ‘love connection’ through certain well known women, including Rita Hayworth and Eva Perón." which can lead to another proof that character was inspired by the controversial man.[13]

 
James Albert Bond: Her Majesty's real-life secret agent

During the Second World War Fleming was the personal assistant to the director of the Naval Intelligence Division, Admiral John Godfrey.[14] He reached the rank of commander—a rank he subsequently gave to his fictional creation—and was the planner for special operations unit 30th Assault Unit.[15] Many of Bond's tastes and traits were Fleming's own, including sharing the same golf handicap, the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries.[16] Bond's tastes are also often taken from Fleming's, as was his behaviour,[17] with Bond's love of golf and gambling mirroring his creator's. Fleming used the experiences of his espionage career and other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing, including using names of school friends, acquaintances, relatives and lovers throughout his books.[18]

Bond's cigarettes were also the same as Fleming's, who had been buying his custom-made by Morland since the 1930s; Fleming added the three gold bands on the filter during the war to mirror his naval Commander's rank.[19] On average, Bond smokes sixty cigarettes a day, although he cut back to around twenty-five a day after his visit to a health farm in Thunderball.[20] Fleming himself smoked up to eighty cigarettes a day.[21] Apart from imbuing Bond with his own tastes, Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in intelligence, admitting that Bond "was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war".[18]

The Institute of National Remembrance revealed in 2020 that James Albert Bond (1928 – 2005), a British diplomat born in Bideford, Devon, had worked at the British Embassy in Warsaw with arrival of Warsaw on 18 February 1964 and left the territory of the Polish People's Republic on 21 January 1965. Released documents confirm that he conducted espionage activities. It is unclear whether Ian Fleming was aware of the existence of an actual spy named James Albert Bond.[22][23] James Albert Bond had a son with his wife Janette Tacchi who is also called James, born in 1955.[24]

Dates Name Notes
17 June 1894 – 13 February 1969 Sidney Cotton Cotton was an Australian who served the British Royal Naval Air Service. He was a close friend of Fleming during the Second World War. After having served as a pilot in the First World War, Cotton worked for MI6 photographing German factories, military installations and airfields from a camera hidden in a plane's fuselage. He would also openly take photographs of installations using people as cover for doing so—including Hitler's deputy, Hermann Göring. Cotton also flew the last civilian plane out of Berlin at the outbreak of the Second World War, taking pictures of the German navy as he did so.[25]
1 June 1913 – 14 October 2003 Patrick Dalzel-Job Naval intelligence officer and commando of the Second World War, Dalzel-Job was also an accomplished linguist, author, mariner, navigator, parachutist, diver and skier and knew Fleming through his service with 30AU.[26] Like Bond, he had a rebellious streak when he disagreed with orders on points of principle. A modest man, when once asked about the connection with Bond he replied: "I have never read a Bond book or seen a Bond movie. They are not my style ... And I only loved one woman and I'm not a drinking man."[27]
24 December 1899 – 13 November 1990 Wilfred (Biffy) Dunderdale The MI6 head of station in Paris, Dunderdale would regularly dine at Maxim's; he drove an armour-plated Rolls-Royce and dressed in handmade suits and Cartier cufflinks.[28] Dunderdale was a bon viveur who enjoyed attractive women and fast cars and was a friend of Fleming's during the Second World War.[29] He also played a key role in the cracking of the Enigma code.[28]
31 May 1907 – 18 August 1971 Peter Fleming Ian Fleming's elder brother, and wartime expert of military intelligence and irregular warfare. He spent time behind enemy lines in Norway and Greece during the war.[30] He also spent time in Delhi, organising deception plans to fool the Imperial Japanese Army.[31]
18 April 1912 – 6 March 2004 Sandy Glen Glen was a former Arctic explorer who worked with Fleming in Naval Intelligence.[32] Like Bond, Glen went to Fettes College and had Scottish antecedents.[33] Glen distanced himself from the connection, saying "I don't think it's true for a moment; I'm far too gentle, too law-abiding."[32]
11 August 1910 – 1 November 1995 Duane Hudson Hudson spent much of the Second World War behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia, initially with the British Secret Service and subsequently with the Special Operations Executive (SOE).[34] Hudson survived assassination attempts and recruited a network of agents to blow up Axis shipping—blowing up an Italian ship single-handedly.[35]
11 March 1911 – 15 June 1996 Fitzroy Maclean During World War II Maclean was a British agent in Yugoslavia and friend (and biographer) of Josip Broz Tito, as well as a member of the Special Air Service, active in North Africa and Yugoslavia. Although a number of media sources at the time of his death suggested that he was a model for Bond, he denied the rumour, a view shared by Fleming's biographer, Andrew Lycett.[32][36]
— Michael Mason Mason ran away from his wealthy family at an early age to go to Canada where he worked as a trapper and professional boxer. At the outbreak of war he worked in then-neutral Bucharest where he killed two German agents who were trying to assassinate him.[32]
21 December 1906 – 3 September 1987 Merlin Minshall Minshall was a fellow member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was known to Fleming through his work in naval intelligence. In 1940 he joined the SOE and waged guerrilla warfare against the Nazis in France and Yugoslavia.[37][38]
19 November 1893 – 23 October 1986 Conrad O'Brien-ffrench O'Brien-ffrench was a distinguished British secret intelligence officer, decorated army officer, skier, mountaineer, linguist, traveller and artist. He met Fleming in Austria in the 1930s while working for Claude Dansey's "Z" network gathering information on German troop movements.[18][39] In 1918, Stewart Menzies recruited Conrad into MI6 who then undertook clandestine missions abroad.[40]
10 July 1912 – 10 August 1981 Duško Popov Popov was a Serbian triple agent of VOA (code named "Duško"), MI6 (code named "Tricycle") and the Abwehr (code named "Ivan").[41] Fleming knew Popov and followed him in Lisbon, Portugal as an escort appointed by the MI6, witnessing an event in the Estoril Casino where Popov bluffed by placing a bet of $40,000 ($700,000 in 2021 dollars[42]) in order to cause a rival to withdraw from a baccarat table: Fleming used this episode as the basis for Casino Royale.[43]
24 March 1873 – 5 November 1925 Sidney Reilly Reilly was an agent for Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the British Secret Service Bureau. In 1918, Reilly was employed by Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming as an operative for MI1(c), an early designation for the MI6.[44] Reilly's friend Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart knew Fleming for many years and told him of Reilly's espionage adventures;[45] Fleming subsequently mentioned to a colleague at The Sunday Times that he had created Bond after hearing about Reilly.[46]
9 December 1913 – 8 June 2006 Peter Smithers Sir Peter Smithers, who was known to Fleming, organised passage for British refugees from France as the Nazis advanced through France. Later, as a naval attaché, he worked in Washington on spreading disinformation about the Nazis.[47] He spent part of the war working in Naval Intelligence; Fleming later named a character in Goldfinger after him.[48]
23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989 William Stephenson William Stephenson was an international spymaster, best known by his code name, Intrepid. A Canadian WWI soldier, ace fighter pilot, entrepreneur, inventor and international millionaire businessman, Stephenson, a Knight Bachelor, would by 1940 become the head of the British Security Coordination, an MI6 organisation based in New York, and an advisor to Churchill and Roosevelt.[49]His WWI Military Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross citations note his daring and initiative in causing casualties and chaos behind enemy lines, and proficiency in providing military intelligence. Shot down late in 1918, he would become a prisoner of war but was able to escape internment. Among many later initiatives after establishing himself across many lines of international commerce in the 1920 and 30s, he provided firsthand information on German treaty violations and war preparations to Winston Churchill in the 1930s, and established and ran the Allies' Camp X spy training facility during WWII. He was instrumental in the development of important spycraft and tools.

Regarding him, Fleming wrote in The Sunday Times of 21 October 1962, that Bond was: "a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing, the man who became one of the great agents of the [Second World War] is William Stephenson."[50] Elsewhere Fleming wrote of Stephenson that he "used to make the most powerful martinis in America and serve them in quart glasses."[51]

17 June 1902 – 26 February 1964 Forest Yeo-Thomas Wing Commander Forest Yeo-Thomas was a British field agent code named "White Rabbit" for the SOE. His missions for the SOE involved him parachuting multiple times in enemy occupied France. In his memoirs, Fleming wrote of his fascination with the missions Thomas conducted behind enemy lines, such as having dinner with Nazis, the use of disguises, being captured and interrogated by the Gestapo before escaping, shooting an enemy agent, as well as having relationships with different women.

Literary Inspirations

Besides real life individuals, James Bond was also inspired by one of Dennis Wheatley's characters; the secret agent Gregory Sallust,[52] based on Wheatley's late friend Gordon Eric Gordon-Tombe.[53] It is also said that the character of James Bond took inspiration from a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly and sophisticated spy by Somerset Maugham, using his own spying experience as a basis.[54]

Another inspiration for the James Bond spy novels may have come from the writings of William Le Queux, who wrote related novels between 1891 and 1931;[1] inspiration for the James Bond spy films, on the other hand, may have come from the early silent films of German director Fritz Lang, including the 1922 film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler,[2] and the 1928 film Spione.[3] Somewhat related, Gert Fröbe, who played the chief prosecutor investigating Dr. Mabuse in the more recent German spy films, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), The Return of Doctor Mabuse (1961) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1962), later played the role of Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 James Bond spy film Goldfinger.

Inspiration for "007"

The 007 number assigned to James Bond may have been influenced by any number of sources. In the films and novels, the 00 prefix indicates Bond's discretionary "licence to kill", in executing his duties. Bond's number—007—was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence's key achievements of World War I: the breaking of the German diplomatic code.[55]

One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram, which was coded 0075,[56] and which was one of the factors that led to the US entering the war. Subsequently, if material was graded 00 it meant it was highly classified and, as journalist Ben Macintyre has pointed out, "to anyone versed in intelligence history, 007 signified the highest achievement of British military intelligence."[55]

John Dee, who was accused of spying for the crown, signed his letters to Elizabeth I, Queen of England between 1558 and 1603, with a "007" symbol, marking them thereby as personal – destined for her majesty's eyes only.[57]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Calavita, Marco (28 July 2012). "A Nod to the Xenophobic, Lying Inventor of Spy Fiction - Secret ciphers. Fast cars. A suave agent fond of cocktails and fancy cigarettes barely escaping death in exotic locales. Spy yarns' familiar trappings follow a blueprint laid out more than a century ago by this controversial writer". Wired. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b Hoberman, J. (6 May 2020). "An Evil Doctor Who Casts a Spell on Subjects and Viewers Alike - Don't think the silent 4½-hour "Dr. Mabuse the Gambler" is for you? It's shockingly contemporary, and can be binge-watched or seen in chapters. You have time. Give it a try". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b Bank, Douglas (27 October 2018). "Spies (aka, Spione) (Fritz Lang, 1928)". OffScreen.com. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  4. ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 4.
  5. ^ "Ian Fleming". About Ian Fleming. Ian Fleming Publications. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  6. ^ Black 2005, p. 4.
  7. ^ Caplen 2010, p. 21.
  8. ^ Hellman, Geoffrey T. (21 April 1962). "James Bond Comes to New York". Talk of the Town. The New Yorker. p. 32. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  9. ^ Fleming, Ian (5 April 1958). ""The Exclusive Bond" Mr. Fleming on his hero". The Manchester Guardian. p. 4.
  10. ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 230.
  11. ^ Steyn, Mark (30 November 2002). "Forever Bond". The Spectator. London. 131: 68.
  12. ^ "James Bond Was Based On This Womanising, Martini-Swilling, Real Life Playboy". GQ Australia. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
  13. ^ "James Bond Originally Inspired By A Dominican Diplomat?". Vibe. 7 October 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  14. ^ Lycett 1996, p. 103.
  15. ^ Rankin 2011, p. 136.
  16. ^ Macintyre 2008, p. 50.
  17. ^ Cook, William (28 June 2004). "Novel man". New Statesman. p. 40.
  18. ^ a b c Macintyre, Ben (5 April 2008). "Bond – the real Bond". The Times. p. 36.
  19. ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 70.
  20. ^ Benson 1988, p. 70.
  21. ^ Burns, John F (19 May 2008). "Remembering Fleming, Ian Fleming". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  22. ^ 007's file found in the IPN's Archive
  23. ^ "Britain sent the real James Bond to spy on Cold War Poland". The Sunday Times. 24 Sep 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  24. ^ . The Telegraph. 23 Sep 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-02.
  25. ^ Morris, David (15 July 2001). "The real Bond – Revealed: 007 was actually a Queenslander". The Sunday Mail. p. 18.
  26. ^ McGrory, Daniel; Evans, Michael; English, Shirley. "War hero hailed as the real 007 dies". The Times. London. p. 3.
  27. ^ Macintyre 2008, p. 70.
  28. ^ a b Macintyre 2008, p. 72.
  29. ^ Gardham, Duncan (22 September 2010). "Fast cars, women ... was he the model for Bond?". The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 15.
  30. ^ "Obituary: Colonel Peter Fleming, Author and explorer". The Times. London. 20 August 1971. p. 14.
  31. ^ Macintyre 2008, p. 67-68.
  32. ^ a b c d Cathcart, Brian (23 June 1996). "The name's Dunderdale, Biffy Dunderdale". The Independent. London. p. 10.
  33. ^ Lycett 1996, p. 112.
  34. ^ Foot, Michael (14 November 1995). "Obituary: Colonel D. T. Hudson". The Independent. London. p. 18.
  35. ^ "Agent who met Tito". Herald Sun. Melbourne. 24 November 1995.
  36. ^ West 2010, p. 134.
  37. ^ "Wartime Agent Believed To Have Been Model For James Bond Dies". Associated Press. 23 September 1987.
  38. ^ "Obituary of Mr Merlin Minshall". The Times. London. 23 September 1987.
  39. ^ Jackson & Scott 2004, p. 125.
  40. ^ McKay 1993, p. 115.
  41. ^ "The name's Tricycle, Agent Tricycle". BBC News. 9 May 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  42. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  43. ^ West 2010, p. xxii–xxiii.
  44. ^ Spence 2002, p. 93.
  45. ^ Cook 2004, p. 12.
  46. ^ Cook 2004, p. 10.
  47. ^ Cameron, Sue (15 June 2006). "Model for 007 was more greenfinger than Goldfinger Obituary: Sir Peter Smithers". Financial Times. London. p. 4.
  48. ^ "Obituary: Sir Peter Smithers". The Times. London. 15 June 2006. p. 62.
  49. ^ West 2010, p. 15-16.
  50. ^ Hamilton 2011, p. 147.
  51. ^ Room 3603 (PDF). pp. xi.
  52. ^ Rosenberg, Tina (8 August 2012). "The Novelist Who Spied: How Dennis Wheatley Helped Defeat the Nazis". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  53. ^ "The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Instant success as an author". Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  54. ^ Morgan, 1980, p. 206.
  55. ^ a b Macintyre 2008, p. 65.
  56. ^ Chancellor 2005, p. 190.
  57. ^ Cooper, D.W.; Gerald, Lawrence. "Francis Bacon & John Dee". www.SirBacon.org. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Sources

External links

February 24, 2023
inspirations, james, bond, number, real, life, inspirations, have, been, suggested, james, bond, fictional, character, created, 1953, british, author, journalist, naval, intelligence, officer, fleming, 1908, 1964, bond, appeared, twelve, novels, nine, short, s. A number of real life inspirations have been suggested for James Bond the fictional character created in 1953 by British author journalist and Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming 1908 1964 Bond appeared in twelve novels and nine short stories by Fleming as well as a number of continuation novels and twenty six films with seven actors playing the role of Bond Although the stories and characters were fictional a number of elements had a real life background taken from people whom Fleming knew or events he was aware of These included the spy s name which Fleming took from the American ornithologist James Bond and the code number 007 which referred to the breaking of a World War I German diplomatic code Some aspects of Bond s character and tastes replicate those of Fleming himself An inspiration for the James Bond spy novels may have come from the writings of William Le Queux who wrote related novels between 1891 and 1931 1 As well inspiration for the James Bond films on the other hand may have come from the early silent films of German director Fritz Lang including the 1922 film Dr Mabuse the Gambler 2 and the 1928 film Spione 3 Contents 1 Origins of the name 2 Character inspirations 3 Literary Inspirations 4 Inspiration for 007 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External linksOrigins of the name Edit James Bond ornithologist provider of Bond s name On the morning of 17 February 1952 Ian Fleming started writing what would become his first book Casino Royale at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica He typed out 2 000 words in the morning directly from his own experiences and imagination 4 and finished work on the manuscript in just over a month 5 completing it on 18 March 1952 6 Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies Fleming a keen birdwatcher himself had a copy of Bond s guide and he later explained to the ornithologist s wife that It struck me that this brief unromantic Anglo Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed and so a second James Bond was born 7 When I wrote the first one in 1953 I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull uninteresting man to whom things happened I wanted him to be a blunt instrument when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God James Bond is the dullest name I ever heard Ian Fleming The New Yorker 21 April 1962 8 On another occasion Fleming said I wanted the simplest dullest plainest sounding name I could find James Bond was much better than something more interesting like Peregrine Carruthers Exotic things would happen to and around him but he would be a neutral figure an anonymous blunt instrument wielded by a government department 9 After Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife he described them as a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke 10 The ornithologist was obliquely referred to in the film Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan s Bond picking up a copy of Birds of the West Indies and posing as an ornithologist 11 Character inspirations Edit Zsa Zsa Gabor and Porfirio Rubirosa circa 1954 Dominican playboy diplomat soldier polo player and race car driver Porfirio Rubirosa was the main influence for the character according to lawyer and historian Daniel J Voelker Rubirosa was a man who made his mark for his international lifestyle jetsetting and massive success with women out of his five spouses two of them were the richest women in the world at that time Voelker wrote that Fleming refrained from publicizing his muse for fear that racism would harm the sale of the book Rubirosa was from mixed racial background and Fleming s audience in the 1950s and early 60s may not have been accepting of such revelation He also wrote that out of all the rumoured inspirations for the character only Rubirosa checks all the boxes claiming the similarities between the two are uncanny he brought comparisons between Fleming s and Rubirosa s lives interests lovers admirers and circle of friends over a 30 year old period and all of them seem to coincide 12 In other interview Voelker stated that Two of the main focal points can be found through internationally famous celebrities Errol Flynn and Noel Coward Friends with both Fleming and Rubirosa these two lived between Fleming and Rubirosa in the Caribbean traveled and partied with both of them and even shared a love connection through certain well known women including Rita Hayworth and Eva Peron which can lead to another proof that character was inspired by the controversial man 13 James Albert Bond Her Majesty s real life secret agent During the Second World War Fleming was the personal assistant to the director of the Naval Intelligence Division Admiral John Godfrey 14 He reached the rank of commander a rank he subsequently gave to his fictional creation and was the planner for special operations unit 30th Assault Unit 15 Many of Bond s tastes and traits were Fleming s own including sharing the same golf handicap the taste for scrambled eggs and using the same brand of toiletries 16 Bond s tastes are also often taken from Fleming s as was his behaviour 17 with Bond s love of golf and gambling mirroring his creator s Fleming used the experiences of his espionage career and other aspects of his life as inspiration when writing including using names of school friends acquaintances relatives and lovers throughout his books 18 Bond s cigarettes were also the same as Fleming s who had been buying his custom made by Morland since the 1930s Fleming added the three gold bands on the filter during the war to mirror his naval Commander s rank 19 On average Bond smokes sixty cigarettes a day although he cut back to around twenty five a day after his visit to a health farm in Thunderball 20 Fleming himself smoked up to eighty cigarettes a day 21 Apart from imbuing Bond with his own tastes Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in intelligence admitting that Bond was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war 18 The Institute of National Remembrance revealed in 2020 that James Albert Bond 1928 2005 a British diplomat born in Bideford Devon had worked at the British Embassy in Warsaw with arrival of Warsaw on 18 February 1964 and left the territory of the Polish People s Republic on 21 January 1965 Released documents confirm that he conducted espionage activities It is unclear whether Ian Fleming was aware of the existence of an actual spy named James Albert Bond 22 23 James Albert Bond had a son with his wife Janette Tacchi who is also called James born in 1955 24 Dates Name Notes17 June 1894 13 February 1969 Sidney Cotton Cotton was an Australian who served the British Royal Naval Air Service He was a close friend of Fleming during the Second World War After having served as a pilot in the First World War Cotton worked for MI6 photographing German factories military installations and airfields from a camera hidden in a plane s fuselage He would also openly take photographs of installations using people as cover for doing so including Hitler s deputy Hermann Goring Cotton also flew the last civilian plane out of Berlin at the outbreak of the Second World War taking pictures of the German navy as he did so 25 1 June 1913 14 October 2003 Patrick Dalzel Job Naval intelligence officer and commando of the Second World War Dalzel Job was also an accomplished linguist author mariner navigator parachutist diver and skier and knew Fleming through his service with 30AU 26 Like Bond he had a rebellious streak when he disagreed with orders on points of principle A modest man when once asked about the connection with Bond he replied I have never read a Bond book or seen a Bond movie They are not my style And I only loved one woman and I m not a drinking man 27 24 December 1899 13 November 1990 Wilfred Biffy Dunderdale The MI6 head of station in Paris Dunderdale would regularly dine at Maxim s he drove an armour plated Rolls Royce and dressed in handmade suits and Cartier cufflinks 28 Dunderdale was a bon viveur who enjoyed attractive women and fast cars and was a friend of Fleming s during the Second World War 29 He also played a key role in the cracking of the Enigma code 28 31 May 1907 18 August 1971 Peter Fleming Ian Fleming s elder brother and wartime expert of military intelligence and irregular warfare He spent time behind enemy lines in Norway and Greece during the war 30 He also spent time in Delhi organising deception plans to fool the Imperial Japanese Army 31 18 April 1912 6 March 2004 Sandy Glen Glen was a former Arctic explorer who worked with Fleming in Naval Intelligence 32 Like Bond Glen went to Fettes College and had Scottish antecedents 33 Glen distanced himself from the connection saying I don t think it s true for a moment I m far too gentle too law abiding 32 11 August 1910 1 November 1995 Duane Hudson Hudson spent much of the Second World War behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia initially with the British Secret Service and subsequently with the Special Operations Executive SOE 34 Hudson survived assassination attempts and recruited a network of agents to blow up Axis shipping blowing up an Italian ship single handedly 35 11 March 1911 15 June 1996 Fitzroy Maclean During World War II Maclean was a British agent in Yugoslavia and friend and biographer of Josip Broz Tito as well as a member of the Special Air Service active in North Africa and Yugoslavia Although a number of media sources at the time of his death suggested that he was a model for Bond he denied the rumour a view shared by Fleming s biographer Andrew Lycett 32 36 Michael Mason Mason ran away from his wealthy family at an early age to go to Canada where he worked as a trapper and professional boxer At the outbreak of war he worked in then neutral Bucharest where he killed two German agents who were trying to assassinate him 32 21 December 1906 3 September 1987 Merlin Minshall Minshall was a fellow member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was known to Fleming through his work in naval intelligence In 1940 he joined the SOE and waged guerrilla warfare against the Nazis in France and Yugoslavia 37 38 19 November 1893 23 October 1986 Conrad O Brien ffrench O Brien ffrench was a distinguished British secret intelligence officer decorated army officer skier mountaineer linguist traveller and artist He met Fleming in Austria in the 1930s while working for Claude Dansey s Z network gathering information on German troop movements 18 39 In 1918 Stewart Menzies recruited Conrad into MI6 who then undertook clandestine missions abroad 40 10 July 1912 10 August 1981 Dusko Popov Popov was a Serbian triple agent of VOA code named Dusko MI6 code named Tricycle and the Abwehr code named Ivan 41 Fleming knew Popov and followed him in Lisbon Portugal as an escort appointed by the MI6 witnessing an event in the Estoril Casino where Popov bluffed by placing a bet of 40 000 700 000 in 2021 dollars 42 in order to cause a rival to withdraw from a baccarat table Fleming used this episode as the basis for Casino Royale 43 24 March 1873 5 November 1925 Sidney Reilly Reilly was an agent for Scotland Yard s Special Branch and the British Secret Service Bureau In 1918 Reilly was employed by Sir Mansfield Smith Cumming as an operative for MI1 c an early designation for the MI6 44 Reilly s friend Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart knew Fleming for many years and told him of Reilly s espionage adventures 45 Fleming subsequently mentioned to a colleague at The Sunday Times that he had created Bond after hearing about Reilly 46 9 December 1913 8 June 2006 Peter Smithers Sir Peter Smithers who was known to Fleming organised passage for British refugees from France as the Nazis advanced through France Later as a naval attache he worked in Washington on spreading disinformation about the Nazis 47 He spent part of the war working in Naval Intelligence Fleming later named a character in Goldfinger after him 48 23 January 1897 31 January 1989 William Stephenson William Stephenson was an international spymaster best known by his code name Intrepid A Canadian WWI soldier ace fighter pilot entrepreneur inventor and international millionaire businessman Stephenson a Knight Bachelor would by 1940 become the head of the British Security Coordination an MI6 organisation based in New York and an advisor to Churchill and Roosevelt 49 His WWI Military Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross citations note his daring and initiative in causing casualties and chaos behind enemy lines and proficiency in providing military intelligence Shot down late in 1918 he would become a prisoner of war but was able to escape internment Among many later initiatives after establishing himself across many lines of international commerce in the 1920 and 30s he provided firsthand information on German treaty violations and war preparations to Winston Churchill in the 1930s and established and ran the Allies Camp X spy training facility during WWII He was instrumental in the development of important spycraft and tools Regarding him Fleming wrote in The Sunday Times of 21 October 1962 that Bond was a highly romanticized version of a true spy The real thing the man who became one of the great agents of the Second World War is William Stephenson 50 Elsewhere Fleming wrote of Stephenson that he used to make the most powerful martinis in America and serve them in quart glasses 51 17 June 1902 26 February 1964 Forest Yeo Thomas Wing Commander Forest Yeo Thomas was a British field agent code named White Rabbit for the SOE His missions for the SOE involved him parachuting multiple times in enemy occupied France In his memoirs Fleming wrote of his fascination with the missions Thomas conducted behind enemy lines such as having dinner with Nazis the use of disguises being captured and interrogated by the Gestapo before escaping shooting an enemy agent as well as having relationships with different women Literary Inspirations EditBesides real life individuals James Bond was also inspired by one of Dennis Wheatley s characters the secret agent Gregory Sallust 52 based on Wheatley s late friend Gordon Eric Gordon Tombe 53 It is also said that the character of James Bond took inspiration from a collection of short stories about a gentlemanly and sophisticated spy by Somerset Maugham using his own spying experience as a basis 54 Another inspiration for the James Bond spy novels may have come from the writings of William Le Queux who wrote related novels between 1891 and 1931 1 inspiration for the James Bond spy films on the other hand may have come from the early silent films of German director Fritz Lang including the 1922 film Dr Mabuse the Gambler 2 and the 1928 film Spione 3 Somewhat related Gert Frobe who played the chief prosecutor investigating Dr Mabuse in the more recent German spy films The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse 1960 The Return of Doctor Mabuse 1961 and The Testament of Dr Mabuse 1962 later played the role of Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 James Bond spy film Goldfinger Inspiration for 007 EditThe 007 number assigned to James Bond may have been influenced by any number of sources In the films and novels the 00 prefix indicates Bond s discretionary licence to kill in executing his duties Bond s number 007 was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligence s key achievements of World War I the breaking of the German diplomatic code 55 One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram which was coded 0075 56 and which was one of the factors that led to the US entering the war Subsequently if material was graded 00 it meant it was highly classified and as journalist Ben Macintyre has pointed out to anyone versed in intelligence history 007 signified the highest achievement of British military intelligence 55 John Dee who was accused of spying for the crown signed his letters to Elizabeth I Queen of England between 1558 and 1603 with a 007 symbol marking them thereby as personal destined for her majesty s eyes only 57 See also EditOutline of James BondReferences Edit a b Calavita Marco 28 July 2012 A Nod to the Xenophobic Lying Inventor of Spy Fiction Secret ciphers Fast cars A suave agent fond of cocktails and fancy cigarettes barely escaping death in exotic locales Spy yarns familiar trappings follow a blueprint laid out more than a century ago by this controversial writer Wired Retrieved 7 October 2021 a b Hoberman J 6 May 2020 An Evil Doctor Who Casts a Spell on Subjects and Viewers Alike Don t think the silent 4 hour Dr Mabuse the Gambler is for you It s shockingly contemporary and can be binge watched or seen in chapters You have time Give it a try The New York Times Retrieved 7 October 2021 a b Bank Douglas 27 October 2018 Spies aka Spione Fritz Lang 1928 OffScreen com Retrieved 7 October 2021 Chancellor 2005 p 4 Ian Fleming About Ian Fleming Ian Fleming Publications Retrieved 7 September 2011 Black 2005 p 4 Caplen 2010 p 21 Hellman Geoffrey T 21 April 1962 James Bond Comes to New York Talk of the Town The New Yorker p 32 Retrieved 9 September 2011 Fleming Ian 5 April 1958 The Exclusive Bond Mr Fleming on his hero The Manchester Guardian p 4 Chancellor 2005 p 230 Steyn Mark 30 November 2002 Forever Bond The Spectator London 131 68 James Bond Was Based On This Womanising Martini Swilling Real Life Playboy GQ Australia Retrieved October 4 2016 James Bond Originally Inspired By A Dominican Diplomat Vibe 7 October 2016 Retrieved October 7 2016 Lycett 1996 p 103 Rankin 2011 p 136 Macintyre 2008 p 50 Cook William 28 June 2004 Novel man New Statesman p 40 a b c Macintyre Ben 5 April 2008 Bond the real Bond The Times p 36 Chancellor 2005 p 70 Benson 1988 p 70 Burns John F 19 May 2008 Remembering Fleming Ian Fleming The New York Times Retrieved 22 November 2011 007 s file found in the IPN s Archive Britain sent the real James Bond to spy on Cold War Poland The Sunday Times 24 Sep 2020 Retrieved 27 September 2020 James Bond a man interested in women and infiltrating bases really did spy for Britain in the 1960s The Telegraph 23 Sep 2020 Archived from the original on 2020 10 02 Morris David 15 July 2001 The real Bond Revealed 007 was actually a Queenslander The Sunday Mail p 18 McGrory Daniel Evans Michael English Shirley War hero hailed as the real 007 dies The Times London p 3 Macintyre 2008 p 70 a b Macintyre 2008 p 72 Gardham Duncan 22 September 2010 Fast cars women was he the model for Bond The Daily Telegraph London p 15 Obituary Colonel Peter Fleming Author and explorer The Times London 20 August 1971 p 14 Macintyre 2008 p 67 68 a b c d Cathcart Brian 23 June 1996 The name s Dunderdale Biffy Dunderdale The Independent London p 10 Lycett 1996 p 112 Foot Michael 14 November 1995 Obituary Colonel D T Hudson The Independent London p 18 Agent who met Tito Herald Sun Melbourne 24 November 1995 West 2010 p 134 Wartime Agent Believed To Have Been Model For James Bond Dies Associated Press 23 September 1987 Obituary of Mr Merlin Minshall The Times London 23 September 1987 Jackson amp Scott 2004 p 125 McKay 1993 p 115 The name s Tricycle Agent Tricycle BBC News 9 May 2002 Retrieved 17 January 2012 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved 16 April 2022 West 2010 p xxii xxiii Spence 2002 p 93 Cook 2004 p 12 Cook 2004 p 10 Cameron Sue 15 June 2006 Model for 007 was more greenfinger than Goldfinger Obituary Sir Peter Smithers Financial Times London p 4 Obituary Sir Peter Smithers The Times London 15 June 2006 p 62 West 2010 p 15 16 Hamilton 2011 p 147 Room 3603 PDF pp xi Rosenberg Tina 8 August 2012 The Novelist Who Spied How Dennis Wheatley Helped Defeat the Nazis The Daily Beast Retrieved 24 December 2012 The Dennis Wheatley Museum Instant success as an author Retrieved 24 December 2012 Morgan 1980 p 206 a b Macintyre 2008 p 65 Chancellor 2005 p 190 Cooper D W Gerald Lawrence Francis Bacon amp John Dee www SirBacon org Retrieved 13 December 2020 Sources EditBenson Raymond 1988 The James Bond Bedside Companion London Boxtree Ltd ISBN 978 1 85283 233 9 Black Jeremy 2005 The Politics of James Bond from Fleming s Novel to the Big Screen University of Nebraska Press ISBN 978 0 8032 6240 9 Caplen Robert 2010 Shaken amp Stirred The Feminism of James Bond Bloomington Indiana Xlibris ISBN 978 1 4535 1282 1 self published source Chancellor Henry 2005 James Bond The Man and His World London John Murray ISBN 978 0 7195 6815 2 Cook Andrew 2004 Ace of spies the true story of Sidney Reilly Stroud Tempus Publishing ISBN 978 0 7524 2959 5 Hamilton Dwight 2011 Inside Canadian Intelligence Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism Ontario Dundurn Press ISBN 978 1 55488 892 4 Jackson Peter Scott L V 2004 Understanding intelligence in the 21st century Journeys in shadows London Routledge ISBN 978 0 7146 5533 8 Lycett Andrew 1996 Ian Fleming London Phoenix ISBN 978 1 85799 783 5 Macintyre Ben 2008 For Your Eyes Only Ian Fleming and James Bond London Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 0 7475 9527 4 McKay C G 1993 From Information to Intrigue Studies in Secret Service based on the Swedish Experience 1939 1945 London Frank Cass amp Co Ltd ISBN 978 0 7146 3470 8 Rankin Nicholas 2011 Ian Fleming s Commandos The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII London Faber and Faber ISBN 978 0 571 25062 2 Spence Richard 2002 Trust no one the secret world of Sidney Reilly Washington Feral House ISBN 978 0 922915 79 8 West Nigel 2010 Historical dictionary of Ian Fleming s world of intelligence fact and fiction Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 0 7524 2896 3 External links EditOfficial website of Ian Fleming Publications Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Inspirations for James Bond amp oldid 1137721323, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.