James Bond is one of the most popular characters, not just in literature but in pop culture in general. The character, created by British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming, is a secret service agent with the code name 007.
Over the years, Ian’s 12 Bond novels have inspired several video games, comics, and the highly popular Bond films. But what was the inspiration behind this fascinating character when Ian created it? Let’s find out.
Read More: Next James Bond: Victorious Idris Elba Destroys Tom Hardy And Henry Cavill In 007 Uproar
The Inspiration Behind James Bond
The character is an intelligence officer who was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Its creator Ian Fleming based the character on a series of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during the 2nd World War.
Fleming later said that Bond “was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war.” He also based it on his brother Peter Fleming who was involved in several behind the lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.
Conrad O’Brien-ffrench, a British Secret Intelligent officer, also served as an inspiration for the character’s makeup. Fleming had met him in Kitzbühel in the 1930s.
Other people who inspired the character include Patrick Dalzel-Job, who served with distinction in 30 AU during the second war. Ian also took several aspects of Bond’s personality from Bill “Biffy” Dunderdale who was the station head of MI6 in Paris. He who wore cuff links and handmade suits and was chauffeured around Paris in a Rolls-Royce.
Sir Fitzroy Maclean is seen as another figure mentioned as a possible inspiration. He did wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans; the MI6 double agent Dušan Popov is another person to inspire Bond.
Other Inspirations For 007
Ian wrote the first novel in 1953 and the character of Bond appeared in 12 novels and nine short stories. Two novels were released posthumously.
The British author took inspiration from several real-life people and incidents to build the character. This includes the name, James Bond. Ian took the name from the American ornithologist James Bond.
Talking about the name, Ian 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.”
The code number 007 used throughout his work is a reference to the breaking of a World War I German diplomatic code.
Read More: Ana de Armas Shares Her Opinion On Female James Bond
Read More: James Bond Producer Reveals Why Next Film’s Production Is “At Least 2 Years” Away
