James Bond's Exploits Grounded In Reality

James Bond’s Exploits Grounded In Reality. News has come in that the story of James Bond, that suave, ultimate icon for men throughout the world, is actually based on real-life exploits of an MI6 spy, who was active during the Second World War. Among the most famous scenes from James Bond series of films is the one from the 1964 movie, “Goldfinger,” where Sean Connery, playing Bond, emerges in his wetsuit but seconds later, discards it for a spotless dinner suit. According to ‘MI6, The History of the Secret Intelligence Service,’ the first official history of the SIS, written by Professor Keith Jeffery, this scene was inspired by the real life incident that took place when Dutch secret agent Pieter Tazelaar was sent by sea 70 years ago, to establish contact with agents in Holland. Professor Jeffrey, who teaches at the Queen’s University in Belfast, had access to the historic documents recording the goings on of the SIS. However, his book talks of the period only upto 1949 and he has also been disallowed to reveal the identities of spies not already in the public domain. Another inspiration for James Bond could be Commander Wilfred “Biffy” Dunderdale, a friend of Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, and a lesser known name among the spies. Professor Jeffrey reports in his book, “When head of the SIS Paris station in the 1930s, he had a penchant for pretty women and fast cars and has been proposed as one of the possible models for Bond. He was a great friend of Ian Fleming and claimed that he found parts of his own stories in the James Bond novels.” Jeffrey says of Dunderdale, “A man of great charm and savoir-fair, in old age he became an incorrigible raconteur.”