Author Ian Fleming created a Frankenstein’s monster of a secret agent, drawing inspiration in his wartime experiences
In a foreword for H Montgomery Hyde’s book, a biography of Sir William Stephenson, the Canadian fighter pilot and spymaster who established a British intelligence operation in New York during the Second World War, Fleming pointed out that, “James Bond is not in fact a hero, but an efficient and not very attractive blunt instrument in the hands of the government, and though he is a meld of various qualities I noted among Secret Service men and commandos in the last war, he remains, of course, a...
His dark work was “able to render innumerable services to the Royal Navy that could not have been asked for, let alone executed, through the normal channels,” Fleming wrote. When Churchill recommended Stephenson to King George VI for a knighthood he added a note: “This one is dear to my heart”. Similarly enthusiastic was the Dominican diplomat and full time playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, a friend of Fleming’s close confidantes Noel Coward and Errol Flynn. He was linked to Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Kim Novak, Judy Garland and many, many other women besides, and apparently was so well-endowed that the giant peppermills in use at restaurants at the time became colloquially known as Rubirosas. In his down-time he was a racing driver too.
More demure was Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale, a friend of Fleming’s who was MI6 station head in Paris over the war. He wore handmade suits, drove fast cars and was American-French entertainer and spy Josephine Baker’s handler. On his death in 1990,Some inspired particular moments in the Bond canon. In 1941 Fleming went on a mission with Duško Popov, a triple agent passing disinformation to the Nazis while reporting to MI6 and his own Serbian government.
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