A number of real life inspirations have been suggested for James Bond, the sophisticated fictional character and British spy, created by Ian Fleming. Although the Bond stories were often fantasy driven, they did incorporate real places, some incidents and occasionally organisations such as SMERSH.
Many Ian Fleming biographers agree that James Bond is largely based on Fleming himself. The author was known for his glamorous and licentious lifestyle. Fleming has also been said to have been inspired by his contemporaries in British Intelligence during World War II. During the war Fleming was the personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence starting as a Lieutenant then rising to the rank of Commander, the same rank as James Bond throughout Fleming’s series. He was also the instigator of special ops unit 30 Commando Assault Unit (30AU) a unit he called his ‘Red Indians’.
Other incidents in Fleming’s books that aren’t possibly derived from the author’s own life are completely fictional, perhaps owing to various spy novel conventions of the period.
Every year since Fleming’s first Bond novel Casino Royale in 1953 until his death in 1964, Fleming would take a vacation to an estate he owned in Jamaica known as Goldeneye where he would write a James Bond novel. While in Jamaica Fleming was a keen bird watcher and owned a copy of Birds of the West Indies written by an American ornithologist by the name of James Bond. He later explained that the man’s name was “brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon, and yet very masculine – just what I needed.”
While Fleming has never claimed there was any other source for the name of Bond besides the ornithologist, there was another real life James Bond who actually attended Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fettes is the second school that the fictional James Bond is credited with attending after leaving Eton College due to an incident with a maid. This incident actually parallels Fleming’s life who also left Eton after an incident with a girl. The Fettes alumnus, James Bond, was a frogman with the Special Boat Service, much as the fictional character Bond also has a naval background. The school actually has his Who’s Who entry copied and framed in one of its main corridors.
Also notable is the mid–1920s story The Rajah’s Emerald, by Agatha Christie that is centered on a proper British character named James Bond.
Character inspirations:
Many real life personalities who were involved in espionage have been cited as models for the character by some news reports. Most notably was William Stephenson who was a Canadian spymaster, best known by his code name, Intrepid. Stephenson was the senior representative of British Intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. Regarding him, Ian Fleming wrote in The Times, October 21, 1962:
“James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is… William Stephenson”
Although other names have been mentioned by the media, none have ever been confirmed by Fleming, Ian Fleming Publications or any of Ian Fleming’s biographers such as Fleming’s assistant and friend, John Pearson.