Richard Lovelace “Dikko” Henderson is a character in the James Bond novel You Only Live Twice.

Charles Gray as Dikko Henderson in ‘You Only Live Twice’.

Novel biography: Dikko is an Australian intelligence officer assigned to that country’s embassy in Tokyo. Since the Australians and the British have strong ties in intelligence matters, Dikko is assigned to introduce Bond to Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese Secret Service. A brawler and heavy drinker, Dikko easily befriends Bond and gives him his first introduction to Japanese culture via a bar and a brothel. He actively fosters relations between the British agent and Tanaka; however, he drops out of the picture once Bond undertakes the assassination of the foreign botanist Doctor Shatterhand.

Film biography: Dikko’s physical description and personality are based on the British journalist Richard Hughes, who was the Asian correspondent for the Times of London. Author Ian Fleming had befriended Hughes while touring Asia as part of his research for his series of travel essays published as Thrilling Cities.

In the film version of You Only Live Twice, Henderson (no first name listed) is portrayed by Charles Gray. He is Bond’s contact in Tokyo, a former soldier who has an artificial leg. Henderson has partially (but not completely) assimilated into the culture of his host country, wearing a kimono but insisting on sleeping in a four-poster bed. In his apartment, Henderson confirms to Bond that the Japanese government is not involved in the disappearance of an American spacecraft, but is assassinated in mid-sentence by a dagger stabbed through the paper wall.