Who is the Real James Bond?
By Alex Brannan
We all know about the suave, Walther PPK wielding super MI6 spy James Bond 007. But the real James Bond is far less interesting.
James Bond is a secret agent working for MI6. He hunts down baddies, single handedly foils evil plots for international destruction, and is incredibly good (in spite of misogyny) with the ladies.
Bond is Sean Connery with a cigarette in his mouth at the baccarat table. He is Daniel Craig strapped to a wicker chair, laughing as he gets tortured in the worst of bodily places. He is Pierce Brosnan with a smug grin on his face as he drives off in an invisible car.
But who is the real Bond? Who is the man behind the spy?
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To be honest, it isn’t as interesting as you might think.
Ian Fleming got the name for his debonair 00-agent from a well-regarded ornithologist. He grew up in Philadelphia and attended Cambridge University. He wrote a book called “Birds of the West Indies,” a book that Fleming discovered while he was writing his first spy thriller.
Fleming considered the name “brief” and “unromantic” (read: plain) and figured it would be the perfect name for his new character.
If you are looking for a “fun” easter egg in the otherwise un-watchable Die Another Day, look out for birds. Pierce Brosnan’s Bond, while working in Havana, Cuba, is for some reason undercover as an ornithologist. He and Jinx (Halle Berry) even engage in very awkward one-liners over the profession.
In the scene, Brosnan is armed with a pair of binoculars and the book “Birds of the West Indies.” Does this mean that, in the Bond film universe, James Bond the spy is also James Bond the ornithologist? It’s something to think about.
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As always, thanks for reading!