The agents
of the British Secret Service operate under the cover of "Universal Export," a
fake business printed on their passports, and even on the Government building
itself. In reality, Section Five of the SIS at 7 Ryder Street in London had
a similar set-up during the 1950's. The front entrance had a sign reading "Charity
House," and to gain entrance you needed a special pass stating that you were a
member of the "Greenwood Country Club." The building later housed the offices
of The Economist. MI6's Embankment HQ mades its first official appearance
on the screen in The World is not Enough, by permission
of Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. THE DOUBLE-0 PREFIX
Bond is classified as agent 007 of the Secret Service, the top man in the double-0
section. There are only two other agents at any one time, and none of them ever
seem to reach the retirement age of 45 (but the medical plan is great!). Did
Fleming base this on a real branch of the agency? Actually, the double-0 prefix
was used for a variety of things in Admiralty Intelligence. In fact, when the
Bond phenomenon got too large, Whitehall Departments had to change all of their
007 prefix numbers. Among other things, they found it was being used as the phone
extension of one very unhappy civil servant (who was fielding scores of crank
calls from Bond fans), and as the number on the door of the ladies lavatory at
the Commonwealth Relations Office. In the books, James Bond is the senior member
of three Double-0 agents in the Section. In Moonraker, 008 ('Bill') had
just escaped from East Berlin, while 0011 had vanished in Singapore two months
before. 009 was briefly mentioned in Thunderball. In On Her Majesty's
Secret Service, Bond is even odds to "get" new secretary Mary Goodnight first,
before 006. Kingsley Amis writes in Colonel Sun,
that the head of Station G (Greece) was the former 005. He disappeared, presumably
killed by Col. Sun's henchmen. Raymond Benson even
added a single-0 section in his book, Zero Minus Ten. In the
James Bond films, a number of 00 agents have been depicted over the years, and,
despite the sterling reputation of the division, they seem to get picked off fairly
regularly:
| AGENT | |
| 002 | (Bill Fairbanks), killed in Beirut by Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun |
| 003 | Killed in Siberia in A View To A Kill |
| 004 | Assassinated during a training mission on the island of Gibraltar in The Living Daylights |
| 006 | (Alexander Trevelyan) killed by 007 in GoldenEye |
| 008 | Alive - he never works! M just threatens to replace Bond with him in Goldfinger and The Living Daylights |
| 009 | Assassinated in West Berlin after stealing a fake Faberge egg in Octopussy -- but the reappears to shoot Renard in The World is Not Enough! |
"M" 'M' is the codename for Admiral
Sir Miles Messervey, head of MI-6 of the British Secret Service. M paints watercolors
of flowers in his free time, but in the office he can be cold and ruthless. Of
course this is understandable when you consider that his predecessor was assassinated
in that same office by one of his own men. James Bond even tried to do him in
once, after being brainwashed by the Russians. Other inspirations
for M were said to be Admiral Godfrey, Fleming's direct superior in Navy Intelligence;
Sir Colin Gubbins, a Stornoway man who was Peter Fleming's superior in Norway
during World War II and later became head of SOE; and for all of you folklorists
out there, H.R. Harris' "New Light on James Bond," maintains that Fleming intentionally
modelled Bond on Sir Gawain, whose uncle and "boss" was King Arthur. Bond often
called M "uncle" in his telegrams from the field, and "em" is the medieval word
for "uncle." In the movies M was played by:
Again, in his pursuit of realism,
Fleming based M on a real-life counterpart: The man known as "C" in the Secret
Intelligence Service (SIS). The first "C" was Captain Sir Mansfield Cumming, RN,
commanding the office until 1929. The third "C," Sir Stewart Menzies, may have
been the real-life model of M. He contolled the SIS from an office on the 4th
floor at 54 Broadway, which was directly connected by a secret tunnel to his home
at 21 Queen Anne's Gate, so that no one could see him enter or leave. Upon entering
his office, you were greeted by his secretary Kathleen Pettigrew (the real Monneypenny).
Once she cleared you to enter, you had to wait at a door with a red light overhead.
When it flashed green, you were allowed inside. The door was of double thickness,
with a padding of quilted leather to make it sound-proof.
| ACTOR | FILM |
| Bernard Lee | Dr. No to Moonraker |
| John Huston | Casino Royale |
| Robert Brown | Octopussy to Licence To Kill |
| Edward Fox | Never Say Never Again |
| Dame Judi Dench | Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall. |
'Q''Q' is 007's armorer. In the Eon films it's also the codename of Major Boothroyd, the head equipment officer of the Secret Service. In the books, Fleming based Boothroyd on a real-life gun expert of the same name who counseled him on Bond's choice of weapons. In the films he has been played by:
| ACTOR | FILM |
| Peter Burton | Dr. No |
| Desmond Llewelyn | All other Eon films (except Live and Let Die) until Die Another Day (he was dead that day) |
| Geoffrey Bayldon | Casino Royale |
| Alec McCowen (as "Algernon") | Never Say Never Again |
| Nobody! | Casino Royale |
In John Gardner's novels, a woman
named Ann Reilly (Q'ute) assists Boothroyd. "Cute," get it? Sigh...
Ben Whishaw is the fourth actor to play Q in the official James Bond series. Skyfall marks the first time that Q is younger than James Bond. The producers have said that "When it came to trying to reintroduce the character of Q, it made sense that he would now be a young technical genius and the character was written with that in mind." Whishaw's character of Q has been likened to that of computer-genius types like Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. Ironically, Whishaw has said that he doesn't even own a computer. Peter Burton first played Q under the character's real name of Major Boothroyd and nick-named the Armourer in Dr. No then Desmond Llewelyn played Q in 17 Bond films between 1963-1999 followed by John Cleese (as Q's assistant R) in The World Is Not Enough then as Q in Die Another Day, the latter being the last time the character appeared in the official series Skyfall, a gap of around a decade. Whishaw is the sixth actor to play Q if one counts the unofficial Bond films Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again where Q was played by Geoffrey Bayldon and Alec McCowen respectively. Q is an abbreviation for the word Quartermaster.
Are there real life Q's?
One such real-life person was Charles Fraser-Smith, who actually was called "Q" during World War II. He devised some 50 inventions for the secret service during WWII. Among his most notable were a lighter that took pictures, and maps that looked like handkerchiefs until you urinated on them. His job was kept secret for thirty years (even his family didn't know), and he looked quite similar to the Eon "Q" Desmond Llewelyn.
During World War II Britain's top-secret SOE division had a Q division headed by Lieutenant-Colonel J Elder Wills, who designed a bicycle pump explosive device and a bomb hidden inside a log.
Lest anyone still think that Q's inventions are too outlandish, they should also consider the real-life CIA gadget T-1151tv/USG Straight Stitch Peat Moss, a radio transmitter that resembled dog excrement. It was about four inches long, with a range of several miles. Another gadget could be called "Q's revenge" - an E & E Mark 1 Suppository. It was a four-inch long, one inch-wide capsule containing a pair of wire cutters, a screwdriver, a pry bar with tool handle, two pointed saw blades, two flat saw blades, a drill, a reamer, a flat file, and a ceramic blade - all to be concealed rectally. Sit carefully, 007.
MONEYPENNY Miss Moneypenny is a Lieutenant in the Women's Royal Naval Service and M.'s
faithful secretary. In his first draft of Casino Royale, she was called "Miss Pettaval," and was apparently inspired by Kathleen Pettigrew, the gray-haired secretary
to "C" Sir Stewart Menzies of the SIS and MI6 chief. In terms of personality, Fleming may have based the character on his secretary in British Intelligence: Margaret Priestly helped manage the legendary 30 Commando Assault Unit—Fleming's "Red Indians." Another possible inspiration was Joan Astley, a pretty badass old girlfriend of Fleming's who ran Winston Churchill's Secret Intelligence Centre during the war and was renowned for being warm and welcoming when senior officers came to her office to view top secret papers.
"... She said that after she kicked her attacker, her disabled husband
and his assistant, Peter Bennett, who had also been in the car, began calling
out for their grandson, Rupert, who lived near by. The robbers, worried by the
commotion, fled." "... In the Bond spy novels, Miss Moneypenny was the long-time
secretary to the security chief M, and James Bond's verbal sparring partner. The
real-life model is just as determined when riled, Lady Ridsdale's husband told
the court. Sir Julian, who was MP for Harwich for 38 years, said: 'I don't know
if it's her Irish blood, but when she is attacked, she attacks back. She opened
the door and kicked out at him very hard.'"
Another candidate is Dame Victoire "Paddy" Ridsdale (pictured at right).
Ms. Ridsdale (nee Bennet) and Fleming got to know each other when they served together in the British Naval Intelligence Department during World War II.¹ Fleming, like Bond, would go off and 'do something brave' and bring her back silk stockings and lipsticks, she told People magazine. Unlike the James Bond movies, however, Dame Paddy said it was she who kept him at arm's length.
In May, 1997, the London Times reported: "The woman who was the inspiration for Ian Fleming's
Miss Moneypenny demonstrated an old-fashioned move in self-defence when she was
confronted by a mugger as she tried to get out of her car, a court was told yesterday.
The robbery came to a swift end after a well-aimed kick with a high-heeled shoe.
Victoire, Lady Ridsdale, was an assistant to the James Bond author in intelligence
during the war. Now 75, Lady Ridsdale was with her husband, Sir Julian, 81, a
former Conservative MP, when they were ambushed by two men as they arrived at
their home in The Boltons, Kensington, after an evening out."
"... Asked by
Robin Griffith, for the prosecution, if she made contact, she replied: 'Yes, I
think so. He pulled back then. I kicked him in the groin and he doubled up in
pain.'" 
The fictional character is secretly
in love with James, but barely talks to him in the books. The crush is more overt
in the films, where she was played by:
| ACTRESS | FILM |
| Lois Maxwell | Dr. No to A View To A Kill |
| Barbara Bouchet | Casino Royale (technically Miss Moneypenny's daughter) |
| Pamela Salem | Never Say Never Again |
| Caroline Bliss | The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill |
| Samantha Bond | Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough, Die Another Day |
| Nobody! | Casino Royale |
Naomie Harris is the fourth actress in the official series to play Miss Moneypenny. Harris is the fifth if one counts Pamela Salem from the unofficial Never Say Never Again and the sixth if one counts Barbara Bouchet from the unofficial Bond spoof Casino Royale (where the character was technically Miss Moneypenny's daughter. Harris' Moneypenny is called Eve, making her characterization the first time in the official series that the character has had a first name. Skyfall marks the first time the character has appeared in the series since Die Another Day, a gap of around a decade. Harris is also the first black actress to play the part. Lois Maxwell first played Moneypenny in 14 Bond films between 1962 and 1985 through all of the Connery, Lazenby and Moore movies. Maxwell was then followed by Caroline Bliss for two films during the Dalton era and then Samantha Bond for four films during the Brosnan era. Skyfall also marks the first time in the series that Moneypenny and Bond have a consummated sexual relationship (at least it's implied).
OFFICE
RELATIONSHIPS: Each Bond had a different
relationship with the other running characters, as well. Here's how each character
felt about the different Bonds:
|
|
| |
|
| CONNERY BOND | Disdain | Carnal lust | Hate |
| LAZENBY BOND | Hate | Motherly love | Rarely spoke |
| MOORE BOND | Love/hate | Mad mommy | Hate, hate, hate! |
| DALTON BOND | Hate | Schoolgirl crush | Kind of liked him |
| BROSNAN BOND | Ambiguous | Ambiguous | "Who? What? Where am I?" |
| CRAIG BOND | Parent/Child | Score! | Child/Parent |
GOODNIGHT MISS PONSONBY, WHEREVER YOU ARE...
Bond even has his own secretary in the Fleming books:
Loelia Ponsonby, a loving, mothering-but-stern spinster. The real Loelia Ponsonby, at least in name, was the wife of the 2nd Duke of Westminster (pictured at right), and a close friend of Fleming's. He was so enamoured of the Duchess that he wrote her love letters and eventually gave her name to Bond's secretary in his novels.² She is credited with the famous quip: "Anybody seen on a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life," and her ruined marriage and divorce in 1947 may have inspired Fleming's tale of a similarly toxic relationship, Quantum of Solace.
The fictional Loelia's real-life
counterpart in the Intelligence community may have been Evelyn Jones, the beautiful assistant to Kathleen "Moneypenny" Pettigrew.
The fictional Loelia marries a rich member of the Balkan Exchange in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and is replaced by Mary Goodnight, whose hair constantly changes
from book to book. She even shares an adventure with Bond (The Man With the
Golden Gun), finally seducing him at the end of the book. Fleming died before
he could finish polishing that book, so we'll never know what more was in store
for their relationship (in the film version she was played by Britt Ekland, but
she was not Bond's secretary. Considering that this Mary Goodnight seemed too
dumb to spell, it was a wise career choice).
* - We've searched around, and as far as we can see this is the first and only time anyone's ever revealed M's 'real name.' It may not have been spoken, but if you were watching on a big enough screen it could have been visible. This was revealed by Meg Simmons, archive director for Bond production company Eon, at http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=100663#jI62T6VPmpVJWdF4.99
Return to COMEDY ON TAP
-
¹—Woman who inspired Miss Moneypenny dies aged 88, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, UPDATED: 09:37 EST, 19 December 2009.
²—James Bond author Ian Fleming's letters to the real Miss Moneypenny: A society hostess who dazzled James Bond creator Ian Fleming with her wit and beauty has emerged as the true inspiration for Miss Moneypenny, by Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor, The Telegraph, 22 Oct 2008.