I just watched the first episode and found myself wondering how close this is to the truth. Fleming was known to say he was not Bond, and it was only based on composite he knew in British Intelligence. But it seemed to show him a little more adventurous than I would have thought.
I came to IMDB where I can always count on getting the straight facts on questions like this. But I guess it's either too new, or nobody watched it. LOL
I'll check back later.
Read the novel "A Man Called Intrepid". Fleming was pretty ruthless and summarily executed enemy operatives to save taxpayers' the expense of a trial.
shareI find it hard to believe that Fleming goes from civie to COMMANDER in one day!
That said, this is a cracking drama, and no doubt much is heavily fictionalized.
But then it a a DRAMA, not a documentary, so go with it.
It is not uncommon to give "elevated" rank to someone with very specific skills. I'm not sure how a RN Cmdr compares to a USAF Captain (O3) but an O3 is typical. However it's usually as a reservist.
Reality? Well there were Nazis and Britan and Germany did go to war. Now I have read that Fleming was somewhat of a self-important prick who fancied himself a lady's man. He did experience some "life changing" events that made him a different and more tolerable man.
There were also some high level Brits who were Nazi sympathizers including King Edward VIII and had he not abdicated the throne we would all be eating schnitzels and wearing lederhosen while dancing to polka music.
shareEdward VIII was not a Nazi sympathizer. He was only as much a Nazi sympathiser as are those modern day politicians who are happy to visit Moscow and hobknob with Putin. Political diplomacy and sympathising with extremist causes are entirely different things.
Edward VIII certainly did not support any German invasion.
There were many more Nazi sympathisers in the USA, indeed many allies of the Nazis, including many in high places, including the Kennedy's and the Ford's.
One of the most prominent was IBM, who did a lot of business with the Nazis for the entirety of the war.
Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.share
USN Commander and RN Commander are both OF4 in the Nato Ranking Codes. These ranks (O5 in the US Coding) are equivalent to a US Army/Marines Lieutenant Colonel.
In the Second World War, it was normal practice, I believe, to recruit officers into the RNR at the rank of Sub-Lieutenant (Lieutenant Junior Grade (O2) in the US) and promote from there. In the case of someone with prior service, this sometimes was elevated to equal the rank that they left with, possibly hinting at the reason for Fleming starting as a full Lieutenant (O3 equivalent), but his rise to Commander was, even for the time highly meteoric!
I still think the writers of this series had a bit of cheek giving Fleming credit for Operation Mincemeat (The Man Who Never Was) whether this was true or not, I do not know, but it seems a bit of a long shot as this was the start of the war.
Fleming's rank of Commander in the Royal Navy was honorary (So, by the way, was James Bond's, whose military service was actually with the commandos). He never served on a ship, or moved up through the ranks normally. As a result, he was teased by friends and called a "chocolate sailor" for staying behind a desk, etc.
"The triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism."
Thank you for answering a trivia question I had about that term.
shareMost of it is all made up... his relationship with the woman is loosey correct but most of the plot is all made up and / or over exaggerated.
shareMy understanding since the late 60's has been that Colonel William Stephenson aka 'Intrepid' was the major part of James Bond with a little of Fleming and maybe some others thrown in. Stephenson was once suspected to have left his office in the Empire State building on a Friday afternoon before D-Day, was parachuted into France, killed a Major in the Gestappo getting close to our spy operation, got himself 150 miles across France to the Channel, boarded a sub, transfered to an aircraft carrier, flew back to NYC and was back in a suit, in his office by mid-morning on Monday. A feat that during WW2 was as impossible as anything in any Bond movie. He was by all accounts, the look and character as played by Daniel Craig, except slightly shorter.
share[deleted]
I just watched the first episode and found myself wondering how close this is to the truth. Fleming was known to say he was not Bond, and it was only based on composite he knew in British Intelligence. But it seemed to show him a little more adventurous than I would have thought.
This series is fiction. No action shown was "discovered by researchers", it was made up by the writers.
shareKyzaSoze, your informative post and link is highly appreciated. IMDb wouldn't be worth visiting if there weren't members who actually know some history. 😎
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You can find some information about Fleming during the WW2 in Antony Beevor's book called "Battle of Crete". If I recall correctly he was helping the Greece resistance during the invasion by Germany/Italy.
shareit is very close, he was deeply involved in ww2. those who didn't know called him the chocolate sailor. read ... 'OP Jb' by christopher creighton. 'M' was based on major desmond morton. 'BOND' on creighton. read the book i got one from amazon for 1p
shareM was based on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's boss at Naval Intelligence.
Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!
obviously you have not read ' OP JB ' . in it you will find that major desmond MORTON was churchill's right hand man who had overall control of 'M' section of s.o.e. although fleming was second to godfrey when on operations he did as ordered by morton hence he is 'M' in his books. what's with the feathers ? do you wear a red-indian head dress ?
shareOne book does not fact make. There is a lot of of question about the validity of that tale and no evidence to back it up; far more to refute it. Fleming specifically based the personality of M, Admiral Sir Miles Messervy on Godfrey, who lamented the fact in his personal papers, saying "...turned me into that unsavoury character, M". The M designation may also have it's origins in Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who was director of the SIS and signed his papers "C". The M comes from M's name, Messervy, though there are various possibilities for why Fleming chose M and later had M's name match it (he isn't fully named until the final novel, Man Wiht the Golden Gun).
I've read quite a lot about the world of Bond and Ian Fleming. Perhaps you are the one who should read a few more books; ones with more credible sources.
Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!
whatever this 'feathers' means it seems very childish and insults do not help.
let us be polite. i have read a lot on this subject and of course you are right there has been a lot of controversy over 'm'; i have found the most revealing book to be ' op jb ' . in it there is reproduced a letter from fleming to creighton ( a pseudonym ) stating the bond is based on him. creighton was subordinate to fleming, fleming to morton. please read the book and let us have your opinion.