For Your Eyes Only (20 page)

The Soviet press pass issued to Fleming in 1939.

Used with permission of the Fleming family

Norman Parkinson's portrait of Ian Fleming in suitably James Bond-like pose. Fleming disliked shooting and knew little about guns, avoiding them whenever possible.

Used with permission of the Norman Parkinson Archive

Monique Panchaud de Bottomes, the Swiss woman to whom Fleming became briefly engaged in 1931 while studying French and German at the University of Geneva.

Images on this page courtesy of Times Newspapers Ltd

Muriel Wright, Fleming's wartime lover: a model, athlete and good-time girl, who was tragically killed during the bombing of London. Fleming mourned ‘Mu' deeply after her death, and perhaps modelled the archetypal Bond Girl on her.

Ian with Ann Fleming, the woman he married in 1952. Their marriage was complex and often painful, but it was also loving and full of humour.

Patrick Dalzel-Job, the naval intelligence officer and commando whose extraordinary exploits during the Second World War brought him into contact with Ian Fleming. Dalzel-Job was one of the principal inspirations for the character of 007.

Images on this page courtesy of Times Newspapers Ltd

Wilfred ‘Biffy' Dunderdale, the debonair station chief of MI6 in Paris, whose contacts with French and Polish intelligence helped to secure a model of the Enigma machine and break the German code.

Sir Fitzroy Maclean of Dunconnel: Scottish diplomat, soldier, adventurer, writer and politician, and another model for James Bond.

Bernard Lee in the role of ‘M', James Bond's irascible and indulgent boss. In
The Man with the Golden Gun
, Fleming finally reveals his name: Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, KCMG.

Courtesy of EON Productions

Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's boss as Director of Naval Intelligence, and the principal model for ‘M'. Grumpy and demanding, Godfrey was nonetheless ‘a real war winner', in Fleming's estimation.

Reproduced with the permission of The National Archives

Maxwell Knight, the wartime MI5 agentrunner who signed his memoirs ‘M', and who ended his life as a much-loved presenter of nature programmes on the BBC.

Used with permission of the Norman Parkinson Archive

Vera Atkins, executive officer with the French section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and a brilliant intelligence professional who spent many years after the war seeking to discover the fate of her agents.

Courtesy of Times Newspapers Ltd