James Bond

James Bond is a fictional British secret agent created by author Ian Fleming. He first appeared in the 1953 novel Casino Royale and has since become a cultural icon and the central character in a series of novels, short stories, and films.

Ian Fleming modeled the character of James Bond after Merlin Minshall, a man who worked for Mr. Fleming during World War II, as a spy.

Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Kt, CC, MC, DFC (January 23, 1897 – January 31, 1989) was a Canadian/British fighter pilot, entrepreneur and spymaster, who was the senior representative of British intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. Many people believe he was the inspiration for James Bond. Ian Fleming himself once wrote, "James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is ... William Stephenson."

It has been said that the fictional Goldfinger's raid on Fort Knox was inspired by a Stephenson plan (never carried out) to steal $2,883,000,000 in Vichy French gold reserves from the French Caribbean colony of Martinique,

Sir William Stephenson, passport photo

Fleming got the name 'James Bond' from a real-life ornithologist from Philadelphia who was named 'James Bond'. Fleming had a copy of his book: The Birds of the West Indies and took a liking for that name.

Fleming said that he wanted Bond to be a “dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened,” and James Bond was “the dullest name I ever heard”.

James Bond was originally going to be called James Secretan.

According to James Bond's authorized biography, James Bond was born on November 11, 1920.

But who really is "James Bond"? The son of Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix, James Bond’s father was Andrew Bond, a Scottish businessman. His mother was Monique Delacroix, from Switzerland.

James was raised in the highlands of Scotland near Glencoe, but spent much of his early youth living abroad because of his father’s job selling arms to private companies and foreign governments. Both of his parents were killed in a mountain climbing accident during a holiday in the French Alps when he was only 11, and he was returned to the United Kingdom to be raised by his aunt and complete his education.

The Bond family coat of arms has the motto Orbis Non Sufficit (The World Is Not Enough).

James Bond was educated at Eton, like Ian Fleming.

Ian Fleming's image of James Bond; commissioned to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists.

007 drank as much as 92 units of alcohol each week, four times the recommended amount, according to research into Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.

James Bond originally used a Beretta 418 pocket pistol until a fan of the novels (and small arms expert) wrote to Ian Fleming criticizing it as "a woman's gun". When Fleming had Bond switch to his iconic Walther PPK in Dr. No, he wrote the fan into the scene as MI6's armorer.

In the 1950s, the Egyptian Secret Service had their spy in London buy all of the James Bond books so they could analyse British espionage methods believing it was based on reality.

The first actor to play Bond on screen was Barry Nelson in a 1954 US television adaptation of Casino Royale.

The first James Bond movie was Dr. No, which premiered at the London Pavilion on October 5, 1962. Based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it not only debuted the successful series of Bond films, but it also launched a successful genre of "secret agent" films that flourished in the 1960s.

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In  Dr. No it's the villain, Dr. No, who first utters the iconic phrase "shaken, not stirred" when offering Bond a martini. It wasn't until the 1964 film Goldfinger that Bond himself said the line.

Sean Connery was the first movie James Bond. As a boy, Connery supported his impoverished family with a milk run in his hometown of Edinburgh. On his round the Scottish youngster delivered to Fettes School, which according to Ian Fleming, was the same school, which James Bond attended following his expulsion from Eton.

Richard Todd (1919-2009) best known for his role in The Dam Busters, was Ian Fleming’s personal choice to play 007 in the first James Bond film.

From Russia With Love was the last film President John F Kennedy ever saw.

In Thunderball it was established that there was always a minimum of nine 00 agents — meaning those with a ‘licence to kill’.

David Niven and George Lazenby were the only two actors who played James Bond only once.

Both Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds turned down the role of James Bond, stating that it should always be played by a Brit.

A number of the early Bond Girls were not fluent English speakers, so their voices were dubbed in the films. Many of the actresses were dubbed by the same woman, Nikki van der Zyl.

Before the merger with MGM in 1981, eight of the top ten movies released by United Artists were James Bond films.

Pierce Brosnan was contractually forbidden from wearing a full tuxedo in any non-James Bond movie from 1995-2002.

The plot of the 2006 film Casino Royal centres on a game of poker but in the original Ian Fleming book of Casino Royal the card game was baccarat.

The title of the 19th Bond film, The World Is Not Enough, was taken from the 1658 motto of the wealthy financier Sir Thomas Bond, who gave his name to Bond Street, London. They appear on a dust cover of Ian Fleming's novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, in which Bond comments that “it is an excellent motto which also certainly adopt.”

When Roger Moore returned to the role of Bond in A View To The Kill aged 57, he became the oldest actor to ever play 007.

The scene in Skyfall where Bond breaks into M’s house was filmed in a former home of John Barry, composer of the James Bond theme.

Spectre is the first Bond in which the entire cast was born after the 1962 release of Dr No.

At 50 years of age, Monica Belluci (who plays Lucia Sciarra in Spectre) is the the oldest Bond girl in history.

Spectre entered the Guinness World Record books for featuring the largest film stunt explosion in cinema history. The 7.5 second scene was shot in Morocco and created by Oscar-winner Chris Corbould, who used 68,470 kg of TNT equivalent. It was the result of detonating 8,418 litres of kerosene with 33 kg of powder explosives.

For his time as James Bond, Daniel Craig had the privilege of taking any Aston Martin from the factory for the rest of his life.

The only Bond films to win Academy Awards are Goldfinger (sound effects), Thunderball (visual effects).and Skyfall (sound editing and original song),

The opening shot in the James Bond films was actually filmed through the barrel of a gun.

James Bond has killed 366 people in 25 films. Pierce Brosnan was the deadliest Bond (he killed 47 people in Golden Eye and 135 people in total — an average of 34 per movie.)

Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond used more gadgets per film than any of the other Bonds, an average of 14 per movie.

The Bond movie trope of James Bond scuba diving somewhere, surfacing, then removing the wetsuit to reveal an unblemished full tuxedo, was inspired by a World War II Dutch spy who used the technique to sneak into Nazi-controlled Netherlands.

In the films Bond has a drink every 10 minutes 53 seconds on average.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 1,007 people named James Bond.

Here's a link to some James Bond movie theme songs on Songfacts.com

Sources GreatFacts.com, Songplaces Daily Express