The Polish archives have just revealed that a British spy named James Bond entered their territory in the 1960s in order to infiltrate their military complexes. A story worthy of an Ian Fleming novel!
Universal Pictures International France James Bond really existed and his name was ... James Bond! The National Remembrance Institute (the Polish archives) have just found papers indicating that an English spy attached to the British Embassy in Poland on February 18, 1964 was named Bond. James Albert Bond. He pretended to be a military attaché in order to enter the installations of the local army.
In February 1964, the author Ian Fleming creator of the famous spy, had already published 11 adventures of 007 and We only live twice was about to be edited. In the cinema, the film Doctor No with Sean Connery had already been released, Good kisses from Russia too (but not in France), and at the end of the year, Goldfinger would also land on the screens. A busy year in James Bond, then.
In this context, the Polish archives reveal that the arrival of this real "James Bond" in Warsaw does not go unnoticed. The officers of Department II of the Ministry of the Interior (in charge of counter-espionage) immediately place this James Albert Bond under high surveillance, during an operation codenamed "Samek".
As a result, Bond returned to Great Britain on January 21, 1965, presumably without having learned much. Also according to the archives, it was "talkative but careful" and had a fondness for the fairer sex. All he needed was vodka-martini as his favorite drink!
His wife, Jannette Tacchi, told the Telegraph that she knew he was leading a life "dangerous" and did things "that he shouldn't have done". He died in 2005.
Ian Fleming had recounted borrowing the name James Bond from an American ornithologist whose work he admired (and who is referred to in Die Another Day, when Pierce Brosnan poses as an ornithologist with a real book in his hand. James Bond). Did Fleming secretly know of a real British spy by that name as well? We will probably never know for sure.
As for the fictional James Bond, currently played by Daniel Craig, he returns on November 11 in theaters with "Die can wait":
