The name is Bond… RODNEY Bond! How 007 could have had a completely different first name from author Ian Fleming, who was inspired by the real-life intelligence hero of World War II
- Ian Fleming wanted a name for his hero when his brother made a suggestion
James Bond could have been called ‘Rodney’ instead by the author whose main character was inspired by a real-life Secret Intelligence Service hero.
Author Ian Fleming was looking for a name for his main character when his brother Peter – a lieutenant colonel responsible for ‘military deception’ in Southeast Asia during World War II – suggested the name ‘Bond’ as the hero for the first book , Casino Royale.
Bond was the surname of a Secret Intelligence Service hero – now called MI6 – named Rodney Clarence Mortimer Bond.
Peter had encountered Rodney Bond when he was rescued from a Nazi bombing raid in northern Greece in 1941, while Lt. Col. Bond was then working for MI6 in Athens.
Author Nicholas Shakespeare – whose book ‘Ian Fleming: The Complete Man’ is due out next month – was given unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers and today revealed how Peter suggested the name ‘Bond’ to Ian.
Ian Lancaster Fleming, the British author and creator of the James Bond character, asked his brother for help choosing a name for his hero
Peter Fleming – a lieutenant colonel responsible for ‘military deception’ in Southeast Asia during World War II
Bond was inspired by Rodney Bond. The photo shows actor Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale
An extract from the book in the T2 supplement of today’s The Times reads: ‘Peter was having breakfast in Oxfordshire reading the papers when Ian came in and said: ‘Peter, I’ve written a bloody good thriller, but I can not understanding it.’ a name for my hero’.
‘Without lowering his newspaper, Peter replied: ‘Try Bond.’
The name Rodney is usually associated with dozy Rodney Trotter – nicknamed Rodders – in Only Fools and Horses, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst.
Lieutenant Colonel Rodney Clarence Mortimer Bond was born in 1897 and won a Military Cross during the First World War, where he fought in France.
He subsequently joined the Intelligence Corps, was given the code name ‘Hatzis’ and was posted to Turkey during World War II.
Lt. Col. Bond – who married Mary in 1956 – helped save future Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou from a Nazi attack in 1944.
He was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 and was also awarded an MBE, and in 1952 an OBE.
According to the 1919 London Gazette, Bond was awarded the decorated medal after ‘setting an example’ to all ranks for maintaining ‘perfect fire’ under ‘heavy shell fire’ at Mœuvres, northern France.
Ian Fleming with his mother Evelyn St. Croix Fleming, in November 1957
An action scene in the iconic Casino Royale, pictured is Bond actor Daniel Craig
The report states: ‘2nd Lieutenant Rodney Clarence Mortimer Bond.
‘At Mœuvres on September 27, 1918 the battery was under heavy shell fire.
‘By his courage and devotion to duty he maintained perfect fire discipline in his section.
‘He continually rounded his guns and encouraged his NCOs and men, and as a result the barrage was fired without difficulty.
“He set a very good example to all ranks.”
He died at the age of 65 in 1962.