10 Real-Life Spies More Badass Than James Bond

1. Ian Fleming Was Totally A Spy, Too

So by this point it's obvious that Ian Fleming drew on the careers of plenty of intelligence officers he had had contact with or otherwise knew about throughout the war in the creation of James Bond, but there's one particular influence that hasn't been touched upon yet: himself.

Yes, there was a degree of autobiography to 007, although the womanising ways may have been a bit of artistic licence/wishful thinking, nabbed from Wilfred Dunderdale. Or Roald Dahl, since he was a spy too, who actually worked alongside Fleming. The two were part of the aforementioned William Stephenson's group of young intellectuals tasked with befriending, spying on, and influencing the great and the good of the Western world - a group who used to hang out at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's old digs and called themselves the Baker Street Irregulars.

Eventually, Fleming graduated from simply spreading gossip and eavesdropping, becoming a high-ranking naval intelligence officer, involved in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units (30 Assault Unit and T-Force) and helping to sort out Operation Goldeneye, which sabotaged attempts at a Nazi occupation of Spain. His two units, meanwhile, did tonnes of good Nazi-smashing work.

In fact, if anything, Fleming toned down the level of his work for 007. But he also put a lot more booze and ejector seats into it.