James Bond almost had different first name with link to Only Fools and Horses legend
Fan favourite James Bond almost had completely different first name after writer Ian Fleming wanted a name for the 007 spy when his brother Peter made a suggestion
James Bond could have been called Rodney.
Ian Fleming’s brother Peter – a lieutenant colonel in charge of `military deception’ in south-east Asia during WW2 – suggested the name Bond as the hero for the author’s first book Casino Royale. It was the surname of a real life hero in the Secret Intelligence Service – now MI6 – called Rodney Clarence Mortimer Bond.
Peter had come across Rodney Bond when he was rescued from a Nazi bombing attack in northern Greece in 1941.
Lieutenant Colonel Bond was then working for MI6 in Athens. Nicholas Shakespeare – whose book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man is out in October – revealed how close super spy James came to becoming a Rodney.
He was given unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers to compile his history of the spy writer. They revealed how Ian’s sibling had suggested the name Bond to him for his swashbuckling masterspy. Perhaps luckily he did not suggest the fictional hero’s first name – just his surname.
Bond, who married Mary in 1956, helped save the future Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou from a Nazi attack in 1944.
He died at the age of 65 in 1962. The name Rodney is perhaps most commonly associated with another fictional character – Del Boy Trotter’s dozy brother in Only Fools and Horses played by actor Nicholas Lyndhurst.
It comes after the news that the UK’s Secret Service are offering internships to students looking to become spies after school, with perks such as a good wage and a flat to live in. – along with using high tech equipment. They will learn what it’s like to be a real-life 007 and get paid nearly £6,000 for the summer jobs.
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There are also perks including a flat to live in during the placements. But undergraduates are warned they can’t take drugs after applying to get a place on the scheme. There are full-time internships running at MI6 – where the fictional Bond was based – protecting the UK from foreign threats and MI5 dealing with domestic intelligence.
It will be based in London and pay £5,701 for 11 weeks running from June 17 to August 30 next year. That works out at £12.90 per hour based on an eight-hour day.
