There have been many theories over the years, some more compelling than others, as to the inspiration behind Ian Fleming's novels depicting the suave and debonair British secret agent, James Bond. None has ever been proved however, and certainly not the consideration that James Bond could actually be real. The official biography of James Bond, however, described as “surely one of the most extraordinary biographies of our times – the authorized life story of a myth”, claims just that.

John Pearson, the author, describes his struggles and eventual success in finding Bond, being granted several interviews with him and uncovering the life story as well as another side of the man who has graced our bookshelves and wide-screens for the past fifty years. Details gleaned include the fact that Bond, who was indeed intelligent and charmingly handsome, as accurately portrayed by Fleming, owed the start of his career to an affair with an older woman suspected of being a spy for the Germans during the years prior to World War II by the British Secret Service. After being recruited to dispose of her, Bond rose quickly through the ranks of MI6 and subsequently, despite several disagreements with his superiors over his working style and even a forced resignation once, gained him entry into the elite 00 section.

Surprisingly, the biography claims that Bond's tenure as 007 did spawn the missions and adventures that were novelised by Ian Fleming. The rationale behind the books about Bond began with Smersh's (the Soviet Secret Service) success at counter-espionage. Having become a top priority in the Russians' hit-list, 007 found it increasingly difficult to evade extermination at the hands of his Soviet counterparts (his predecessors, 003, 008 and 0011, had failed altogether). It was then that Fleming, who was a decorated officer in Naval Intelligence (and Bond's comrade during the period when Bond was forced to resign from MI6 and had joined the Navy, hence their friendship), suggested the idea of writing the James Bond stories based upon the real agent in great, accurate detail that intertwined with blatantly false ones (Moonraker, for example, with a plot involving the firing of a nuclear missile at a Russian submarine, obviously did not take place) in a bid to confuse Smersh into thinking that James Bond was a man-who-never-was and only a myth. Despite dangerously exposing James Bond to world recognition (renowned is not a quality encouraged to be possessed by a secret agent), the ploy worked and Smersh called off the manhunt. The novel series thus ironically saved James Bond's life.

If you have been enthralled by what you've been reading so far, excited by the revelation of Bond's existence, then it is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the biography is, in fact, fictional. Despite that however, what struck me was how highly convincing it was made out to be. Pearson had added personal details, such as Bond's disdain towards Sean Connery when he was cast in the first Bond movie, as well as the partial fathering of an illegitimate son (which was bound to happen, given his notorious womanising), lending great strength in persuading the reader of Bond's existence. The fact that Pearson was Fleming's assistant, and is also the writer of Ian Fleming's biography, provides further credibility to this impression. By tying the fictional life of James Bond to Ian Fleming's real background and history, Pearson had effectively married fact and fantasy to such a high degree, it epitomised what he had described Fleming's James Bond stories to be in the biography itself.

Moreover, the book touches upon Bond's emotional development, and insights into his personality that were previously unexplored by either the novels or the movies about him. More interesting is the depiction of Bond's inherent loneliness and how much a burden it is for a secret agent to be constantly putting up a facade and hiding his true-self in order to survive. With great skill and depth of thought given to “humanise” an ageless hero constantly leading what can be considered a chauvinistically admirable life, I find that despite not finding the real truth about James Bond, the “authorised biography” of 007 has made him more real to me than ever before.

Article by Tan Hao Yi