James Bond is the protagonist of the 007 series of novels and films.
In the story, he is an agent of MI6, the British intelligence agency, code-named 007, who is authorized to take down anyone who stands in the way of action.
Smart, can enter and exit the casino dinner party staggered, retreat can disguise civilians to mix the crowd.
Even the things they carry with them, from leather shoes and ink and cufflink pens, to weapons and cars, are ever-changing and heavily machined, leaving a deep impression on people.
In fact, real special workers are often more legendary and exciting than in film and television works and novels.
Since the advent of 007, speculation about the true prototype of James Bond has not stopped. Various editions have sprung up on the Web, but the only one who has been conclusively identified by the original novel author Ian Flemingai is William Stephenson.
Let's unveil the mystery of this legendary agent!
A business plutocrat on the surface, an intelligence chief in the shadows
William Stephenson was born in January 1897 in the Lake Winnipeg region of Canada. His family background is still a mystery, and the domestic material is blank, and even his name cannot be searched on Wikipedia.
The only thing known is that he joined the Canadian Army at the age of 16, specializing in flying techniques, and was transferred to the Royal Army Air Force as a fighter pilot during World War I.
Because of his bravery, his comrades gave him a nickname: Fearless.
This nickname also followed him throughout his life and became the code name of operations that remained unchanged in his future intelligence work.
William Stephenson as a young man
After the end of World War I, he was originally a British royal pilot and transformed into a famous Canadian businessman. Not only did he marry a beautiful American tobacco tycoon, but he also owned a business in the fields of steel, airplanes, radios, movies, etc., and his business was all over the world.
Of course, to become a wealthy businessman, in addition to William Stephenson's own outstanding ability, is indispensable to the support of the relevant departments.
Using his business connections, he made friends in many countries, and these connections became an important source of intelligence for him in the future. During his business career, he built up a vast network of intelligence information and influenced the course of the world situation through secret first-hand information.
007 Girl
The most important of these was the fact that in April 1936 Stephenson received an important piece of information: Hitler was secretly expanding his military power by covering up the £800 million military expenditure, which made the peaceful skies of World War I instantly cloudy.
Nazi army
Hitler's move seriously violated the Treaty of Versailles and was bound to pose a serious threat to the security of Europe and the whole world.
As soon as Stephenson received the information, he reflected the information to Winston Churchill, the opposition mp in the United Kingdom at the time, through special channels, and was highly valued by Churchill.
At that time, there was a discord in British domestic politics, and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain actively advocated not participating in the war.
This information undoubtedly became Churchill's most powerful weapon in the shelling of Chamberlain in Parliament, prompting Britain to finally declare war on Germany.
Churchill in his youth
After the outbreak of World War II, Churchill, who had already become prime minister, entrusted Stephenson with a heavy responsibility, sending him to New York in the United States to secretly establish and manage the "British Security Coordination Agency", becoming the highest representative of british intelligence agencies in the Western Hemisphere.
Privately, he was also Churchill's personal representative at the side of U.S. President Roosevelt, and soon won Roosevelt's trust, playing an important bridging role for the two heads of state of the Allied powers.
The king of spies behind World War II
In the war against fascism, the Allies died at least more than 50 million people. In addition to the soldiers who died on the battlefield, spies in the shadows also played a crucial role, and could even change the course of the war.
In particular, Stephenson, the achievements of several pieces of information he provided, can be said to be worthy of thousands of troops.
The Enigma cipher machine was a cutting-edge German technology in World War II, first invented by German inventor Arthur Shelbius in 1918, until it was used on a large scale in the navy and army after The German improvement in World War II.
Enigma cipher machines used by the Germans in World War II
The cipher machine is easy to carry, easy to use and, more importantly, extremely secure. For the enemy, even if it has a cipher machine, it cannot be deciphered if it cannot grasp the key composed of three lines of defense at the same time. Colonel Erich Förgiber, Chief of Communications of the German High Command, believed that the Enigma would be the most perfect communications device for the Wehrmacht blitzkrieg.
If the Enigma cipher could be deciphered by the Allies, it would be a fatal blow to the arrogant fascists. So one of the most important tasks of the Allied agents was to go around gathering intelligence about the Enigma cipher machine.
Basic principle
In the process, Stephenson, with his unique intelligence and three outstanding Polish cryptographers Marian Reyevski, Jerz Rozorki and Henrik Zogalski, managed to help the Allies crack nazi machines in Nazi Germany, which undoubtedly ended World War II prematurely.
But after the war, the British did not publicize the deciphering of Enigma, because they wanted to use the Machine in the British colonies.
In addition, his intelligence helped the Allies succeed in Operation Gonseide. That is, the winter destruction of the Vemork chemical plant in the German-occupied Telemark county of Norway.
Nazi heavy water plant in Norway
As early as before World War II, the research theory of nuclear fusion has been quite mature, and such advanced technology will of course be paid attention to by various countries and want to apply it to the military one step ahead of others, create an infinitely powerful bomb, and completely reverse the situation of war.
Both the Allies and Nazi Germany invested a great deal of manpower and material resources in the development of the atomic bomb.
In 1943 the Allies successfully blew up the factory where Nazi scientists produced heavy water, and although germany tried to repair it afterwards, it was completely destroyed by Allied airstrikes a few months later. Forcing Germany to stall the process of building an atomic bomb gave the United States the opportunity to build the first atomic bomb and eventually turned the tide of the war.
America's first atomic bomb - the skinny man
Imagine if the Germans had invented the atomic bomb a few months earlier, the outcome of the war in Europe and even for the entire world would have been completely different. This successful sabotage operation was entirely due to Stephenson's key intelligence.
One of the founders of the CIA
In addition to intelligence work, Stephenson is inextricably linked to the CIA and Training Camp X.
During World War II, when the war was raging in Europe, FBI Director Hoover and his military counterparts were busy expanding their personal sphere of influence, and fierce quarrels often broke out between departments, but Franklin Roosevelt, who was president at the time, was powerless to stop it, so he decided to simply establish a new intelligence secret service.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Stephenson befriended and trusted Donovan, and recommended to President Roosevelt that Donovan be the leader of the U.S. intelligence system, and later helped his friend establish the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Donovan is therefore known as the "godfather of the CIA", but although Stephenson has never held any position in the CIA, he is the CIA's down-to-earth "ancestor-level" predecessor.
Author of the 007 series of novels, British agent Ian Fleming
Another important contribution of Stephenson during the war was the establishment of Camp X in Canada, the first school in North America to train wartime covert operations personnel. Hodgson, author of "Inside the X Bootcamp," explains that people later called it X Bootcamp stemmed from the curious people around them, because X represented mystery.
There is also very little photographic information about the training camp. Today, Intrepid Park is located on top of the site of the former Training Camp X. The name "Fearless" is William Stephenson's spy code name.
Between 1941 and 1945, about 2,000 Allied agents were trained here, including five future CIA directors, including Ian Fleming, the original author of 007.
These graduates were active behind enemy lines in Europe, Africa, Oceania, and the Pacific, contributing greatly to the final allied victories.
Back in the background, the legend remains the same
In peacetime, few people in the world already knew Stephenson's name.
In fact, this is not surprising, one is that the mystery of the spy work is that he will not be exposed in the spotlight, and the other is that there are too many secrets that the British do not want to disclose.
After the end of World War II, the legend of intelligence warfare, "Fearless," picked up old practices, returned to business, and served as Canada's industrial development consultant.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada have awarded him many awards and medals; in Stephenson's hometown of Winnipeg, there are libraries named after him, streets, many statues of him in the city, and even a "Fearless Society" dedicated to his research...
Actors who have played James Bond
Many of the image of spy fighters in novels and film and television drama works are more or less borrowed from Stephenson and his stories. For example, James Bond's habit of drinking martini cocktails is based on Stephenson. Legend has it that Stephenson's Martini was the strongest in the united States!
The plot of 007 – Goldfinger, in which a Knox fort vault is robbed, is said to have been inspired by a bold plan by Stephenson: the Allies sent agents to infiltrate the French colony of Martinique and steal the huge gold reserves stored there by the French puppet government.
In 1964, Sean Connery starred in "Goldfinger"
What is even more shocking is that Stephenson is not only a heroic soldier, a successful businessman, a brilliant spy, but also a technical genius, a "geek" in today's terms! Not only did he invent a technology for wirelessly transmitting pictures in 1924, he also taught at the University of Manitoba in Canada!
Stephenson's tombstone
Stephenson died in Bermuda in 1989.
The legendary spy eventually leaves, and much about him remains a mystery, but the story of James Bond on screen continues...
Finally, you may wish to talk about who plays 007 the most favorite?