*** Was there ever a real superspy like James Bond, Her Majesty's secret agent with a licence to kill? A resounding "No" was the answer given by Serbian Dusan 'Dusko' Popov, himself the real character who inspired writer Ian Fleming to create agent 007.Dusko Popov was a young, wealthy Yugoslav (Serbian) businessman, who managed to continue a playboy existence while carrying out perilous wartime missions for the United Kingdom. Signed up as a spy by the Nazis early in the war, Popov, who hated them, immediately offered his services to the United Kingdom. He was accepted as a double agent (codenamed Tricycle) and came to live in London. His international business activities provided cover for visits to neutral Portugal, which was linked to the United Kingdom by a weekly civil air service for most of the war. There Popov fed enough MI5-approved information to the Germans to keep them happy, and was well paid for his services. The assignments they gave him were of great value to the British in assessing enemy plans and thinking. Popov was despatched to the United States by the Abwehr to gather information. He made contact with the FBI and explained what he had been asked to do. One of the items on their list was information about Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately the FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover, disliked him and ignored the information. Popov was a worthy predecessor to the fictional spy James Bond. He stayed at the best hotels, ate at top restaurants, visited smart casinos, and was a compulsive womaniser. Popov died in 1981 aged 69, leaving behind a widow and three sons. "I doubt whether a flesh and blood Bond would last 48 hours as a spy," Popov declared to a group of Italian journalists in 1981, shortly before his death at his residence outside Cannes, on the Mediterranean Cote d'Azur in France. Casino Royale, the book by Fleming that gave birth to the 007 legend, reached its 53rd birthday recently, and Dr No, the first film in which Scottish actor Sean Connery portrayed Popov in the shape of Bond, turned 43 this month.
***J. Edgar. Hoover
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Spans the life of one Dusko Popov from 1936-1945. When his best friend joins the Abwehr, he invites Dusko in as well. Hesitant at first, for he is definitely anti-Nazi (and not even German, he's Yugoslavian) he joins the military intelligence service...then crosses town and joins MI6 at the same time. The book is a glimpse in the true story of a double agent during the war, and the trials and tribulations he faces. I think my favorite part is when he goes to see J. Edgar Hoover, to tell him about the approaching attack on Pearl Harbor. Hoover doesn't trust him and shelves the information. Popov theorizes that the reason why the sneak attack was so successful was because Hoover buried all incoming information on it. Another good part is his few meetings with Ian Fleming, especially at a Baccarat table...
***James Bond fans will have to wait until November 17th 2006 to see the car in its full glory with 007 behind the wheel in "Casino Royale", but the first sneak peaks of the new Aston Martin DBS have appeared today.***