Ian Fleming

While some believed that author Ian Fleming must have lived a life as exciting and adventurous as his famed literary creation, James Bond, nothing could have been further from the truth. Though certain lines of fact and fiction were definitely blurred - both character and author were consummate womanizers - Fleming was a far cry from the super agent secretly dispatched to take care of Britain's more complicated Cold War problems. Even Fleming's own involvement with an intelligence agency during World War II was largely an administrative role - undeniably important to the war effort, but far less dangerous than Bond's adventures. But it was a thirst for high adventure that prompted the grandson of a Scottish financier to create the ruthless secret agent that graced the pages of his pulp novels in the 1950s.