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The real James Bond?

Broadcast Date: Sept. 30, 1975

Commander Merlin Minshall denies he's the inspiration for fictional superspy James Bond, but it's easy to see where the comparison comes from. The daring officer, who served under Bond creator Ian Fleming while working for British naval intelligence, spied and seduced his way across Europe during the Second World War, single-handedly pirated a Nazi ship and poisoned a man on the Orient Express. Now retired, the former spy shares some of his exploits in this 1975 episode of As It Happens.

The real James Bond?

• Former British spy Merlin Minshall penned an autobiography entitled Guilt-Edged, which was published in 1977. Best-selling spy novel author Len Deighton wrote the foreword to the book.

• Herman Goering, the Nazi politician and military leader whom Minshall encountered on his sailing trip through Europe in the early 1930s, later became the highest-ranking military officer in the Nazi regime. Goering led the Luftwaffe (German air force) throughout the Second World War and was Adolf Hitler's personal choice as his successor. Convicted of playing a major organizational role in the Holocaust, Goering was sentenced to death by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal in 1946, but committed suicide the night before his scheduled hanging.

The real James Bond?

Medium: Radio

Program: As It Happens

Broadcast Date: Sept. 30, 1975

Guest(s): Merlin Minshall

Host: Alan Maitland
Interviewer: Barbara Frum

Duration: 8:47

Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/Mlenny

Last updated:
Nov. 3, 2008