War Hero Who Helped Inspire The Bond Character Dies At 90

Patrick Dalzel-Job died on Sunday leaving behind a legacy of wartime heroism for his country and inspiration for Ian Fleming’s famous literary character, James Bond.

While Bond’s exploits have been well documented, Dalzel-Job’s career was decidedly more clandestine. In 1944-45, along with Fleming, he served in the mysterious Commando 30 Assault Unit, which would seize German equipment and documents ahead of the advancing Allied forces. One of the commanders of the unit later described Dalzel-Job as “one of the most enterprising, plucky and resourceful” people he had encountered during the war. Rear-Admiral Jan Aylen could very well have been describing James Bond.

Patrick Dalzel-Job wrote his autobiography in 1991 called “From Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy” in which he recalled his many wartime exploits including how he met his wife of over 40 years, Bjorg Bangsund, during sailing trips up the Norwegian coast to Arctic Russia to send topographical reports back to Britain.

Immediately after the war he returned to Norway in search of Bjorg and married her three weeks after finding her. She died in 1996.

They are survived by a son who commanded the leading company of the Scots Guards in the assault on Mount Tumbledown in the Falklands War in 1982.

Patrick Dalzel-Job may have been a model for James Bond, but he once commented that he had “never read a Bond book or seen a Bond movie. They are not my style… And I only ever loved one woman, and I’m not a drinking man.”

Patrick Dalzel-Job, dead at 90.

Source: The Daily Telegraph