Deadly kicks ... knife shoe
AMERICAN spies secretly copied James Bond movie gadgets during the Cold war, it emerged yesterday.
The CIA ripped off gizmos devised by 007's technical ace Q, including the poison-tipped flick-knife shoe worn by baddie Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love.
It also tried to reproduce the tracking device used to follow Goldfinger in the 1964 film - but it was riddled with bugs.
The gadgets were made after CIA chief Allen Dulles became a pal of Bond author Ian Fleming in the 1950s. Soon after, he ordered staff to take inspiration from Q.
Private letters show ex-naval intelligence officer Fleming criticised the Americans' technology when he first met the spy boss in 1959.
Dulles relied on Fleming to give the CIA good publicity and even persuaded the writer not to retire Bond in 1963.
He once said the CIA "could do with a few James Bonds".
The details emerged in a study by Warwick University. Study author Dr Christopher Moran said: "In the later books, as the friendship between Dulles and Fleming deepens, a far rosier picture of the CIA emerges.
"In Thunderball, Bond's boss M dispenses with his characteristic economy of words to speak enthusiastically about the way the CIA is selflessly putting itself in the service of freedom."
k.docherty@the-sun.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment