H ow did a Serb serve as the blueprint for Agent 007; which toys from Q Branch changed the world; and who will finally be the next to don Hollywood’s best tuxedo? You ask a lot, but let’s answer in order... The world changed forever on 5 th Oc- tober 1962, when Dr. No premiered at the London Pavilion. Sean Connery, then a rel- atively unknown Scottish actor, sat down at a baccarat table, lit a cigarette, looked coldly into the camera and introduced himself as “Bond. James Bond”. That mo- ment marked the birth of the new modern pop culture phenomena. That’s why Glob- al James Bond Day is celebrated worldwide each 5 th October, as a walking advertise- ment for British imperial untouchabili- ty in an age when that same empire was crumbling. Bond taught us how to wear a tuxedo with perfect lapels, explained the difference between a shaken and stirred martini, and showed that even an apoc- alypse can be prevented in style, without creasing one’s cuffs. Serbian roots at the heart of Casino Royale To understand Bond, one must un- derstand its creator: writer and former in- telligence officer Ian Fleming. And in or- der to understand Fleming’s most famous novel, Casino Royale, one must know the
story of Dušan Popov. He was born in the Serbian town of Titel and went on to be- come one of the most successful double agents during World War II. He worked for the UK’s MI6 (under the codename Tricy- cle), while the Germans believed he was working for them (under the name Ivan). He was brilliant and he loved fast cars, expensive drinks and beautiful women. His record was so impressive that Flem- ing – then an officer of British naval in- telligence – was assigned to follow him. The key moment came in August 1941, in neutral Lisbon at the famous Casino Es- toril. Popov was playing baccarat at a ta- ble with a Lithuanian businessman who worked for the Nazis. Fleming stood to the side and watched. At one point, in order to
completely crush his opponent and unmask him, Popov threw an incredible $40,000 on the table, which would be worth almost a million dollars today. The Nazi folded and Fleming was left shocked by Popov’s cool- ness. It was exactly 12 years later that Flem- ing published his first novel: Casino Royale, in which his hero, James Bond, destroys the villain Le Chiffre at a gambling table in exactly the same way. Bond’s passion for luxury, women and risk isn’t invented – it’s taken from the biography of Dušan Popov. The evolution of an agent: six personalities and one tuxedo Every generation has had its own Bond, with each actor bringing a specif- ic spirit of the era:
Pop phenomena » Pop fenomeni | 41
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator