Sunday, January 23, 2011

License to Biff

Recently published is Keith Jeffery's 810-page "MI6:  The history of the Secret Intelligence Service." In a review for the Times Literary Supplement, Calder Walton notes "It is richer on SIS's administration and bureaucracy than on cloak-and-dagger exploits. Nevertheless, it does contain material that could come from the pages of Ian Fleming --signet rings with hidden compartments, dastardly enemies and daring officers. Wilfred 'Biffy' Dunderdale was probably the closest real-life officer to James Bond."

We look forward to the film in which a Sean Connery or Daniel Craig 007 fixes the villain with a steely gaze and says, "The name is Dunderdale. Biffy Dunderdale." 

1 comment:

  1. Yeah, it's not exactly a supermooth name. Maybe he used to change it when he was on missions to stop people from laughing at him. It makes me wonder what his drink of choice was: "Dooleys. Shaken not stirred." I haven't read MI6 The History of the Secret Intelligence Service yet. 800 pages is a lot to cover, especially if there's a lot of bureaucracy in there.

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