Ian Fleming was an average looking man with an ordinary physique. What he lacked physically he made up for with exceptional intelligence, wit, taste and talent for storytelling. From a privileged upbringing, he became a British naval intelligence officer (though not with assignments as intense as a 00 agent’s) and then a journalist. When he created the character of James Bond for his first novel (Casino Royale, 1953), Fleming essentially created an idealized version of himself: the man every women wanted to be with and every man wanted to be.