The Real Q from James Bond and His Ingenious, Real-Life Inventions

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@jonathanperry8331]

You should do the real life James Bond dusko Popov. That's who Ian Fleming based his character on he was a hard partying double agent in Paris during world war II. They were friends

[@amateurastronomer9463]

I thought at first it was about Q from Star Trek The Next Generation

[@sparky6086]

My favorite "Q" invention is "The Ghetto Blaster", a sort of boombox bazooka.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Have you banned me?

[@JonesHand]

Find my library. Q

[@Foefaller]

More bonus facts: Bond's half-Scottish ancestry was a retcon by Ian Flemming had been blown away by Sean Connery's portrayal of Bond in Dr. No. Flemming had originally wanted Roger Moore to play the secret agent, but Moore was still in contract playing another famous literary action hero, Simon Templar in The Saint television series. Sir Roger Moore would also not be the only actor to play James Bond after having to turn down the role due to a television role. Pierce Brosnan was originally planned to play Bond in The Living Daylights, only for NBC to un-cancel the Remington TV series that made him a star, forcing him to return to television due to his contract.

[@Cliff_Dixon_42]

"They always said the pen is mightier than the sword." "Thanks to me, they were right!"

[@valiroime]

Bonus bonus fact... Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 👍

[@EastBayFlipper]

And Ian was very involved with the raid on Dieppe as it was partially cover for the snatching of the new Enigma machine with the extra rotors to intercept Kreigsmarine submarine communications. Not all raids are successful but it was a lot more than an exercise.

[@qazhr]

And roald Dahl wrote the screen play for you only live twice

[@JC-ks3yk]

And Desmond Llewelyn (Q) is in the movie as "Coggins."

[@nunyabidniz2868]

I have never met anyone else who has read the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which is completely unlike the Disney version w/ Dick van Dyke. Do yourself a favor before writing it off as a "kid's book" and read the original version so you'll understand that Ian was just preparing the next generation to become 007 fans; once they've had the excitement of the real thing, they ain't going back to the boring old kid's books they liked before! Frankly, I'm surprised that no one has ever made a legit movie version of the original book, it's so much better than the Disney version...

[@embee5557]

When I heard the Ian Fleming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fact, I’m like, wait, are the Baron and Auric Goldfinger the same guy? Yes, thank you IMDB. I’ve had nobody to share this with who can appreciate 007 related trivia but I’ll leave it here, just in case it might take up a slot in someone else’s trivia.👍🏻

[@nickjacobs1770]

Another person worth covering is Leo Marks. During WW2 he worked for S.O.E. running the code braking & code making dept. He invented the one time use pad among other things. His autobiography Between Silk & Cyanide is well worth a read. He also wrote Violet Szabos' code poem. Reasoning that unpublished poetry was harder to break as a code than published poetry. After the war, he became a film producer.

[@jasonwarwick5062]

Especially enjoyed this as my grandmother worked with these people in the SOE. Thank you Simon!

[@AskAScreenwriter]

Desmond Llewelyn also had some of my favorite quips, as well, often more even the Bond himself. Probably my all-time favorite is from "For Your Eyes Only": Bond (kneeling inside a confessional): Forgive me father, for I have sinned. Priest: That's putting it mildly 007. (priest removes fake beard to reveal he's really Q)

[@tenhirankei]

Q should have responded with "I have neither the time nor the inclination to listen to the list of them for even one day, 007!"

[@JimBrodie]

Favourite Bond film growing up. It had the full gamut of Bond stuff. Blofeld in the intro, 2 Lotus Esprits, Fighting on aircraft, on sea, underwater and on the piste. Heck even has a young Charles Dance as a henchman.

[@generalhyde007]

“Does this still work?” Favorite line in all the movies.

[@erinmcdonald7781]

RIP Desmond Llewellyn 💜 Those 17 Bond films wouldn't have been the same without him. Legend. ✌️😎

[@abcde_fz]

2:50 Houdini didn't "bribe" anyone, he ALWAYS worked with the companies who 'challenged' him, and often designed the challenge 'gimmicked' restraints himself. The challenging companies didn't have a problem with that. They were aware of the deal, and knew that they would be able to use the challenges for marketing purposes afterward, as Houdini, as a showman, would play out these challenges in such a way that people would often marvel at his accomplishment, even while saying that the company 'sure made him work to get out of that one'. He was a master showman and knew how to play these challenges out for maximum benefit all around.

[@JeffFrmJoisey]

Always liked watching what was going on in the background as Q explained his latest gadget to Bond. Some were hilarious!

[@Louis_Davout]

Exactly! The engineers engaged in "experimentation"; often with hilarious results... Better is the spoof of this in the first Austin Powers movie...

[@hardestkhakis4684]

Favs were the woman sitting in a office chair and getting shot across the room and the guy going to use the phone booth only to get trapped agains the glass by some inflatable restraint device, they later show him being wheeled by in the background still smooshed against the glass.

[@willmfrank]

There was even a callback to them in the movie "Van Helsing."

[@ckm-mkc]

My grandmother was part of the French resistance and I grew up with stories of people being hidden & smuggled across the country....

[@Friendship1nmillion]

*LOVE* for Simon to make a video about that. 👨‍⚖️🕵🧗🛫

[@Morgil27]

My grandfather was on a business trip in China when the Tienaman Square incident happened, and had to be smuggled out of the country back to America.

[@nunyabidniz2868]

Nice to know your grandma was on the side of the Allies! Regrettably, during the war, a large part of the Resistance were taking orders from their Soviet handlers and spent more time fighting & undermining the non-communist Resistance cells than they did actually fighting the Nazis, with the expectation that Germany was ultimately going to fail and when France regained control of herself, the communists would be in charge... There's some great memoirs by Jedburgh members of having to wrangle some modicum of cooperation from supposed "friendly" Resistance cells whose communist leadership was confused about the real goal of an operation. 🙄 Remember, you can never trust a Marxist! Nor their puppets like our President Potato Joe...

[@oldenweery7510]

I love it! Over the years, I've come to admire the British clandestine branches more and more, particularly the ingenious things plans and gadgets they came up with to help win WWII. In case you've missed the fact: during that war, the Brits detected and _controled_ nearly all of the German spies on their island(s). Simon, I still think you should do a longer program on the really magnificent double agents, particularly the one called "Garbo." There was another, but my ancient brain can't seem to recall anything about him, except that he, too, was a master at misdirecting the Germans. Stay safe, everyone.

[@tomw8647]

@ 1:40 A quartermaster (Army) is responsible for provisioning; A quartermaster (Navy) is responsible for steering and signals of the ship. the non-military always default to the Army definition... Also, I believe Q was an Army Major.

[@triciac.5078]

Thank you for this. I knew there was a difference, but not what.

[@adambielen8996]

Did they do away with the term Helmsmen?

[@helljumper912]

Congratulations, you hero. What would we ever do without your exceedingly pedantic focus on the most minute semantics of relatively obscure military terminology.

[@maxaslagolis]

I get so used to Business Blaze I forget that for years I watched you be a respectable, informative, adult man talking about serious things in a easy to understand and simple manner. And not a raving crackhead

[@anarchyantz1564]

Danny is the one creating crack in the Fungeon, Simon prefers a line of his product to go with a dash of Beard Blaze oil.

[@Dreddy72]

@@anarchyantz1564 you cant forget the refreshing scent of rotting turtle though

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@Dreddy72 I am waiting for the release of pre manscaped sweaty ball bag.

[@johnkrimmel1533]

Free bag of cocaine with every purch of Rotting Turtle merch... Allegendly, AM I RIGHT PEEEETAR?

[@BaronVonQuiply]

Advertisers: We really appreciate your professional demeanor and quality presentation skills in all of your channels, Simon. KZbin: Cocaine Boi.

[@davandstudios]

And don't forget Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. A very special Bond car

[@mangot589]

Oh you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you...

[@chrispicton4160]

My distant ancestor built the chatty. Gen11

[@tenhirankei]

And we see the people who play Q (up until he's no longer able to) and Auric Goldfinger (just for that one movie) in it.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

JAMES: Does this still work? Q: 007, please don't touch anything. That is for Agent English...Johnny English!

[@georgemcmillan9172]

The photo you showed several times, i.e. the 4 spiked metal peice, is called a caltrop. They are used for anti- personel and equipment, such as for puncturing tires, etc. I build Mad Max style vehicles, and the caltrop box is one of my favorite pieces to add to a vehicle. Usually there is a box under the rear of the chassis with approximately 150 stainless caltrops inside, controlled by a 12v actuator which releases them on command. Yes, I am a big James Bond fan...

[@stephenlane9168]

Fantastic video Simon I was enthralled and really enjoyed this 👌🙏

[@woodywoodman4309]

Both these guys reminded me of a great story told in the 1985 book The War Magician: The True Story of Jasper Maskelyne He did a lot of things like these other two, but one of the craziest ones in the book was how he hid the Suez Canal to keep it from being bombed by the Nazis. Might make a good episode.

[@thelonerider9693]

"That red button, whatever you do, don't touch it."

[@not-a-theist8251]

You should make a video about Ian Fleming on Biohraphics.

[@Paladin1873]

The pistol at 11:36 is actually an American designed and built FP-45 Liberator in caliber 45 ACP. The plan was to drop them to potential resistance fighters in occupied countries. The theory was they could be used to kill an enemy combatant and take his weapon. The bore was not rifled so one had to be close to to his victim if he wanted a solid hit. Spare ammo was housed in the butt and a simple picture drawing showed the operator how to load, fire, and eject the round. Somewhere around a million them were made, though not that many were ever distributed. Most were destroyed after the war and now they are highly prized collector pieces. A friend of mine used to have one.

[@flyin4352]

Fun fact, my father looked a dead ringer for Pierce Brosnan and I grew up hearing people constantly joke about it. It got to the point where my father would just wear a suit to a halloween party and he automatically looked like he was dressed as Bond.

[@surg9029]

A Gigli saw is hardly a delicate surgical instrument. Although it tends to put less blood spray in the air when I use it, it does have the annoying habit of breaking in use with the ends flying up and hitting me in the mask.

[@poncho6784]

I enjoy many of Simon's channels and videos but this has to be one of his best ever!

[@tenhirankei]

Charles Frasier-Smith is closest to the character Quincy from The movie The Secret Life of Ian Fleming who is said to be (or the audience is to assume so) the inspiration for the character Q in most of the James Bond-007 films.

[@Greatblue56]

Simon’s voice is immediately recognizable in my home now. Cooking dinner, taking this one in and thanking my lucky stars I decided to watch one of Simon’s videos long ago despite the cringey thumbnails he often uses. 😂

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

I recently learned about Operation Mincemeat, can't believe that Ian Flemming had his hands in that ;p

[@andrewdewar8159]

There is an actual place in England where they make stuff for spies for real. They make electronics there, and you could get a job there if you're an electronics engineer. They have a website but I can't remember what its called or where it is. Its on an innocuous looking road and theres a small green Raydome at its entrance.

[@Rushmore222]

Looks like Q found a Roman caltrops to be handy for things. Talk about going old school.

[@davidbenner2289]

The most exotic item dear old dad had was a single shot "pen". I also knew of an inflatable two person airplane tucked away in a South East Asian country. Everything else was just regular items in the craft.

[@wanderinghistorian]

"We think this historical figure was the inspiration for Q." "Why do you think that?" "He called his gadgets 'Q-devices'." "Oh."

[@JonesHand]

I used Q from star trek.. Q

[@mrnemo204]

@@JonesHand Discord?

[@JonesHand]

@@mrnemo204 not with Jason. Rather, his historical insight lead to my insighting my own history of Q, from Q+anonymous=Qanon.

[@mrnemo204]

@@JonesHand You don't get the reference.

[@DixonLu]

Ian Fleming claimed he helped James Bond the ornithologist sell a lot of his book, Birds of the West Indies.

[@drboze6781]

Don't forget James Bread from Bond. You can see their ads here on YT.

[@jettruocco9814]

Video starts at 0:50

[@Unknowngfyjoh]

You should do this for Business Blaze. Video starts at 15:40.

[@rhilianis5811]

This was really informative. Thank you Simon (and crew)

[@charlescaine6022]

The Walter PPK is a semiautomatic pistol, not an automatic pistol.

[@RossM3838]

There was a real m as well, admiral Geoffrey Godfrey. He was Ian Fleming’s commanding officer and was an admirer

[@johnanderson2564]

Simon another excellent video thank you 👍

[@ExpeditedProductions]

Astounding video! Thanks for the information. Massive Bond/Fleming fan, but learning about the real characters who inspire the fiction was exceptional. Thanks. BTW, what watch are you wearing. Suits you well. Be well!

[@SteLest]

The real Q snaps his fingers and harasses star fleet captains.

[@tenhirankei]

You mean "the other Q".

[@daemonartursson7159]

Thank Simon. Brilliantly entertaining as ever.

[@aebirkbeck2693]

The Welrod silenced pistol was .32" Automatic Colt Pistol calibre the 9mm version came about to please the Americans but never reached the level of silence that the .32 did. I was lucky enough to know Geoff Boothroyd and do some restoration work on his firearm collection a really interesting man, a real gentleman as well to boot

[@nj2033]

Absolute travesty to not use a photo of Desmond Llewelyn!!!!

[@tenhirankei]

There was one of him where it looks like he was pretending to be 007 as he was holding the Walther PPK and seemingly looking to see if he was being followed.

[@aeschafer1]

Video titles about 'the real Q' don't work quite the same in 2021 as they would have a couple years ago.

[@edshelden7590]

Great show. Well done.

[@nunyabidniz2868]

@ 11:10 -- The Welrod was originally .32acp, not 9mm kurz; the 380acp version came later. Yeah, I know: pretty anemic.

[@juancana457]

I remember this DJ, in Los Angeles, called himself "Frasier Smith". He truly was a legend in his own mind.

[@DoctaOsiris]

Very interesting 🤔 Some of those ideas are outstanding 😊

[@bhgtree]

(Bond to Q, when their in a hot air balloon): "I trust you can handle this contraption, Q?" Q: "It goes by hot air." Bond: "Oh, then you can.” :) (Octopussy, 1983)

[@pmgn8444]

11:39 - So why is there a pix of the American-developed 'Liberator' pistol being shown instead of the British developed equipment Simon is talking about? Oh, that's right, the people writing and researching this don't really know what they are doing. And then they start showing a pix of a caltrop as Simon yaks on about various unrelated gadgets.

[@tenhirankei]

I was wondering about the picture of the caltrop. I have heard of them only as they were used by ninja to slow down any pursuit of them that might have occurred.

[@pmgn8444]

@@tenhirankei Caltrops are a very old weapon used by many cultures. They injure cavalry horses or people when stepped on. They can be used against vehicle tires and were in WWII. Simon and the people putting these videos together do OK on the text but appear to grab photos off Wikipedia Commons without knowing what they are looking at. Same thing happened on Sideprojects' "Lesser Known Aviation Mysteries": They used a photo of the RC-135V/RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft instead of a RC-135E Rivet Amber photo. Oh, the Rivet Joint photo just happens to the the first photo on the Wikipedia page for the 'Boeing RC-135'. I find these video interesting but the sloppy job on the visuals is annoying. Since Simon is the front man for a bunch of channels, my ire gets directed at him.

[@tenhirankei]

@@pmgn8444 Simon's reply (in my words) "Hey, guys, I'm doing the best I can with the material they give me (we can get)!"

[@mazda5366]

Simon, the item @ 11:40 is a Caltrop - used by the US Office of Strategic Services. The hollow spikes puncture self-sealing rubber tyres. The hole in the center allows air to escape even if the other end of the tube is sealed by soft ground. Ref. Wiki. I would like to know what the items you mentioned actually look like. I look forward to watching each new video you put out about whatever subject it is. All of them are interesting and keep my attention. Keep up the great work!

[@TheCoffeehound]

If you can get your hands on the Time Life WWII books, one of them was all about clandestine operations (I think it was called The Secret War), and had pictures of all the devices mentioned in the video. I just looked it up, and it is available on Amazon for about 18 bucks.

[@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692]

Keep it up man! You make great content!

[@geoben1810]

Gathering, analyzing correctly, and disseminating information effectively about your enemy during a war is crucial. It was how we won WW2 and how we can avoid armed conflict today. Implementing technology in that endeavor is invaluable.

[@SimonTekConley]

MI9, how many MI's are there? If I joined up would it be MI77?

[@rovercoupe7104]

This is brilliant, thank you. M.

[@BCaldwell]

What happened to Shell?

[@allreadynotinuse4169]

Dear Simon love your stuff would be interested if you could find out how many soldiers really did escape

[@VitorAlves78]

Great video, as always! Now, may I suggest a topic (hopefully my comment won't get lost amongst the others)... I was thinking about the discussion of "what happens if you tell a priest that you committed a crime?" Say, you murdered someone, or something serious like that. Maybe you could expand on that, like "telling your psychiatrist" or even "a family member" (although the latter would be entirely ruled by common sense). I know this topic would make for a a very interesting video, and there's not a lot about it on KZbin, so... you know, maybe when you have the time! Cheers mate, I'll keep coming back ;)

[@casbot71]

You are going to get so many confused comments about *QAnon…* And maybe _omnipotent beings_ from Star Trek.

[@Belisarius094]

That Q is anything but anon

[@ashkitt7719]

I do see several comments with their motto.

[@carolgibson-wilson4354]

Thank you Simon.

[@seanmackey4251]

Fantastic research

[@TheQuickSilver101]

Those were some brilliant men and amazing inventions. Thank you!

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@TheXTREMEQMAN]

Everyone knows me by Q and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people ask if my nickname was a reference to James Bond, Impractical Jokers or Star Trek.

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

I would have picked _Sliders._ kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4OVnZqurpKbqrc None of those are particularly spectacular though.

[@Thermalions]

So do tell us, is your nickname a reference to James Bond, Impractical Jokers or Star Trek?

[@auro1986]

real bond doesn't have to meet real q to get gadgets issued

[@AgentGB1]

Great video!

[@Shauma_llama]

Escaping pows: We had a US veteran taken prison in the Battle of the Bulge come to our school and talk about his experiences in the war. Among his stories were about some escapees. He said a couple of guys escaped from a work detail one day, against their advice. He said a few days later a truck pulled into the yard, some SS guys got out, and tossed a couple of body bags on the ground and drove away. A warning not to try escaping. I wonder what happened to these escaped British airmen who were recaptured?

[@snafu2350]

Most were re-incarcerated sadly a few were executed :(

[@CactusJackIV]

Love this channel and all the hard work that has been put into it. Would like to say thanks for that, and for giving Karl(Fact Fiend) a break.

[@andrewgillis3073]

When the invasion of Normandy happened on D-Day, the Germans prepared to load their tanks up onto railcars. However, it seemed the axles would lock up after only a short distance, so the tanks had to move over the roads, which not only took longer, but left them open to attacks by the French resistance. It was only later that it was revealed that an SOE agent had mixed industrial abrasives into the lubricant. For want of a nail...

[@elliottcastillo3717]

There's an alternative hypothesis that Ian Fleming based Bond off of Porfirio Rubirosa. Sad you guys didn't point it out!

[@gugman9684]

Q was usually the best part of the James Bond movies and Roger Moore would get the script with the script supervisor and write absolute nonsense for him to read and torture him repeatedly. BLOODY ROGER was his reaction and the last scene he had filmed was so perfect and like a farewell to us all. In his own words he stated he will keep on doing them until the man upstairs calls him home. How sad that it was a car accident on the way to a premiere that took him from us.

[@JDHGaming]

William Steveston 1:11 looks a lot like Piers Morgan?

[@prettyfar33]

Very interesting...he thought of most everything!!! Thank you!!!

[@fosterfuchs]

One of my favorite lines by Q was uttered in Spectre. Referring to the fate of the DB5 in Skyfall: I believe I said, "Bring it back in one piece," not, "Bring back one piece."

[@munafruit]

for a sec i thought you were exposing qanon

[@r.awilliams9815]

Bond also used a .45 Colt as a car gun in at least one of the novels. Whether it was a Single Action Army or a New Service is unknown to me.

[@Unknowngfyjoh]

I was surprised to find out that this channel has more subscribers than any of his others (even TopTenz).

[@tiki_trash]

I think it may be the oldest of the channels he hosts. I would watch more Business Blaze if the videos weren't so long.

[@thomasplummer8103]

@@tiki_trash I also find Business Blaze to be a hair to disorganized, too, while this channel is generally informative, concise, well organized and awesome. I'd be surprised if one of his other channels had more subs, myself.

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

@@tiki_trash You can cut the run time by half by upping the speed. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4OVnZqurpKbqrc Simon is not a particularly fast speaker.

[@franl155]

I could stand a vid showing the timeline of each of his channels, and a how and why as well. Edit: I meant all his channels: rather than having to go to each and looking at when each started, a single timeline for all of them, with a why.

[@ethelredhardrede1838]

@@franl155 The about page of a channel has the starting date.

[@clubjed6276]

Do a video on space junk

[@Kadeo-ms6qw]

11:36 why did you show a liberator in that photo that definitely wasn’t made by the British

[@larsvanveen9344]

'Q' is the official technological/innovative branch of MI6 and I love it. No joke btw

[@theflanman1986]

You haven’t started a new channel in weeks... I’m worried.

[@willmfrank]

Ever since I first saw Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart in the "Bells" episode of Blackadder II, I've wanted the Blackadder gang to do a parody of James Bond, with Flash as "James Blond;" Stephen Fry as M; the "M," of course, would stand for Melchett; Rowan Atkinson as Q; Tony Robinson as Q's well-meaning but incompetent lab techie.

[@floatingf8783]

Skip ad 0:49

[@dotter8]

Pardon, Mr. Whistler. Have you ever recorded an episode on the trope about somebody whom you would not want to meet in a dark alley? If not, would you consider doing so, please?

[@danielleriley2796]

The well rod pistol was not in 9mm until the USA wanted it allot later. It was in 32acp I believe.

[@skyden24195]

-Jeffery Boothroyd: "The .25 Beretta is a lady's gun." -James Bond: "All the more reason to hold on to it." -Boothroyd: "Oh grow up, 007."

[@christopherreed4723]

And while I'll concede that the .32 ACP/7.65x17mm SR *is* indeed more effective than the .25, that's about all it is. If you're going to carry a Walther PPK (which, at the time, was probably the best choice), for Christ's sake carry the version chambered for .380ACP/9x17mm. Still not ideal, especially with 1950s ammo, but at least you don't have to hope that your opponent *agrees* with you and obligingly keels over.

[@davidbenner2289]

The most techie item dear old dad had was a single shot pen gun when he was in the Middle East back in the middle 1960's.

[@pedanticm]

Me: *watching random KZbin videos* My husband: "This is boring. Can't you watch the British guy who actually talks about interesting stuff?" Me: *found this video* My husband: *is happy*

[@RedBear535]

I KNEW IT! I always thought that gun was ridiculous.

[@modeler308]

"Do pay ATTENTION, OO7!"

[@dudepool7530]

"You just clicked on a video about spies..." No. I clicked a video about a spy tech engineer. You'll never catch me watching a Bond film, but if they made a tech demo of all of Q's works, I'd eat that shit every day!

[@offthewall9988]

the more I hear about the WW's. the more I realise how complicated the engineering was to win it and protect lives, behind the scenes!

[@matthewjones8798]

I just switched off of New Simon, For Newer Simon. I feel like I broke something.

[@Restilia_ch]

More IRL Bond things please.

[@andreworders7305]

Thinking outside the box

[@BaronVonQuiply]

Oddly enough, Bond is partly why I like the Walther PPK. I think the other half is that I had a replica CO2 pistol and it was a nice compact gun. In reality though, I think I want 9mm and the PPK isn't chambered for that. (also, my limited understanding of German suggests the brand is pronounced Walta)

[@montanaheaventush]

It's pronounced wellin

[@OldManMontgomery]

11:35 Picture of a stamped, single shot pistol. Looking amazing like a U. S. made Liberator pistol. In truth, looks just like it. (Check it on a web search.)

[@FFNOJG]

I swear thoughty2 and him made these videos in unison. their 2 latest videos discuss both topics of their last videos