00 Agent
James Bond franchise agent designation
In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who holds a licence to kill in the field, at their discretion, to complete any mission. The novel Moonraker establishes that the section routinely has three agents concurrently; the film series, in Thunderball, establishes a minimum number of nine 00 agents active at that time.
Inspiration
The origins of the Double O title may date to Ian Fleming's wartime service. According to World War II historian Damien Lewis in his book Churchill's Secret Warriors, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were given a "0" prefix when they became "zero-rated" upon completion of training in how to kill. As part of his role as assistant to the head of naval intelligence, Rear Admiral John Godfrey (himself the inspiration for M), Fleming acted as liaison to the SOE.
Another hypothesis holds that Fleming, who at one time owned a house in St Margarets Bay outside Dover, was inspired by the local 007 bus route which ran between Canterbury and the Kent coast. Having found the codename for his protagonist, it may be that this was then expanded to a host of "00" agents of which Bond was numbered seventh. The 007 route still exists to this day, operated by National Express as a coach service between Victoria coach station and Dover.
Description
In the first novel, Casino Royale, and the 2006 film adaptation, the 00 concept is introduced and, in James Bond's words, "means you've had to kill a chap in cold blood in the course of some job". Bond's 00 number (007) was awarded to him because he twice killed in fulfilling assignments.
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