What does M stand for?
agent colin
Posts: 5MI6 Agent
i know that Bernard Lee's M was called Milles but that can't be it could it be ministrater, master, minister. What does it stand for?
Comments
yeh i remberd that and thats what got me intrested
In the novels, M's actual name was Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, leading the reader to believe that M was simply an initial---as was the case, in the early 20th Century, when the head of the British Secret Service was a man named Cumming...referred to as 'C.' I'm sure others will have a better, different (or at least more complete) explanation, but that's the way I've always seen in.
As for Dame Judi's M...I believe it's her name as well (given the scene from CR), but we'll probably never know.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
In years past it was speculated that in some wierd psychoanalitical way that "M" also stands for "MOTHER"!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Interesting...Bond's mother's name was Monique... :v
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Good show Loeffelholz!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Oh, Agent Colin--there's a spelling mistake in your signature. The word is "Menacing."
It also stands for Murder, like the title of Fritz Lang's classic film. I think Bond's mother would find her son's career choice most apalling. Has there ever been an established lineage of the Bond family, in any of the books, or was he a *******?
All we ever learn about his lineage is his parents' identities: Andrew Bond, a Scot, and Monique Delacroix Bond, who was Swiss--both killed in a mountain climbing accident. (All this revealed in YOLT.) Beyond that, nope.
I suppose---at least inasmuch as the average woman might reflexively decry the choice of her son to be a professional killer...but as a man who saves his country (and/or the world!) from various misdeeds and calamities, perhaps not. One would have to know quite a bit more about Bond's mother to presume much of anything, and we simply aren't given that information.*
*Pearson's very enjoyable 007: The Authorised Biography of James Bond, which seems equally appreciated and sneered upon (depending upon who you ask; I quite enjoy it!), tells us that Bond's parents were in a most unhappy marriage, complicated by Andrew Bond's frequent moving the family about whilst employed by the Vickers firm, and indeed speculates about the natue of the mountain climbing accident. Pearson's depiction of of Monique Delacroix Bond, here, is one of a free spirit who rebelled against her husband's more disciplined nature.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
@merseytart
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Foot says no more about this, but it is interesting that S.O.E. was at that time headed by Hugh Dalton whose Personal Assistant was Hugh Gaitskill who was a close personal friend of the Flemings. I am not presenting this as "the mystery solved" but it does strike me as a somewhat heavy handed coincidence. SOE was disbanded in 1946 & (presumably) the role of "M" ceased to exist at that point, whereas "C" was (& is) still in use by S.I.S. which may have made Fleming reluctant to use it,lest it became associated with a real person.
"The character is said to have possibly been based on Stella Rimington, the head of MI5 between 1992 and 1996. M's real name has yet to be revealed in the films, but recent Bond novelist Raymond Benson gives her the name Barbara Mawdsley."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_(James_Bond)
It is clear from the rest of the article though, that its acknowledged this is not considered canon.
glad you liked it, you could go on methinks with wacky and outlandish choices, considering how the Brosnan films had a penchant for stunt casting (Goldie, Madonna) how about Danny Dyer?
"Now then you w**ker, I've got a f**king right hard nut for you to crack, his name is goldpinky or some b*****ks, sort him aaat!!!!"
O.K. its and old one but someone had to do it
www.scottacademymartialarts.co.uk
No, you didn't. You really didn't!
Going off-topic, but what do people think about what should or shouldn't be considered canon? Fleming, obviously, but Amis, Gardner, et al? Some of the continuation authors' ideas seem arguably eligible (Benson's naming of the female M as Barbara Mawdsley, for example) while some don't (Gardner's Q'ute).
Of course, and I'm hardly the first to say this, James Bond's universe isn't a consistent one like Luke Skywalker's. Some things are tough to reconcile (the relative ages of the characters is best ignored, which is EON's official position since- to paraphrase- James Bond is always the right age now, whenever now happens to be) while others are downright contradictory (Milton Krest in two distinct stories).
Amis was a fan writing fan fic. Fortunately, Amis was also a brilliant novelist in his own right, so Colonel Sun was really rather marvelous. Gardner had a few stabs at writing Bond novels, which were pretty good, before he started trying to write espionage novels which featured a character named Bond, and things went awry. Benson was a fan writing fan fic: unfortunately, Benson was not a brilliant novelist in his own right, so his novels turned out to be really rather appalling. Faulks is (apparently) a great novelist, though I've never read anything of his that didn't send me to sleep: his novel is like fan fiction written by someone who'd read a review of Moonraker.
None of it's canon to me because it didn't come from Fleming. Even Charlie Higson's fantastic books, which "fill in the gaps" - that purchase of a Bentley almost new in 1933 is stunningly audacious - are not from the mind of IF, and so don't count. If I can compare it with, say, Star Trek, which also has a multimedia existence; Gene Roddenberry created it, but then he handed it over to people like DC Fontana and Gene L Coon and Dave Gerrold to create the details. Star Trek, as we know it, is the product of many hands. But Fleming went away to Jamaica for two months, on his own, and came back with a little world for twelve years: everything he writes is the bible, to me. The fact that the films, even now, refer back to Fleming in even the most obscure ways (see Quantum of Solace, or Solange), makes me think that Babs and Mickey think the same way. Fleming is God, basically.
(Also I have a personal hatred of the name Barbara Mawdsley; like Helena Marksbury in the same books, I find it clumsy and inelegant.)
@merseytart
I would have cut him off too.
Can I just be really pedantic and say the quote is actually;
Bond: I always thought that M was a randomly assigned initial...I had no idea it stood for....
M: Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed.....
I, for some reason, think it's Muriel....but there you go....:D
"M" is not 1 person but a position. In Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and skyfall, M is the old woman. then at the end of skyfall is becomes Mallory
Im pretty sure The character is not named in the any of the pre-Skyfall films (although some eagle-eyed members of this forum have noticed the name Olivia Mansfield of the box containing the Bulldog M bequeaths to Bond at the end of Skyfall).
-{
Interesting that this thread was rebooted recently. What a difference five years makes?
Anyone fancy what people would think now if there actually had been a Bond film featuring Jimmy Saville?
With a title theme by the Lostprophets?
I reckon Savile's scenes would be hastily refilmed with another actor and Cgi'd into the film. A bit like the Jabba the Hut scene into recent prints of Star Wars.
of course the Queen.
say that.