In the James Bond movies... Bond's boss has teh title of "M". WHat does M stand for?
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ANSWERS: 10
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From wikipedia.org: "M" is a code letter and name for boss for the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 (or MI7). The title "M" is believed to have been derived by creator Ian Fleming from the first real-life head of Her Majesty's Secret Service, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who used his initial "C" to indicate when he had seen a paper and so became referred to as "C", a practice that carried on with his successors. Other influences on the character include Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's superior in British Naval Intelligence during World War II, and "R," the secret service employer of W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden. The "M" may be an abbreviation for Minister, refering to his title as head of MI6.
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In the Ian Fleming novels... it was revealed that his name was Sir Miles Meservy.
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Good question - difficult to get a good answer Im afraid. Depends on which books you read. The head is Barbara Mawdley in some books. Sir Miles Meservy in others. In the latest Bond film Casino Royal - Bond alludes to it being a strange name. Ian Fleming did base his characters on real life people. Hence the Mansfield Smith-Cumming reference in other answers. I think you will find its one of those questions wher eyou ownt get a concesus apart from the character of M has always had the surname beginning with M just to keep us confused as to whether that truly is the reason.
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Not to repeat or improve on the answers above, but in "The Spy Who Loved Me" movie (which admittedly is not a good source of the author's intention), M calls Anatol Gogol, M's counterpart in the KGB, "Alexei" (go figure) and he in turn calls M "Miles". Maybe they were just "pet" names for each other?
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M does stand for Meservy, or actually Messervy. It's my family name and it didn't drop the 2nd "s" until my great-grandfather was in Idaho. So, Ian Fleming only knew a distant relative of mine who was in the navy with him. it's a story I've heard my whole life. I don't know if they were buddies or whatnot, but they were in the navy together. =]
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Well I may not be huge in the history of things, but I'll take the KISS approach (keep it simple stupid). In one of the early scenes with Bond and M in Casino Royale at her house. M says: "How the hell did you find out where I lived?" Bond replies; "Same way I found out your name, I thought M was a randomly assigned letter, I never knew it stood for..." "Utter one more sylabul and I'll have you killed..." Although this can be interpreted differently be everyone, and of course the writers who wrote this may be their own interpretation of Ian Flemings films, but do they know something we don't because they own the rights to James Bond and one of the deals was they found out everything? When Bond leaves M's appartment the last sylabul he utters is... "Mum" I believe M stands for Mum. The mother figure of MI6 who looks after her agents whether M is a man or a woman which explains if they started using one letter sign off's why the same letter stayed the same and didn't change whether it was Mr David which would be D.
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Monsters Muffines Mutants Mononucleosis Martha Merry March Mike and Ikes just a few theories i thought i'd throw out there.
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Ian Fleming finally said the man's name was Sir Miles Messervy!
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Ian Fleming finally said the man's name was Sir Miles Messervy!
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Admiral Sir Miles Messervy
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