Reading ‘Superspy Science’ brought back memories. Let me share a couple of them.
How do you like this? “My name is Zakhov, Avvakum Zakhov.”
Hmm... Sounds weird... Let’s try again:
“My name is Boyev, Emil Boyev.”
Even harder to digest for an ‘English-speaking ear’ more accustomed to one of the world’s most popular soundbites: “My name’s Bond. James Bond.”
No wonder.
Trust me, had the West lost the Cold War, the first two quotes could have been on everybody’s lips too. Why? Because both Avvakum Zakhov and Emil Boyev were the former communist world’s answers to James Bond.
Let me explain. In the Soviet Union of my childhood and youth, where Ian Fleming’s Bond novels and the movie versions were strictly banned, the global phenomenon was either silenced completely or silenced and heavily criticised. Grossly misunderstood as a belligerent and ardently anti-Soviet Western killer spy, rather than a parody of a sophisticated Englishman, James Bond was regarded...