Was there ever a real superspy like James Bond, Her Majesty's secret agent with a licence to kill? A resounding "No" was the answer given by Dusan 'Dusko' Popov, himself the real character who inspired writer Ian Fleming to create agent 007.

"I doubt whether a flesh and blood Bond would last 48 hours as a spy," Popov declared to a group of Italian journalists in 1981, shortly before his death at his residence outside Cannes, on the Mediterranean Cote d'Azur in France.

Casino Royale, the book by Fleming that gave birth to the 007 legend, reached its 53rd birthday recently, and Dr No, the first film in which Scottish actor Sean Connery portrayed Popov in the shape of Bond, turned 43 this month.