A good number of distinguished people died in 2003. Foremost among them, I believe, was Bob Hope, a comedic giant that I truly loved.

Another man who died in 2003 was distinguished due to his incredible military exploits in World War II. According to his obituaries, he may have also inspired Ian Fleming to go on and create one of the most popular and enduring fictional characters in the world. I’m referring, of course, to Bond, James Bond.

Retired Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Patrick Dalzel-Job, who died at the age of 90 last October in Plockton, Scotland, was a genuine hero during World War II. He commanded one of the intelligence-assault teams devised by Ian Fleming, then a Royal Navy commander and personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey.

Fleming organized and led a naval commando group called the 30 Assault Unit. The commandos went ashore on raids with orders to seize Nazi documents, equipment and other vital military intelligence. Fleming called the intelligence-gathering group his "Red Indians."

According to Dalzel-Job’s obit in the British newspaper The Guardian, "he could ski backwards, navigate a midget submarine, and undertake the riskiest parachute jumps. His Second World War exploits are the epitome of derring-do behind enemy lines."

"And like Bond," The Guardian added, "he sometimes defied authority,"

The Guardian told the story of how Dalzel-Job was sent to Norway. Ordered not to mix with civilians, he went on to save an entire town from a Nazi reprisal-bombing raid by evacuating them in fishing boats. He would have been court-marshaled had it not been for the King of Norway awarding him a Knights Cross of St Olaf First Class for his actions.

Dalzel-Job once said in an interview that Fleming told him he was a role model for Bond, but as another member of Fleming’s unit noted, Dalzel-Job didn’t make a fuss about it.

Dalzel-Job never read the novels or saw any of the films and he also claimed that unlike the womanizing Bond, he loved only one woman in his life.

Dalzel-Job published a memoir in 1991 called "From Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy." I’ve not yet read it, but it’s on a list of desired books that I’ve given to Tom Jakubowski, a lieutenant colonel in army intelligence and a history buff. His hobby - his quest - is to hunt down old, arcane and out-of-print books for a small number of friends and coworkers. He goes after hard to find books with the same determination and intensity that Delta commandos employ in their hunt for bin Laden. I hope to soon have Dalzel-Job’s book in my hands (as I hope that Delta will soon have bin Laden.)

I won’t defend the comic book character that James Bond has become in the film series, but the more realistic Bond character in the novels was based on the many commandos Fleming met in WWII. Dalzel-Job was the type of man Fleming admired, but in my view, he was not the sole influence.

Fleming also based his character on people like Sidney Reilly and Richard Sorge, two suave, womanizing and tough secret agents in history. As Fleming said in an interview before his death in 1964, Bond was a man of action, a cipher, and simply a blunt instrument in the hands of the government. Fleming said he also infused Bond with his own "quirks and characteristics."

Dalzel-Job and men like him inspired Fleming to create a character that went on to inspire millions upon millions of readers and filmgoers. As readers of this column know, I was one of them. I saw the movies and read the books as a teenager in the 1960s and they sparked my life-long interest in crime, espionage and terrorism.

The novels and movies also sparked my interest in travel. With a burning desire to see the world, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy when I was 17 years old. Over the years, I’ve met many others who have been similarly influenced by Fleming. Recently, I’ve begun to correspond with a reader who has been inspired by Fleming.

Rick O’Herron from San Francisco dropped me a line after viewing the Spike TV Bond marathon. Going online, he came across my Crime Beat column on Ian Fleming from last year and he sent me an e-mail message. He said that he agreed with most of what I wrote concerning Fleming’s great thrillers, how Sean Connery was the one and only James Bond and how the films had become silly.

"The books had wonderful stories and the character of Bond is infinitely more complex, darker and interesting in the Fleming novels," O’Herron wrote.

"If Connery, even in his 70s, came back to the role and they toned down the over-the-top action and stunts, I’d still pay nine bucks to see it."

I’ve heard that "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is not a very good film, but Connery’s screen presence is as large as ever. I would like to see that film as well.

O’Herron, 38, described his introduction to Mr. Bond in the summer of 1975. He was 10 years old and his babysitter said he wanted to watch "Thunderball" on TV.

"I recall the scene where Bond shoots one of Largo’s henchmen with a speargun, followed by the quip "He got the point." I immediately thought Bond was the coolest, toughest guy ever," O’Herron said.

When O’Herron’s parents returned home, he asked his father about "Thunderball." He told his son that he read several of the Bond books when he was in the navy. He still had one the books, which was a movie edition of "Thunderball."

"The cover showed Sean Connery with two babes, one of whom was unzipping his wetsuit and revealing his hairy chest. Even as a kid, I thought that was pretty thrilling."

O’Herron’s father told him that he might have more Bond books in his mother’s attic. He later rummaged though the attic and found rare paperback editions of "Goldfinger" and "Dr. No," which he said he eagerly scooped up."