Page "Casino Royale (novel)" Paragraph 17

Casino Royale was inspired by certain incidents that took place during Fleming's career at the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty.

On a wartime trip to Portugal, en route to the United States, Fleming and the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, went to the Estoril Casino.

Due to Portugal's neutral status, a number of spies from warring regimes were present.

Fleming claimed that while there he was cleaned out by a " chief German agent " at a table playing Chemin de Fer.

Admiral Godfrey told a different story: Fleming only played Portuguese businessmen and that afterwards he fantasised about playing against German agents.

The references in the novel to " Red Indians " ( four times, twice on last page ) came from Fleming's own 30 Assault Unit, which he nicknamed his " Red Indians ".

The failed attempt to kill Bond while at Royale-Les-Eaux was also inspired by a real event: a miscarried assassination against Franz von Papen, Vice-Chancellor of Germany and Ambassador under Adolf Hitler.

Both Papen and Bond survived their assassination attempts, carried out by Bulgarians, due to a tree that protected them from a bomb blast.