Over the years, the UEA has been responsible for some of the world's finest research, in a dazzling array of fields.But none has been quite like the latest output from Matthew Woodcock, a senior lecturer at the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.
The academic has published a new study into Spectre, the fiendish – and, thankfully, fictional – organisation headed by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, arch foe of James Bond.
Dr Woodcock has researched the dastardly group and produced a 2,000 word academic paper, which will be published today, to coincide with the release of the latest Bond film, Spectre.
After gathering intelligence from the pages of Ian Fleming's books and other archives relating to the author, Dr Woodcock amassed a comprehensive dossier on the group.
He also draws comparisons between Spectre and actual groupings, arguing similarities can be drawn between it and modern criminal organisations.
But he believes the group differs from the likes of Al-Qaida and Islamic State, because it doesn't aim to impose a new way of life or ideology.
'In some ways Spectre is closer to a hostile corporation than a terrorist organisation,' he said.
The Spectre of the films, he added, was different to that presented in the books, which was more of an 'office-based organisation'. He said Spectre today would be defined as 'non state actors' by bodies such as the CIA or British secret service.
Here are some of the other findings from his research:
- Spectre (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) was first introduced in the 1961 novel Thunderball and was, Fleming wrote, manned by ex-members of Smersh (a Russian counterintelligence group), the Gestapo, the mafia, and the Black Tong (a Chinese criminal gang).
- Fleming actually first came up with the concept of Spectre in 1959, when he attempted to adapt Bond for the screen, though the word appears at several points in the 1950s Bond novels: including a mob's hideout – Spectreville – in Diamonds are Forever and a deciphering-machine in From Russia with Love, known as the Spektor.
- Spectre was created to replace Bond's earlier enemy – Smersh – to reflect a partial thawing in the Cold War, and give greater freedom and artistic licence for the presentation of villainy.
- Spectre features heavily in three novels: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You only Live Twice. In the books, Blofeld is strangled to death in You Only Live Twice, while in the films he is killed after being dropped down a chimney by Bond in a helicopter at the start of For Your Eyes Only.
- In the novel Thunderball, it is revealed Blofeld's parents were Polish and Greek, and that he was born in Gdynia, in Poland, on May 28, 1908. Fleming was born the same day. The Blofeld in the novels does not possess a cat.
- It is possible to visit Spectre's headquarters, as the address is revealed in Thunderball: 136, Boulevard Hausmann, Paris – less glamorous than the hollowed-out volcano location in the film You Only Live Twice.
Reflections on the Origins of Spectre will appear on the online Bond magazine Artistic Licence Renewed which can be accessed at http://literary007.com/
Have you researched something unusual? Email nicholas.carding@archant.co.uk
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