Short History Of... The Real James Bond
34 snips
May 10, 2026 
Andrew Cook, author and historian of Sidney Reilly, gives a concise portrait of the man called the real James Bond. He explores Reilly’s fluid identities, global spycraft, and murky mix of daring operations and self-serving deception. The conversation traces Reilly’s rise, risky Russian mission, capture and execution, and his lasting influence on spy mythmaking.
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From Shlomo Rosenblum To Sidney Reilly
- Born likely as Shlomo Rosenblum, he arrived in London in the 1890s, became a patent-medicine entrepreneur, and cultivated influential contacts like Reverend Hugh Thomas.
- William Melville of Scotland Yard recruited him as an informant and later helped him obtain a state-sanctioned identity as Sidney Riley.
Commerce As A Cover For Intelligence
- Reilly blended commerce and espionage, using roles as broker and arms dealer to access sensitive sites and information across Europe and Asia.
- His early intelligence consisted of gathering and reselling secrets, exemplified by possible leaks of Russian naval defenses to the Japanese in 1904.
Mission To Moscow And Art-First Detour
- In 1918 Reilly was sent to revolutionary Russia with diamonds and funds to assess Bolshevik intentions, but he detoured to Petrograd to recover art before doing his job.
- He later worked alongside diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart, mixing shadowy contacts with formal diplomacy.
