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The Real Life Inspiration Behind Bond Girls Polish spy Krystyna Skarbek.

From a piece in the Guardian...

She was described as having a mesmeric power over men which helped her argue with the Gestapo to secure the release of three British colleagues. Captured in Hungary, she bit her tongue so hard that it bled, and convinced her interrogators to free her because she had tuberculosis.

She made many trips to occupied Poland, once getting there by persuading a former Olympic skier to help her cross the snow-covered mountains in the dead of winter, served in the Special Operations Executive, and was parachuted into occupied France.

After the war she was paid off with £100, and ended her working life as a cleaner on cruise ships.
Posted by Jonathan S. at Monday, May 13, 2013