Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy

A memoir from the real-life James Bond, who “could ski backward, navigate a midget submarine and undertake the riskiest parachute jumps” (Wired).

In 1939, as a young man, Patrick Dalzel-Job sailed a small brigantine along the Arctic coast of Norway to the Russian border. His crew consisted of an aged mother and a blue-eyed Norwegian schoolgirl. In the following four-and-a-half years of war, Patrick had many adventures which he recounts in this charming book. His local knowledge and language skills made him invaluable in 1940 and he moved more than 10,000 soldiers of the ill-fated Allied North West Expeditionary Force without loss. Then, acting against specific orders, he used his boats to evacuate all the women, children and elderly from Narvik just before it was destroyed by German bombers. He only escaped a court-martial when the King of Norway sent personal thanks to the British Admiralty and presented Patrick with the Knight’s Cross of St Olav.

His later escapades included spells spying on enemy shipping under conditions of great hardship and danger. In 1944/45 he commanded a team of Ian Fleming’s “30 AU” working far in advance of the Allied advance in France and Germany. There is strong anecdotal evidence that Fleming based his James Bond character on Patrick. As if this were not enough, Patrick defied authority to return to Norway in June 1945 and seek out the blue-eyed schoolgirl he had had to leave behind. After much difficulty he found her, now a beautiful young woman, and three weeks later married her. They lived together in Scotland until her death.