I Spy With Savoir Faire.

I am sure that all of us at sometimes or another has wished we were a devilishly handsome spy (or a femme fatale, who just happened to be a spy) dashing through obscure European countries or over the top sci fi film sets, hoping to save the world. We would fight our arch nemesis, get the girl or man and do it with indubitable style. Even our villains were stylish and it was a match of wills to see who could come out on top.

Of course the most famous spy to come to mind is 007 himself who has had many reincarnations since he exploded onto the scene. Mr Bond was stylish, handsome, knew what he wanted and was ruthless. Bond was the quintessential spy, and of course there is some debate who is the best Bond, but I think Connery and Lazenby were the best, and of course Mr Craig does deserve an honourable mention.

In the 1960’s espionage was cool, and for those of us who couldn’t get enough of the gadgets, the style and the action there were several TV series that satisfied our rather carnal desires.

Britain created “The Avengers”, which had suburban males drooling over Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel. The name might have been a bit frumpy, however she was not. For Mrs Peel, leather cat suits were de rigueur and these were a perfect compliment to Patrick McNee’s ever so conservative John Steed.

I can' resist putting the below photo in of Mrs. Peel in mortal danger, just waiting to be saved

Spies were running rampant across the Atlantic in the States with “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” and “Mission Impossible”.

The Man From Uncle series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team for a fictitious secret international law-enforcement agency, the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement with American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughan) and Illya Kuryakin.

U.N.C.L.E.'s archenemy was a vast organization known as T.H.R.U.S. H, the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. How fabulous is that!

Then of course there was Mission Impossible. Who could ever forget the protagonist Jack Phelps receiving the instructions for the next mission through a tape that would self destruct! The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations, and crime lords.

The world might have been in constant threat of being taken over by the likes of SPECTRE or THRUSH, but we were safe in the knowledge that we were going to be saved by an Organisation or spy with the savoir faire to do it with style!