Secret War: Double Agent Tricycle | Free Documentary History

A wealthy lawyer, debonair ladies man, consummate actor and fearless gambler, Dusko Popov played the role of playboy amongst the top echelons of British society to become one of Germany's most trusted spies. In fact, he was one of Britain's most successful double agents and some say the inspiration for James Bond. Who knew? No, serious question: have any of you heard of this Popov before?

Ian Fleming cites Australian entrepreneur, RAF Officer, inventor, photography expert and arms dealer Sidney Cotton as an inspiration for Bond.

Me being a Serb, there is a failure in mentioning that he was an ethnic Serb from Croatia. Like Nikola Tesla, same thing . Makes me proud for what I am as we have a bad reputation because of the CNNs etc, especially if you add that emeperor Konstantin of Rome was a Moesian ( Serbian), the guy who introduced Christianity to Roman Empire. As were 16 other Roman Emperors. Not bad for a nation of 7 million. Before CNN and the current global world’s shady characters we were good guys.History will prove that we still are in spite of our stubbornness. Sorry about the rant, excellent show.

This is s an excellent documentary about a man I knew little about. He must have had nerves of steel. Thanks.

It is ironic that the cross-dressing Hoover talks about integrity. Not that there is anything wrong with cross-dressing, but the American people seem to have a easy acceptance of lying politicians.

Hover was not only a racist ,he was also very foolish and reckless . He could at least have checked out the intel

Intelligent, suave and fearless... traits that evil takes advantage of and that Freedom utilizes to the fullest.

Bless this man’s bravery!

I despise Hoover, he didn't like Popov because he was a playboy and Hoover had to settle for...Well, you know. He sure changed history.

I really enjoyed watching this documentary. I have been to the Casino Estoril in Lisbon, knowing the background. I even walked out with a small win.

Read a fantastic book on popov about 10 years ago. A really interesting man.

I don’t know what I enjoyed the most about this documentary, Popov or the narrator. Quite interesting

In answer to your question, no I never heard of him before. Although I grew up watching all the James Bond movies. It was quite the 'thing' when I was young. And I still enjoy. This documentary was exceptional!!! Interesting, factual, entertaining and a real pleasure to watch! Thank you 💛 so much. I'd love to see more like this one. Beautiful!!

Dušan/Dusko Popov and his older brother Ivo (also a double agent, codenamed Dreadnought, (German, PAULA)) ran an operation to recruit double agents from Yugoslavia. Ivo Popov identified potential candidates, who were told they would be working for the British. Ivo (Ivan) professionally trained as a physician, during World War II. Vladan, the youngest of the Popov's brothers, was not as personally close as his brothers and would spend the war years in college. Reply

Ian Fleming's position (as DDNI) during WW2 would have subjected him to the Official Secrets Act for wartime and beyond. His books and their characters are likely based on his real life encounters BUT the Bond character is likely not based on one person but the antics of several people. If he's written uniquely about the antics of one person then the OSA could have stopped him before the first book. On being demobbed Fleming declared his ambition to write the spy book of all time, in that he'd be a hard act to follow as he had all the knowledge of real events.

This was very well done. It aligns pretty well with everything I've read/watched/listened to about Popov/Tricycle, Fortitude/Overlord/Etc over the past 40 or so years.

He was subject of a one-hour television documentary produced by Starz Inc. and Cinenova, titled True Bomd, which aired in June 2007. Two other documentaries recounting Popov's exploits, The Real Life James Bond: Dusko Popov and Double Agent Popov: Inspiration for James Bond, have also been produced. Popov has also been the subject of several biographies, notably Miller's Codename Tricycle (2004) and Loftis' Into tge Lion's Mouth (2016).

A great historical documentary I've ever seen. Thank you for sharing this with us!

That was cool, I've seen movies with Simone Simone. No doubt the U.S. would turn down intelligence in order to enter a war, sacrifice our honorable young men. The WW II Men & Women were the, Best of The Best! My heart hurts for the young boys of Vietnam. God Bless Them All!

There were actually 3 spies who were Ian Flemings muses in the James Bond series. I knew one of them and he was British Canadian.