Don Firth how true, I remember listening to Malcolm Muggeridge who after his service with MI5 during and after WW2, became a well known broadcaster with the BBC.
Muggeridge was asked about Connerys role as Bond and how did he fit in to such a role, Muggeridge mentioned a few of his friends that were also in MI5, and suggested they were all like himself hardly able to climb a flight of stairs, "they certainly were nothing like the agent portrayed by Connery", he said sitting behind a desk was as far as most of them got.
Muggeridge called the role sheer fantasy and far removed from their role as spies.