The character Goldfinger may have been based on a German spymaster who plotted to blow up gold reserves at the Bank of England THE inspiration for Goldfinger, the arch villain created by Ian Fleming to rival James Bond, could have been a German spymaster who plotted to blow up gold reserves at the Bank of England. Andrew Cook, a historian who specialises in intelligence affairs, has found new evidence that suggests Auric Goldfinger’s fictional plans to destroy all the gold in Fort Knox may have been based on a conspiracy to bankrupt Britain on the eve of the first world...