Sidney Reilly (above) is considered to be one of the world's first 'super spies' and is believed to have been an inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond

On the silver screen he is the ultimate British hero, putting his life on the line for his country while enjoying a martini and the company of beautiful women.

But the ‘real life’ James Bond was a very different character to the secret agent loved by millions around the world.

Sidney Reilly was considered to be the world’s first ‘super spy’ and his exploits became so well-known that Ian Fleming is widely believed to have based Bond on the so-called Ace of Spies.

Reilly’s life remains shrouded in mystery – as any real spy’s life should – and it is very difficult to know whether what has been said about him is true.

But unlike Bond, who fights for Queen and country, Reilly is alleged to have worked for four different powers and has been accused of betraying his employers on more than one occasion.

Here, MailOnline takes a look at some of the key similarities and differences between 007 and his historic counterpart.

Background

Bond: Although his backstory has been changed over the years in film, Fleming’s Bond is the son of a Scottish father and Swiss mother, who are both killed in a skiing accident, leaving him an orphan at around age 11, living with his aunt.

He then attends Eton before joining the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserve, rising to the rank of commander. Bond is then recruited into the Secret Service and obtains the 00 rank after killing two enemy agents.

Reilly: Reilly’s origins could be equally as fictional given his need to spread misinformation due to his job, but according to reports he was born Salomon Rosenblum in Ukraine in 1873.

Scroll down for video

Reilly (left) was born in Ukraine and made his way to the UK where he changed his name from Rosenblum. His background is far different to that of Bond (right, played by Daniel Craig), who is an orphan who went to Eton and was recruited into the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserve

Reilly was a friend of journalist Robert Bruce Lockhart, who himself was close with James Bond author Ian Fleming (pictured), who is said to have based his spy on Reilly's persona

In the early 1890s he was arrested by the Russian secret police for aiding a revolutionary group and was jailed. Upon his release he learned his mother had died, then faked his death and stowed away aboard a ship and ended up in Brazil.

While working as a cook for a British expedition, Rosenblum is said to have saved the life of Major Charles Fothergill after they were attacked by natives, killing the hostiles with his expert shooting skills.

Fothergill rewarded him with £1,500 and took him to Britain, although other accounts suggest he ended up in Britain after robbing Italian anarchists in France and making a hasty retreat to escape the law.

In London, Rosenblum began an affair with the wealthy Margaret Thomas, whom he married after her husband died in suspicious circumstances. Rosenblum then changed his name to Sidney George Reilly.

The Secret Service

Bond: Bond works for MI6, under the direct supervision of M, on missions of national or global importance, saving the world on many occasions.

His adventures began with him tackling the evil organisation Spectre, headed by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who would concoct numerous insidious schemes to threaten the world with destruction and hold Western powers to ransom.

Later the action shifted to the Cold War and saw Bond work with and against Soviet agents, often as unaffiliated villains tried to play both sides off against each other.

More recently his attention has turned to stopping global terrorism, although the Daniel Craig series of films once again brought Blofeld back into the picture as the evil mastermind behind it all.

Reilly: Reilly’s service began with a reconnaissance trip to Tsarist Russia to report back on its oil reserves, before he headed to Russian-controlled Manchuria, then under threat of Japanese invasion, where he is said to have stolen the defence plans for Port Arthur, giving them to Japan and allowing them to launch a successful attack.

He then took part in what became known as the D’Arcy Affair, convincing oil magnate William Knox D’Arcy to sell his recently acquired rights to fields in Persia to the British Government rather than the French by sneaking aboard D’Arcy’s yacht in southern France dressed as a Catholic priest.

In 1909 he was sent to Germany to steal weapons plans as the Kaiser expanded his military. Reilly trained as a welder in Sheffield and obtained a job in a factory in Essen, where he stole designs and strangled a factory foreman to death in the process.

Bond, played here by Sean Connery, is MI6's finest, saving the world on numerous occasions from terrorists, evil organisations and rogue nations

After a stint in the US and Canada during the First World War, Reilly was said to be involved in what is known as the Lockhart Plot, accompanying Robert Lockhart (a close friend of Ian Fleming) on a mission to Russia to kill Lenin and depose the Bolshevik Government.

Reilly was planning a coup with Latvian allies, but a separate assassination attempt on Lenin prompted a huge reaction against any perceived dissidents, with Lockhart arrested and a national manhunt launched for Reilly.

He was sentenced to death in absentia by the Russian Government but, using a German passport, he escaped to Finland and returned to London via Sweden.

But that mission would still prove his undoing, as he was captured in Russia in 1925 after being tricked into entering the country under the guise of meeting an anti-Communist group. Reilly was interrogated but apparently did not give up any British secrets, and he was later shot dead in a forest.

Loyalty

Bond: Although many of his fellow 00 agents have turned their back on Britain, Bond has always remained resolute in his loyalty to Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

He has been tortured many times, strapped to a table and threatened with a very slow-moving laser, seduced by gorgeous temptresses and even held prisoner in North Korea, but has always rebuffed any attempt to get information out of him.

Reilly: Reilly on the other hand is a completely different case. Although again it is difficult to establish what is true and what isn’t, it has been alleged that he worked as a double or triple agent on several occasions.

Reilly, pictured far right on his wedding day to actress Pepita Bobadilla in 1923, is said to have had questionable loyalty and was accused of working for four different countries during his time as a secret agent

He supposedly worked for the Russian secret police in 1912 despite previously helping the Japanese Navy in the Russo-Japanese War.

During the First World War he is said to have run a munitions business from New York, selling weapons to both the German and Imperial Russian army.

After formally being made a secret service agent in 1918, it is said he was then fired in 1921 for his tendency to ‘go rogue’ and for allegedly offering his services around for profit.

Skills

Bond: Bond is a very skilled marksman and is noted as the best in the British Secret Service, with the spy himself quipping ‘I never miss’ when executing villain Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough [after she says: 'You wouldn't kill me. You'd miss me'].

He is also well-trained in hand-to-hand combat, an excellent golfer and is also very talented at both driving and skiing.

Reilly: Although stories about Reilly do not often mention his hand-to-hand skills, he is said to have strangled the foreman in Germany (see above), while his ability as a marksman has also been lauded.

He was also a master of disguise and deception, and would often take on new identities and falsify documents to allow him to travel between countries undetected.

But it is his skill for lying that has left such mystery around the man, which is probably the way he would have wanted it.

Women

Bond: Arguably there is no other man in literary or cinematic history who has managed to work his way into so many different women’s affections, no matter their personality.

If his suave demeanour, witty lines and sharp suits aren’t enough to get him ahead, his oozing charm and machismo usually get him out of trouble – sometimes literally as he has frequently escaped death by seducing friend or foe alike.

When it comes to love, only two names stand out – his wife Teresa ‘Tracy’ Bond and Vesper Lynd.

Both met untimely deaths due to their relationships with the spy, with Tracy murdered shortly after their wedding by Blofeld (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and Lynd killed when secretly trying to bargain for Bond’s life (in Casino Royale).

Reilly, played here by Sam Neill in a 1983 television series, was described as a womaniser, much like James Bond

Reilly: Like Bond, Reilly was known as a serial womaniser, having numerous affairs with women in high society.

According to Lockhart, Reilly is said to have bedded noted Victorian author Ethel Voynich, who supposedly based the lead male in her novel The Gadfly on Reilly.

Although he married Margaret Thomas in the late 1890s, he is also said to have wed actress Pepita Bobadilla in 1923, shortly before his own death.