Yes indeed. I suspect it may well be based on him. He was parachuted into Crete by SOE. Still, classical greek would have been some use to him, unlike the fellow who had read the Classics and Archaic Egyptian at university. When interviewed for the intelligence corps, he said he'd been studying Greek, Latin and the language of the Pharaohs. He spent the rest of the war in the Faroe Islands.
Paddy Fermor was certainly quite a character. Ill met by moonlight, a book I mentioned in the "What are we all reading thread" is an account of the kidnapping of General Kneipe on Crete by Paddy Fermor and Billy Moss.
Ha! Must tell the Faroe joke to my father-in-law. Thanks. And must get Ill met by Moonlight as I've read just about everything else by or about Patrick L F. A Time of Gifts launched the obsession.
