"[5][6] In the song "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", Ian Dury refers to the clothes of Mr. Walter Mitty as a better alternative to wearing grey, citing the character as an example of the unconventional.
[9] In the 1997 book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer—a personal account of the events of the 1996 Everest disaster—Krakauer states: "Walter Mittys with Everest dreams need to bear in mind that when things go wrong up in the death zone (above 26,000 feet)—and sooner or later they always do—the strongest guides in the world may be powerless to save a client's life; indeed as the events of 1996 demonstrated, the strongest guides in the world are sometimes powerless to save even their own lives.
In 2007, automaker Ford stated that it had to exclude from the list of potential bidders "Walter Mitty" types who had dreams but no experience, prior to the sale of their Aston Martin British GT car brand to a consortium of business interests from America and the Middle East, headed by Prodrive founder and world rally championship owner David Richards.
[citation needed][dubious – discuss] Impostor Alan McIlwraith, who falsely claimed to be a knighted war hero, was dubbed "Sir Walter Mitty" by the press.
[11] The Guardian reported on April 20, 2009 that a leaked British National Party training manual described some members as "liars, oddballs, and Walter Mitty types".
[12] The Guardian reported on January 23, 2016 that up to 10% of servicemen and ex-servicemen who made use of the services of military psychiatrists for PTSD were "Walter Mitty" characters who fabricated or exaggerated their experiences in combat.
[17] In his book on selection for the SAS, Andy McNab wrote that soldiers from other units who were applying to join and who gave away the fact they were motivated by reasons of personal vanity were labelled as "Walter Mitties"[18] and quietly sent home.