IAN FLEMING'’S SECRET WAR

Ian Fleming worked for Naval Intelligence during World War II, but how far did real-life experience feed into the swashbuckling adventures of his hero James Bond? Fleming went to Eton and Sandhurst, then became a journalist. A few months before the outbreak of war he was invited to lunch at the Carlton Grill with Admiral John Godfrey, head of the Naval Intelligence Department, a decisive but shadowy figure who was probably the inspiration for "M". Shortly afterwards he received a letter telling him to hold himself in readiness for service under the Admiralty and soon he found himself in Operations Room 39. It was here that Fleming was involved in operation GOLDENEYE, a plan to counter the Nazi threat in the Mediterranean by using covert operations on Gibraltar. In fact it never came to fruition, and Fleming's involvement in operation RUTHLESS, a plan to intercept the German Kriegsmarine coding machine, was also aborted. More successful was his work creating the 30 Assault Unit, a team of commandos dedicated to quick in-and-out reconnaissance raids. Most of the documented missions of 30 AU were successful in achieving their objectives, although its first attack, the notorious Dieppe Raid, went badly wrong owing to rushed planning. One of the commandos in 30 AU was Patrick Dalzel-Job, who was subsequently named as a likely model for Bond. Dalzel-Job enjoyed the risk and thrill of extreme front-line activity and wrote a memoir after the War. One of Fleming's more bizarre operations was the flight of Rudolf Hess to the UK and the involvement of self-styled magician Aleister Crowley. 182pp, paperback, photos.