Ian Fleming was a character best known through the prism of his James Bond spy stories. Fleming was happy to encourage the myths that soon came to circulate around his best selling novels. The author provides a view from researching public records and private documents and its as fascinating as any account about James Bond – Highly Recommended.
NAME: Ian Fleming's Secret War, The Real-life Inspiration Behind the James Bond Novels FILE: R2521 AUTHOR: Craig Cabell PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 182 PRICE: £12.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War 2, World War II, Second World War, intelligence, counter-intelligence, covert operations, psychological warfare, propaganda, tricks, spy's gadgets ISBN: 1-47385-349-4 IMAGE: B2521jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/l64epn2 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: Ian Fleming was a character best known through the prism of his James Bond spy stories. Fleming was happy to encourage the myths that soon came to circulate around his best selling novels. The author provides a view from researching public records and private documents and its as fascinating as any account about James Bond - Highly Recommended. Ian Fleming was a controversial figure when he became famous as the creator of the James Bond stories, but he was also a very controversial figure during his service with Directorate Naval Intelligence during WWII. A signed photograph of Fleming in RN Commander's uniform was still hanging on the wall in one intelligence office in London as late as the 1980s and surrounded by some very interesting and competing stories. DNI was really the start of modern professional intelligence services in Britain. When Naval intelligence was organised at the start of the 20th Century, it was formed to gain detailed knowledge of German armaments development, particularly in terms of naval guns and Zeppelin airships. It was more professional than some of the other fledgling intelligence operations that still employed amateurs not far different from those depicted in novels such as “The 39 Steps”. Part of the difference was that the Royal Navy rapidly saw the strengths and weaknesses of radio communication and was able to establish listening stations that could not only intercept radio signals from all over the world, but also locate the signal source by triangulation. That was responsible for starting a number of things that are now taken for granted as key elements of modern intelligence gathering and processing. Traffic analysis began with DNI. There were operators noting down intercepted signals, details of where they were originating and where they were going to, and sending this to a central point to be analysed and the results passed to senior commanders. Initially much of that traffic was only encrypted in the form of International Morse Code, but soon the more cautious communicators were starting to use codes and cyphers to prevent eavesdroppers from knowing what w as being said. This gave birth to Pattern Analysis and Threat Analysis and BCCS, the father of today's GCHQ and associate organizations. When WWII was begun, the DNI capabilities were already formidable. When Churchill became Prime Minister he had a particular fondness for covert operations of all types and some of the very strange 'toys' built for agents in the field. DNI Quartermasters were amongst the most prolific creators of these interesting and deadly devices and are commemorated by Fleming as his character 'Q' in the Bond stories. Fleming himself was 'Q' on occasion. Fleming was not universally popular or respected by many of his colleagues. He was seen as a card playing gambler and playboy. He also worked with some very colourful and off-the-wall colleagues including Dennis Wheatley the best selling author and devotee of the occult. There was also a very professional, capable and serious side to Fleming. All of that has been mixed together by generations of Bond fans and pundits to create a series of myths that differ strongly from the reality. The author has painted a credible picture of Fleming and his contribution to the war effort. Its just as colourful, even if its authentic from written records.