Article by Mark Simmons. Vice-Admiral Norman Denning said of Ian Fleming the ‘ideas man’ who worked at Naval Intelligence, that many of his ideas, ‘were just plain crazy’ yet there were a few ‘that made you think before you threw them in the wastepaper basket.’ One that was not dismissed was the creation of what…
It can be argued that Sefton Delmer is the Godfather of what we commonly refer to as ‘fake news’. In old money, this was propaganda. Delmer’s “Black Propaganda,” was a disinformation war waged over the airwaves and mixed real news culled from intelligence sources and fake items. He even he produced a German-language newspaper called…
Mark Simmons comes from a family with a long tradition of service in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines and in the 1970s he served in the Royal Marines. We caught up with him to talk about his latest book, ‘Ian Fleming and Operation Golden Eye: Keeping Spain out of World War II’, concerning the various Allied…
We recently had the pleasure of attending a very special book launch at the Special Forces Club in London. This private members club was founded in 1945 by men and women who had served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), on the initiative of the last Chief of the SOE, Major-General Sir Colin Gubbins, KCMG, DSO, MC.…
Herbert O. Yardley seemed Fleming’s kind of man – gambler, code-breaker, rascal and whistle-blower. On the anniversary of his death, Graham M. Thomas delves into his incredible story. *** In early 1959, Ian Fleming contributed a three page preface to a book on how to win at poker: ‘The Education of a Poker Player‘ was a…
We are thrilled to bring intelligence expert and award-winning author Michael Smith, in from the cold. Michael worked in intelligence for 10 years and gave us a unique insight into Ian Fleming’s involvement in World War 2. Ian Fleming was described as ‘oiling the wheels’ between The Admiralty and SOE but what sort of role…
Article by Benjamin Welton; Featured Image by George Almond Ian Fleming was fortunate in that he had a lot to draw from once he sat down to create James Bond. Not only did he have literary forbearers such as W. Somerset Maugham, Sapper, and Raymond Chandler to emulate, but his actual life was swimming in…
Words by Jack Lugo In 1940 Ian Fleming, then a Lt. Commander in British Naval Intelligence, designed a secret operation, which if successful might have helped the Allies crack the German naval enigma codes. Famous cryptanalyst Alan Turing had been among the codebreakers working at Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. While…
Words by Benjamin Welton Ever since Casino Royale first saw publication in 1953, commentators have noted that James Bond began his rise just as the sun was setting on the British Empire. Indeed, worldwide interest in British culture, especially the more garish, almost pulpy elements, found greater appreciation at the same time as Great Britain…
Words by Benjamin Welton Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory? From the pseudo-science of ancient astronauts to Alex Jones’s favorite hobby horse the Illuminati, conspiracy theories surround us, especially within the cold confines of the internet. Just last year, Jesse Walker, an editor at the libertarian Reason magazine, released The United States of Paranoia:…
Article by Benjamin Welton As a general rule, I try to refrain from reading the comments on my articles. But, since I am a glutton for punishment, I read ever single comment that was posted to my last piece in The Atlantic (“James Bond’s World War I Origins,” March 12, 2014). One negative comment stood…
The remarkable lives of Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl criss-crossed each other for many years; the impact of both have and will, be felt for many more years to come. Cut from similar cloth, they had a lot in common and enjoyed each other’s company with a dash of friendly rivalry thrown in. Donald Sturrock author…
Ian Fleming named his James Bond character’s CIA agent friend after Ivar Bryce’s middle name, Felix. His surname was named after another of Fleming’s friends, Tommy Leiter. Ivar Bryce was born in 1906. His father had made a fortune trading guano, the phosphate-rich deposit of fish-eating seabirds which had been widely used as a natural fertilizer.…
Christopher Lee‘s association with Bond goes beyond Francisco Scaramanga from his role in The Man With The Golden Gun. Lee was in fact step-cousin to Ian Fleming and knew each other fairly well. His mother, Evelyn, then married Harcourt George St Croix Rose, a banker and uncle of Ian Fleming. Lee’s military past was just as…
Artistic Licence Renewed 