The Imperial War Museum's Ian Fleming exhibition celebrates the life and work of Bond creator Ian Fleming. True stories about spying are more exciting than fiction: our spy trail was written by someone who really was involved in intelligence matters.
Ian Fleming (1908-1964), the creator of James Bond. His life is explored at the Imperial War Museum exhibition, For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond - running until March 1 2009. Photo by Horst Tappe / Hulton Archive / Getty Images. © Getty Images
The new Bond film Quantum of Solace is already packing them into the cinemas whilst the Imperial War Museum's excellent Ian Fleming exhibition celebrates the life and work of the Bond creator and even delves into the murky real world of cold war espionage.
Our museum spy trails use the insight of someone who really was involved in intelligence matters.
The first instalment of our cloak and dagger museum trail reveals hidden Cold War activities on the streets of London. A further trail recalls the adventures of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War Two - including the famous exploding rat story!
Just an ordinary bus stop on Waterloo Bridge? Not quite - this was the very spot where Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, was stabbed in the leg by an assassin armed with a poison-tipped umbrella - Markov died four days later in hospital. © 24 Hour Museum
Many years ago writer Gavin Greenwood spent some time on the fringes of the secret world: "This narrative does not correspond to an actual event, but its components are drawn from incidents and counter-intelligence operations," he says.
Most of what went on in our capital in the 'Fifties and 'Sixties can never be revealed, so Greenwood has developed a fictional narrative based on real events, complete, he adds, with "some in-jokes for those still in the trade."
It was during the last world war that London rapidly established itself as a spy city with a myriad of secret locations relating to the intelligence community. SOE, SIS, MI5 and MI6 all occupied a series of top secret sites across the city, most famously in Baker Street, where the Special Operations Executive set about the business of combating the Nazi threat.
Today, the Cold War may be over and the perceived Soviet threat has been partly replaced by newer threats of subversion and terrorism, but the intelligence community continues to thrive.
The huge HQ buildings of MI5 and MI6 on either side of the Thames at Westminster remain potent reminders of the importance of the secret service.
And unlike Russia and the USA, where established national museums deal proudly with the history of subterfuge in the cold war, the business of spying remains a cloaked and secretive business.
Across the road is the entrance to Kensington Palace Gardens, home of the Russian Embassy. Agents are still based here: Richard Moss was menaced by a thick-set gentleman reluctant to let him snap a shot of the building. © 24 Hour Museum
But how did it all happen? Who were these men and women? What were they doing? How did they achieve their aims? Where can you see a dead letter drop, or where Kim Philby lived? Which museums hold items from the dark and secret past?
