A TOP secret Second World War mission and the inspiration it provided for the creation of James Bond are the topics of a new book by a Liskeard author.

Mark Simmons will be at the Callington Book Fair tomorrow (Saturday, October 6) to talk about his latest publication, Ian Fleming and Operation Golden Eye.

In the book, Mark documents how Ian Fleming was a Royal Navy intelligence officer, selected by the director of Naval Intelligence Rear Admiral John Godfrey to be his assistant during the Second World War.

Fleming was tasked with assessing the danger to Gibraltar from Britain’s enemies. He set in motion Operation Golden Eye, a plan to keep Spain out of the Second World War - and to disrupt her severely should she choose to join the Axis powers.

From bribery of Spanish officials, to cooperation with a sympathetic German admiral, Fleming’s experiences would provide him with plenty of material on which to base his later James Bond novels, says Mark.

‘By drawing upon his wartime experiences as an intelligence officer, Ian Fleming created a secret agent not unlike himself,’ he said.