IAN FLEMING’S WAR – THE INSPIRATION FOR 007 with Foreword by Anthony Horowitz

by Mark Simmons

In the fifth 007 book From Russia with Love Bond bemoans the fact that: ‘He was a man of war and when, for a long period, there was no war, his spirit went into decline.’

What war is he thinking about? Given the book came out in 1957 could it have been Korea, or Suez a fiasco for Britain? Hardly either of these. No, it is World War II. It was the war his creator Ian Fleming had direct experience of; he had knowledge of a myriad of characters and operations some of which he created himself when he worked at the Naval Intelligence Division. There is also his close association with 30 Assault Unit, the Commando unit he helped create. Their exploits provided the inspiration for Moonraker.

By examining the work of Ian Fleming in Naval Intelligence we come across a myriad of characters and events, many stranger than fiction, that influenced his writing.

“By shining new light on Fleming’s role in intelligence, the people he met
and the adventures he had with them, Mark Simmons brilliantly illuminates the
hero who was his greatest creation.” – Anthony Horowitz

Publisher: UK – The History Press, August 2, 2020
Publisher: US – Rare Bird Books, August 2020

About Mark

Mark Simmons is a writer of espionage books fiction and non-fiction. Mark comes from a family with a long tradition of service in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

Later he served in 3 Commando Brigade, and with the Commando Logistics Regiment. With the Regiment he took part in the Belize emergency of 1977, and served on detached duties with 42 Commando, the Mountain & Arctic Warfare Cadre, and 36 MAU of the United States Marines.

He is the author of several books including Agent Cicero: Hitler’s Most Successful Spy (2014, The History Press) and most recently Ian Fleming and Operation Golden Eye: Keeping Spain out of World War II (2018, Casemate).