List of Illustrations

1 10 January 1942

2 The Beginning

3 Preparing the Fightback: June to December 1940

4 M and Ian Fleming

5 Becoming Secret Agents

6 Operation Savannah

7 The Birth of Maid Honor Force

8 The Man Who Would Have Written James Bond

9 The Problem in West Africa

10 The Voyage to West Africa

11 Preparations and Frustrations

12 Interlude in Freetown

13 Gaining Approval for Postmaster

14 Blackmail on Fernando Po

15 Plan of Attack

16 The Final Pieces of the Puzzle

17 The Cover Story

18 Final Preparation in Santa Isabe

19 Maid Honor Attack

20 The Nuneaton Takes the Likomba

21 The Vulcan Takes the Duchessa d’Aosta

22 Escape

23 The International Cover-up

24 Richard Lippett

25 Dispersal, Recognition, Reward

Appendix 1: Full list of personnel engaged on Operation Postmaster

Appendix 2: The citations

Appendix 3: Author’s note

Appendix 4: The James Bond stories

Appendix 5: Source material

Index