Introduction

It's been 70 years this month since the first James Bond book, Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming was published. The idea of being a spy is 'pretty cool', so welcome to our inventing Bond mini series. For the next few weeks, we are going to bring you the inventions that made Bond, James Bond. We'll have episodes about spy gadgets and cocktails, bond cars and wiretaps. But first, let's get back to basics. I'm going to be talking to Helen Fry about MI9 in the Second World War - from secret maps to friends of Houdini. This is the story of the escape and evasion inventions that helped to win the Second World war and the