Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
From Russia with Love is on my list for two reasons. The first is it is the only one with an Irish angle and I am always looking for the Irish angle. And the second is that there is a clear connection to Fleming’s work as an intelligence officer in the Second World War.
Let’s get back to your other Ian Fleming choice, From Russia With Love.
Well, this is all about the Cold War. It is a similar story to what Gaz Hunter was into – going across the East German border, lurking around, possibly getting captured and tortured by the Russians. There was just stuff in there that really grabbed my attention. For example, when they were being covertly filmed while they were making love in the hotel. That is stuff that can be used against you.
Do you have honey traps in the SAS?
It has been known and, of course, there are some willing locals around Hereford where the SAS are based. Did you know that an old nickname for the SAS is Sex and Suntans?!
Is there the same type of glamour in the SAS that you find in the James Bond books?
When you are getting bitten by mosquitoes in some stinking jungle or dying of thirst there is no glamour there. But there is, of course, the pride in being part of the élite and there are glamorous jobs when you get taken out of the jungle and find yourself bodyguarding the British Ambassador of Kabul. The SAS look after him.
And when you left the SAS and worked for one of the private security firms, who are part of the circuit of ex-SAS people, you had some pretty glamorous jobs.
Yes, I once had to look after £90 million-worth of diamonds in two briefcases with a friend. I thought we would have an armoured car and protection, but no. They belonged to the Sultan of Brunei and they were a present for his brother. So I was sat in first-class in British Airways with £45 million-worth of jewels stuffed under my seat.
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Pete Winner, codenamed Soldier ‘I’, spent 18 years in the SAS and survived the savage battle of Mirbat, parachuted into the icy depths of the South Atlantic at the height of the Falklands War, and stormed the Iranian Embassy in London during the hostage crisis 30 years ago. He says MI6 is for the public school boys, and the SAS is for men with an ordinary education who have the strength and determination to seek adventure, survive and come back smiling. He describes his work as involving no publicity, no media. ‘We move in silently, do our job, and melt away into the background.’
