"Keeps its finger on the pulse of the rare book world" - William Reese

A "cheerful, fat missionary" may not sound like the slick image of a spy as advocated by the Bond books, but it is how Baroness Daphne Park, the real face of the British Secret Service in the second half of the twentieth century, describes her appearance.

A former British diplomat, she led a clandestine life as senior controller in MI6 and served in the SOE during the Second World War, in Moscow during the Cold War, and in Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict. She eventually became the Principal of Somerville College in Oxford University. Created Baroness Park of Monmouth in 1990, she insists that intelligence work is less about glamor and gadgets than about ‘knowing human beings’.

In a discussion to mark the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, Lady Park reveals the experiences of a real Jane Bond to diplomat Alan Judd, author of the authorised life of Mansfield Cumming, founder of MI6, and of the spy novel Legacy. The lecture will be interspersed with readings from Fleming's work by his niece, the actress Lucy Fleming.
The Ian Fleming Centenary Lecture is organised by the Royal Society of Literature and will be held on Monday 12 May 2008.

For other events to mark Ian Fleming’s centenary, please visit www.ianflemingcentenary.com.