Mastermind encore!

Having recently posted about Nick Flindall's successful efforts a few years ago on Mastermind to answer questions on the Harry Palmer novels, news comes through the Deighton Dossier Facebook page that another of Deighton's great characters is making an appearance.

This Friday's edition of Mastermind will include a contestant answering questions about the Bernard Samson novels of Len Deighton. One assumes all nine, and that's a bowl-ful of novels with a lot to remember.

No information on who the contestant is - it's not me, but this would have been my specialist subject were I to have ever gone on the show! I look forward to watching it and seeing how many questions I can answer successfully.

What's pleasing is, they link to the main Deighton Dossier website as a source of information!

Update: the questions from tonight's show are below. I'll leave the answers out for now and put them up on the main blog - see how you do! I would have got 10 out of 13.

Any questions?

I'm due to meet up with Len this weekend for lunch and what should be an enjoyable chat about, well, all sorts of things.

Any interesting questions you think it would be interesting to ask?

Things I'm hoping to bring up are:

• Deighton on Bond, in this fiftieth anniversary year
• Stories from behind the iron curtain
• Agents in Soho

Feel free to post up questions you think need answering and I'll endeavour to ask them or, perhaps, I might ask Len if he'll do a third exclusive set of Q&As for the blog.

Update
Good discussion with Len over the weekend over a host of things, some of which I'll look to summarise on the blog soon. He agreed to do another Q&A taking on some of the questions which people have put up on the blog and the Facebook page. Hope to have that up here on the site soon.

Harry Palmer's Mastermind

Nick sitting in the famous black chair

Deighton Dossier reader Nick Flindall recently informed the blog that he had competed – rather successfully, it appears – on an edition of Mastermind in in 2008, sat in the famous black chair, under the spotlight, waiting for John Humphrys to ask the first question on his special subject. That topic? The Harry Palmer novels.

So, last month the Deighton Dossier asked him: how did it all happen? Nick takes up the story:

“I have just passed my seventieth birthday: I was probably in the first cohort of the public to make acquaintance with Len Deighton's early novels. I read The Ipcress File shortly after it’s publication in 1962 and quickly realized that Len’s novel was something very special. Its unique combination of acerbic wit, complex plotting, detailed research and superb grasp of dialogue, characterization and location made it stand out from the rest; Horse Under Water, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain were to follow. I loved all of them; these were books that I re-read at periodic intervals as the years passed and they have never lost their freshness for me, even to this day.

Some forty-five or so years later, in a moment of slightly tipsy, late-night on-line bravado, I completed an application form for the BBC’s long-running quiz programme ‘Mastermind’ and pressed ‘apply’. To my great surprise, I was asked for audition and subsequently selected to appear on the programme. My choice of special subject was, naturally, ‘The Harry Palmer novels of Len Deighton’. After a little deliberation and experimentation, this was the best title the BBC and I could arrive at: namely, the four novels mentioned previously, which I have always regarded as the true ‘Palmer’ novels.

In preparation for the programme I read and re-read the books, obtained the Silver Jubilee editions, scoured the internet, made assiduous and detailed notes and prepared my own ‘Deighton dossier’ which I still have - it was a labour of love. I never tired of the research and found very many hidden gems which had escaped me previously.

I was pleasantly surprised to score fifteen correct answers and one pass on these novels, which was the major factor in my winning that round and appearing later in the semi-finals (this time with less success and a different special subject!)

I had time on the programme for a relatively brief chat with John Humphrys before the general knowledge round, about my specialist subject. He seemed more interested in my earlier experience in the late ‘sixties as an accountant on a NATO project – the Cold War, spies expenses and all that! However we did progress later more directly to Len and the novels.

In the February of the year following transmission it was Len’s eightieth birthday and I sent an e-mail congratulating him on that milestone and mentioning my Mastermind appearance, adding how much I had admired the books over many years. His reaction was very generous and positive. I was thrilled and touched that he wrote back personally from the USA and later signed some mementos of the programme and other photographs.

I was proud to have appeared on the programme and to do well on the books that I have enjoyed so much. They are memories I will treasure. Subsequently, Rob’s Deighton Dossier website introduced me to Len’s many and varied other works, both earlier and later, and I have expanded my research into those areas. I’m very thankful to both and I hope many new readers will consume the novels as avidly as myself and with the same pleasure.”

Below is a transcript of the questions (the answers are provided on the main Deighton Dossier website). See how many you get right and see if you guess which was Nick’s “pass” question.

Bond's origins continue to create debate.....

It's true that Deighton and Fleming met, mind...

A couple of interesting articles in this weekend's media about the origins of the Bond story which, in the fifth decade since the first film's release, is still a subject of some debate among authors and Bond experts like friend of this blog Jeremy Duns. Who inspired the character of James Bond? Was it one person, or a composite of many? The jury's still out.

The latest contribution in print is a new book by historial Sophie Jackson in which she makes the claim that Forest Yeo-Thomas - working under a wartime pseudonym of the White Rabbit - was the main inspiration for Ian Fleming's unfogettable spy character.

Her book reveals a link to Fleming and Yeo-Thomas in declassified archives: a memo from May 1945 in which Fleming, who also worked in intelligence during the war, briefs colleagues on White Rabbit and his escape from the Nazis. The book claims that this is the first time a documented connection can be made (Yeo-Thomas worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Fleming in the Naval Intelligence Division).

The book also draws out some similarities in the characters of Yeo-Thomas and Bond, as well as echoes of the escapades of the real life and fictional spy. Together, the article claims, this is strong evidence for Yeo-Thomas being one of the main influences on the make0up of Bond; indeed, Jackson claims, some of Yeo-Thomas' wartime experiences appear as elements of some of the early Bond stories.

The evidence? Yeo-Thomas had found himself having tea with Klaus Barbie on a train. Yeo-Thomas was wanted but, as he was fluent in French, he engaged Barbie in conversation and pretended that he was a supporter of the German occupation.

At the end of the meal he was uncertain whether the German had twigged who he was. But he managed to get away safely when the train reached Paris. The encounter has echoes of a scene from the novel, From Russia, With Love, in which James Bond is on the Orient Express and has dinner with an enemy agent, who is pretending to be an ally. Coincidence, or inspiration?

A couple of weeks earlier, in the Daily Mail, the paper reported on another potential source of the Bond myth. The book collection of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, former Conservative MP and diplomat, was sold at auction and among them were first editions of many of the Bond novels. A friend of Fleming, Maclean was an ambassador in Soviet Russia - witnessing show trials - and in wartime was Churchill's liaison with partisan leader Tito in Yugoslavia.

I guess you take your money and make your choice about which origin myth has the most credence.

America's Vanity Fair carries an interesting article about the hitherto little unknown background in US wartime intelligence of Harry Saltzman, Bond producer and also of course the producer of the 'Harry Palmer' films of Deighton's books. The indication is that records found by his daughter suggest Harry Saltzman was a U.S. intelligence officer working on some pretty secret stuff which - she believes - is still pretty sensitive. The conclusion his daughter draws is that at some point she thinks her father and Ian Fleming must have worked together in Europe. This motif is also backed up by the article's author, David Kamp, who believes that it was actually very likely that Saltzman and Fleming met and worked together.

It's tempting to think that in putting Bond and Harry Palmer in front of excited audiences in the 'sixties, Saltzman was drawing on his own wartime experiences. Did he meet, one wonders, a Blofeld, in wartime Europe?

Location, Bond .... Location!

Very interesting photo-gallery article in today's Daily Telegraph online - 18 of the many fantastic locations from James Bond films in London and around Britain, published as part of the 'Bond 50' celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first film in 1962.

Among the locations included are places Elveden Hall - scene of Pushkin's assassination in The Living Daylights; Brompton Cemetery, which stood in for the Russian church in in Goldeneye; and The Eden Project, which stood in for Gustav Grave's ice air in Die Another Day. There are also some surprising locations such as the car park at the Brent Cross shopping centre, which was the hum-drum location for the escape in a remote-controlled BMW by Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Fascinating stuff, reminding one of how many iconic locations the UK has provided not just for Bond films but for many other great movies over the years.

A similar exercise - though on a smaller scale - has been done by Kees Stam, moderator of the excellent Harry Palmer Website. He has a great section on the site in which he identifies all of the main locations (many in London) from the Harry Palmer films, based on Len Deighton's 'secret file' novels from the 'sixties.

I have also started - but not yet got around to updating and adding to it - a Google Map pinpointing some of the locations not just from the Harry Palmer movies but from the Bernard Samson triple trilogy too. Readers are welcome to make suggestions and add to this map.

MR says LD's SS-GB OK

Author Mike Ripley, creator of the Angel series of comic crime series novels is a friend of this blog who also edits the 'Getting Away with Murder' column at the influential Shot's website. He's also a friend of Len Deighton himself and reader of his works.

Like the Deighton Dossier, Shots has a separate blog - Shotsmag Confidential. Up on the blog recently Mike has written an appreciation of one of Len's ventures into the crime and 'what if?' fiction genres: SS-GB. This is the story about a Great Britain which has lost the Second World War and is under Nazi occupation. Mike's review highlights that such is Len's attention to detail, the reader asks less 'what if?' and more 'did that really happen?'

Check out the post here.

Libel to frustrate .... the other Deighton Dossier and the High Court

Cab, anyone?

A writer of fiction is free to make observations about the characters and places he or she chooses to put in a book without fee of being libelled. When writing turns to real people and places, then there's a risk, especially in the UK courts which are notoriously open to the liberal use of the libel law by the rich and powerful who feel they've been defamed.

A blog reader, Patrick Kearney, recently got in touch to ask a question in relation to Len Deighton's last - I think - and only involvement in the law courts for libel, in a roundabout way and in the process shed some more light on an aspect of one of my favourite of Len's books - his London Dossier, after which this site's name is an homage. With a little detective work and an email to Len's friend Edward Milward-Oliver, here is a little of the background information.

Patrick explained that as part of an attempt to catalogue a collection of books, pamphlets,periodicals and other printed matter that is held by the British Library and withheld by them from access by their readers. This collection is referred to as the 'suppressed safe' -- abbreviated to 'SS' for convenience -- and the books that find their way into it do so usually at the request of their authors and/or publishers,
sometimes the courts, and, rarely, the Government. The titles and pressmarks of suppressed works are not included in the Library's catalogues.

One of these was, he told me Len Deighton's London Dossier from 1967. The British Library possesses copies of the original 1967 editions published simultaneously by Jonathan Cape and Penguin books  (hardback and paperback respectively) which, for some reason, had been given the same pressmark: SS.Cup.13.b.11.

He wanted to know: why should this books be withheld from the public?

I had read somewhere that there were issues associated with this book, partly due to the fact that while it is in Len's name - and he contributes chapters - there are many more individual contributors, mostly Len's friends and acquaintances, who contribute their thoughts on London boozing, eating, driving, walking, sport and the stories behind some of its more colourful characters.

But, I wasn't sure, so I got in touch with Edward who confirmed that Rowton Hotels had sued Cape and others for libel and won. Rowton Hotels? Not a familiar name but, as I later discovered after some further detective work by a friend of Patrick's, the owner and operator of a number of hotels in London in the sixties. It seems they had taken offence to a description - erroneous, it turns out - of one of their hotels in the chapter.

In the chapter 'All through the night' written by Len - his contributors provided alternate chapters - he had provided tips on where to stay if in London late of a night, and mentioned in particular two 'hostels' - Parkview House and the Mount Pleasant Hotel - with the suggestion according to the courts, that his descriptions associated the hotels with doss houses for vagrants when they were in fact just quality cheap acommodation.

To be honest, from reading my first edition of the book - signed, ironically, by Len - it all seems pretty innocuous. The issue seems to be perhaps that, by describing these hotels in between chapters discussing vagrants, cheap hotels and 'poor districts', the impression was given that these hotels were somehow just up-market doss houses. In UK libel law, it seems, the merest "suggestion" of doss houses and cheap prices is enough to build a case for libel.

The cuttings shown in this blog post give the details about the court case and the alleged damage done to the chairman of Rowton Hotels, a Mr William Barclay Harris QC. The judgement does say that the publishers agreed to make changes in future editions.

A year later, in 1968, Len and The Sunday Times would be sued for libel by former soldier David Stirling over an article Len wrote in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II.

Books can be an expensive business, given the rate libel lawyers charge!

Whodunnit? An unusual cover find ....

Whodunnit?

Browsing around second-hand book shops can lead to the discovery of real treasure once in a while. It can also throw up something more intriguing.

This edition of Billion Dollar Brain is a bit of a mystery. I've seen plenty of different editions of this book, which has rarely if ever - along with the other 'Harry Palmer' novels - been out of print, but never one like this.

First off, it's a reprint from 1979, which isn't in itself unusual. Most reprints are paperback versions, so a hardback reprint - such as this - would often be for a particular reason or market. An anniversary, for example. That's not the case here. There are simply no clues as to the reason for the reprinting by Jonathan Cape, the company which produced the original version of the book with the Ray Hawkey-designed cover. I can't see the marketing angle for producing this style of book, fifteen years or so after the original came out.

The design for the slip cover is intriguing. A woman with a syringe in silhouette, within whose image is  an inverted image of a circuit board. This is repeated on the back cover too. Clearly, this is intended to evoke the image of the character of Anya, who provides the link for 'Harry' into the mysterious organisation run by General Midwinter. 

There is no indication about who the designer is, which one often finds on hardback editions. It doesn't have the style of Ray Hawkey's work, nor any of the other designers which which Deighton's work is associated.

Does anyone have any idea who the designer is? And why was this edition produced in 1979? I'm curious more than anything about this find, which I've added to my already extensive collection and will file under 'not sure'.

Ipcress at 50: Harry Palmer – the NCO turned reluctant spy:

Why the ‘unnamed’ spy cracked the spy thriller mould.

In the first of what I hope will be a series of short thought pieces to mark the 50th anniversary of The Ipcress File publication, I take a look at some of the reasons why the book made such a splash, and has never been out of print since.

Casino Royale opens with James Bond observing one of SMERSH’s paymasters, Le Chiffre in a glamorous European casino with the Cold War heating up. Straightaway, Ian Fleming has established the mode of operation of his spy lead and the world in which he operates.

In The Ipcress File, by contrast, the narrator – Len Deighton’s unnamed spy who will, in perpetuity, be known as ‘Harry Palmer’ – we meet first not in a discussion with his boss about his next mission abroad chasing down agents working for the Russians, but in a dialogue about his expenses.

What this signifies I think is that The Ipcress File is a marker post for what was in 1962 the next wave in spy/thriller fiction. If the pre-war years were the work of the trusty amateur spy (in real life and in fiction), by the War and postwar years agencies had had to become more professional, and so did the fictional spies. If Bond was the model, nerveless suave professional in the ‘fifties, what was ‘Harry Palmer’?

A real cover up .....

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

I imagine that will be the defence of this apparent example of flattery presented as a 'tribute' to the work of the late Ray Hawkey, who created one of the most iconic front covers of the 20th Century with his work on the first edition of The Ipcress File.

Birlin, a Scottish publishers, has used a pastiche of Hawkey's cover for a new paperback by Barry Fantoni, Private Eye writer who turned to detective fiction.

They would one imagines have known what they were doing and this appears like a - admittedly, quite clever - bid for press coverage by this Scottish publisher, working to the maxim 'all publicity is good publicity'. After all, I'm writing about it; designers are up in arms; it's in the news.

Deighton's friend and biographer Edward Milward-Oliver has alerted me to this article in The Observer, which reports on the flagrant appropriation of Ray Hawkey's Ipcress File jacket design for this new novel. Edward has written to the publishers:

"It took many years of determined study, practical application and a large helping of God-given creative genius for Hawkey to arrive at his design. It continues to be recognised as a key milestone in Hawkey's significant influence on the visual culture of Britain in the second half of the 20th century."

Berlinn claims that it is an homage to Ray Hawkey's original jacket for The Ipcress File, that their design is a public show of respect. Yet they don't credit Hawkey's original work and did not seek the prior approval of his widow.

The Observer report's Berlinn's publishing director Neville Moir as saying he "regretted" that there had been no printed acknowledgement of the original jacket and Hawkey. With hindsight, he said, he would have given one. He added: "We weren't trying to pass off anything." The fuss he describes in the article as "unfortunate" - although, of course, it's likely to drive up sales no end, which will be "fortunate" for Berlin and Fantoni.

Is plausible deniability a defence?

Up on the main Deighton Dossier website is a copy of the article Edward wrote for 007 magazine on the work of Ray Hawkey, which of course included pivotal covers for the James Bond stories as well as innovations in newspaper magazine illustration and design during his career as a designer.

The two covers are published on this blog post. You take a look and decide: loving tribute, or rip-off. Readers are encouraged to get in touch with the publishers Birlinn to voice their disapproval, if they so wish.

See this post by Mike Dempsey to get the design world's perspective on the story.

Win a long-lost thriller by Bond script writer Berkely Mather! ....

Lost for something to read over the summer? How about a fantastic but neglected spy thriller by English writer Berkely Mather, set in the Himalayas?

Last year I ran a successful competition to win a copy of the long-forgotten - but excellent - Undertow by Desmond Cory, one of the long-lost classic British thrillers which are being resurrected by author Mike Ripley through his Top Notch Thrillers imprint.

This year, Mike's been very kind and given the Deighton Dossier another newly issued book to give away in a competition. I'm really happy to raise awareness of what Mike's doing: he's undertaking a one-man mission if you will to bring to light - Indiana Jones-style - some of the lost treasures of the crime and thriller world which, through neglect or simply going out of fashion, have been lost to modern readers.

Through the Top Notch series of reissues by Ostara Publishing, works by writers such as Adam Hall, Andrew York and David Brierley are now available again to enjoy both in print and in e-book format, which Mike informs me is by far the most popular way in which readers are accessing these hidden treasures.

The book available to win is The Pass Beyond Kashmir, by Berkely Mather.

“You only get one or two thrillers a year – if you are lucky – as good as Berkely Mather’s 'The Pass Beyond Kashmir….'.” was the verdict of Anthony Price in the Oxford Mail on the publication in 1960 of a thriller firmly in the British tradition of ‘ripping yarns’.

The plot? A delirious survivor from an ill-fated wartime surveying expedition to the foothills of Tibet raves… ‘Oil – all the oil in the world – on top of the bloody Himalayas!’ Years later, finding the papers of that expedition becomes a high priority for spies, mercenaries, oil companies and governments. Former army intelligence officer, unorthodox insurance assessor and freelance investigator Idwal Rees, an experienced Far Eastern hand operating out of Bombay gets involved in a dangerous game of hide and seek across India and Pakistan attempting to stay one step ahead of the opposition all the way to the pass beyond Kashmir…. where the invading Chinese army is lying in wait.

Among the many famous fans of Kashmir was Ian Fleming who wrote: "Takes the author triumphantly into the small category of those adventure writers who I, for one, will in future buy ‘sight unseen’". When the James Bond thriller Dr No was being filmed, it was Ian Fleming who insisted on using Mather as a scriptwriter and Mather’s subsequent film credits included the historical blockbusters 'Genghis Khan' and 'The Long Ships'.

To win, answer this question: to the nearest 10 metres, what is the height of K2, the second-highest mountain in the Himalayas?

This competition is now closed. The winner was Peter Greenhill. Thanks to readers who entered.

Note

• Closing date: 31 July 2012
• There is one book available for the winner, who will picked at random from the emails received
• The winner will be notified by email and the book posted off to them (overseas by surface mail)
• The blog editor's decision is final
• No correspondence will be entered into about this competition.

Catch this vibe ....

Jason Whiton, author of the excellent SpyVibe blog, has kindly included the Deighton Dossier website in his series 'For Your Shelf Only'.

In this blog series, Jason is in conversation with writers and collectors around the Internet who are contributing to the growing shared knowledge and enjoyment of all things 'espionage' in culture. In our interview, we chatted online about how my collection of Deighton books started, how the site developed, and what Len's works give me as a reader.

I'm pleased we could contribute to this excellent website, which is one of the members of the C.O.B.R.A.S. online grouping of bloggers and definitely a site to bookmark. Watch out for other interviews covering all aspects of spy fiction and culture.

Michael Caine: a Spy-ography ....

Caine as Harry Palmer

This article, by Wesley Britton, is reproduced from his SpyWise site which will shortly close down. Wesley's invited members of the C.O.B.R.A.S. network to look through the website and, rather like an online rummage sale, pick out the items they like to re-post them, so that they remain up online for people to read about them.

I've picked this article about Michael Caine's film career. Wesley sets out the key role that spy characters have played in its development, not least his ground-breaking role as Harry Palmer. Enjoy.

A Spy-ography of Michael Caine

From Harry Palmer to Austin Powers: A Spy-ography of Michael Caine

By Wesley Britton

"Who's the Number One Film Spy of all time? Without question, Bond, James Bond. But who's the Number One Spy ACTOR of All Time? Ah, that's a different question.

Hmm. Sean Connery immediately springs to mind. Seven Bond films alone. He also had significant roles in Tom Clancey's Hunt for Red October and John Le Carre's Russia House (both 1990). He didn’t fare as well in outings like The Avengers (1998) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). All this places him in the first rank of moviehouse spies, far ahead of Roger Moore who also starred in seven 007 films along with a few "Saint" outings, only one of which can be considered espionage-oriented (being The Fiction Makers in 1966). Anyone else?

For my ticket price, one name stands out as being the man unquestionably involved in more quality spy projects than anyone else. Michael Caine. He turned out to be the spy for all seasons based on determination, talent, and a bit of luck. And perfect timing.

Bret Rensselaer has vacated his desk ....

Anthony Bate as Bret Rensselaer

While I was away on holiday, there was sad news that British actor Anthony Bate passed away. I remember him of course from his portrayal of Samson's boss - and antagonist on the battlefield of office politics in London Central in all nine books of the series - Bret Rensselaer, in ITV's 1988 TV series. Check out the Guardian's full obituary.

He is also perhaps more familiar to most fans of spy fiction from his portrayal of civil servant Oliver Lacon in the BBC adaptation of Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and then the sequel, Smiley's People. However, as an established actor he has a tremendous CV of threatre and film appearances, including in Treasure Island, Crime and Punishment and Les Miserables.

Sadly, it looks like we're not able still to see Anthony's portrayal of Bret due to Len's continued decision not to permit further re-runs of the show or a DVD release. Len had reasonable doubts about some of the casting in the show, which explains his decision, but I do think Anthony Bate got Bret's mid-Atlantic drawl and position as the eminence grise of London Central just right.

Another brick in The Wall ...

Can life be played out on a board?

I remember The Game of Life as a child. That was fun. Monopoly can introduce children to the tough world of capitalism, maybe. But can you re-create the global tensions and ruthlessly violent and distrustful world of Cold-War era espionage on a board with a dice and a few counters?

The good people at Birmingham Games thought so.

The Wall is a board game from 1986, created to "commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall".

All around the side of the box are printed the names of men who will be forever linked with the Cold War: men like Philby, Blunt and Maclean on the British side, and Sharansky, Karpov and Daniloff on the Russian side.

None have anything to do with this game, despite its aim of being a recreation in stiff board of the heroism, duplicity and cover game that was spying on both sides of Berlin. That doesn't matter. What this game proves to be is a wonderfully evocative symbol of a time when the world was that bit more simpler.

Two sides: Russian and American. A Wall, dividing those two sides. One city, the focus of it all. Brave (foolish) men. These are in the DNA of this board game. The Cold War as a game. In real life, that particular game had globally fatal consequences.

But game it was: the 'players' had pieces - agents. There was a 'board' on which the game was played out - Berlin, and other global hot-spots. There were rules (not always followed). There were tasks and missions. And there was a finish. Supposedly. And a winner.

It seemed ripe for turning into a board game. How the game makers tried to do that is interesting, showing both the possibilities and the limitations of trying to fit the global battle between superpowers onto a 60cm square board.

The board itself has a wall running down the middle of it. A 2D wall. That's straight. Both sides of Berlin are similar, the roads on a grid system to compensate for easier game play. There is no Ku'damm. No Alex. Just a representation of the city.

There are, too, no familiar landmarks: one cannot exchange prisoners on the Glienickebrücke; nor look over the wall at Potsdamerplatz. What players moved towards instead are embassies, special weapons bases, safe houses and decoding areas. All the motifs of the spying game are there.

The basic 'moves' of spying are also open to the players: there are coloured boxes on the board called 'assassination points', 'agent eliminated' and 'border patrol'. Each player - Agent - is represented by a plastic tube with a cap on the top - blue for Allies, Red for Soviets - into which secrets are put. The aim - and here life imitates art - is to track and expose a double agent amongst the other players, while simultaneously reaching the embassy of the enemy and ending the game.

The parallels with real spy-craft are necessarily limited: few spies ever received their orders by turning over a small two-inch long card marked "Top Secret". However there is danger. Or, at least, a series of red danger squares when the player is required to roll the danger dice, from which six actions are possible. Roll one? 'Shoot to kill - remove any of your enemy's agents from the board'. In that respect, there are parallels with the real thing.

There is, too, on the board a 'Checkpoint Charlie' though it lacks any of the dramatic presence as a conduit between East and West of the real thing.

This board game follows the familiar format of all board games: board, token, dice, moves, secrets instructions and chases, all dependent upon a big heap of randomness. Maybe, then, it's not that far off what reality was back then in Berlin?

The Wall is a great find, a throwback to a time when espionage and Berlin were front and centre of the news papers and nightly bulletins.

As a game, it's fun but has limitations; as a piece of Cold War ephemera, it's very collectable.