NARRATOR: Fraser-Smith’s gadgets don’t just assist you after you have made a break for freedom. They can also help set you free in the first place. Captured British soldiers are expected to form secret groups to plan escapes called ‘escape committees’. The idea is to make breakouts an organized, disciplined process. And there was a way to supply the escape committees. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Blanche and I spoke long into the night. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the right one. Fraser was also involved in the intelligence operation codenamed Operation Mincemeat, [6] which was designed to drop a body, carrying false papers to mislead the Nazis, off the Spanish coast. He was tasked with designing a trunk, 6' 2" long and 3' wide, to carry a "deadweight" of 200lb that would be preserved in dry ice. When the dry ice evaporated, it filled the canister with carbon dioxide and drove out any oxygen, thus preserving the body without refrigeration. The plot was the basis of the book (and later film) The Man Who Never Was and the 2021 film Operation Mincemeat. [7] Later life [ edit ] CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: He said he was looking for someone who wasn’t an insider, someone with the kind of brain that could cut corners. The civil servants in his office were too hidebound and inflexible for a time of national crisis. Well, I jumped at the chance. Charles Fraser-Smith was the son of a solicitor who owned a wholesale grocery business; he was orphaned at age seven. He was then brought up by a Christian missionary family in Hertfordshire. He went to school at Brighton College, where he was described as "scholastically useless except for woodwork and science and making things."

CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: They tried marking the landings with flares at first, and I’m afraid we lost agents as a result. I got an urgent request for something more discreet and bespoke. It was quite an interesting challenge. Something that would provide enough illumination but not too much. And which could be excused as having a perfectly innocent civilian purpose. So this is what we came up with. A small battery-operated torch with a flared plastic head. Roughly in the shape of a large mushroom. The stem of the mushroom is pushed into the ground so that the top can only be seen from above. When switched on like so - sorry, like so. It’s been ages - yes, it gives out a strong but diffuse glow, and small enough to be easily hidden. It has the added advantage that when not in use, it looks remarkably like a ladies’ darning mushroom. I believe female agents used to store them amongst their knitting needles as a form of disguise. Very gratifying. This intelligence coup for the Nazi spy network allowed Adolf Hitler to transfer German troops from France to Greece ahead of what was believed to be a massive enemy invasion. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: I knew that if I were to deliver satisfactorily and on time, I would have to bend the rules to their limit. One of my first calls was to Scotland Yard to see if they could be persuaded to renew the government offer to buy privately held handguns - this time offering a higher price. But they said they’d need the approval of the Home Office. I knew well enough that waiting for that to happen would take weeks. So I asked if they would mind if I advertised myself, putting notices in the press offering generous prices for handguns. No-go there too I’m afraid. No one fully understood the new wartime regulations, but no one wanted to risk running afoul of them.CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: The escape kits evolved during the war considerably, and as I became more experienced I began to come up with more gadgets and devices of my own to improve them. I certainly wasn’t their only author but I’m proud of what I did contribute. Unknown to Charles, Lt. Commander Ewan Montagu had conceived a plan that required this container along with the items. Also unknown to Charles, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, a neighbour in Croxley Green, who usually travelled to London from the same local railway station, was also a fellow conspirator to the plan. A leading forensic scientist and a Home Office pathologist, Sir Bernard was tasked with selecting a corpse who would be code-named 'Martin'. Having completed his course Charles eventually went to Morocco in1926, with his friend Bryce Nairn, a trained veterinary surgeon, intending to buy farmland and become pioneering missionaries in Marrakesh. They acquired 250 acres of land in sight of the Atlas Mountains and called the farm Tabahounite.

It was while working with the latter on Operation Mincemeat that Fleming met Charles Fraser Smith. The man whose work would form the basis of Q Branch’s relationship with James Bond in the author’s novels.

Careful How You Tie Your Shoelaces

To do this they went through channels in Spain to get the information. Although the country was neutral in WWII many military personnel were pro-Germany, so an officer in the capital of Madrid helped them. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: We left everything really, all we’d worked for and built. You could take only very limited funds with you. I remember standing with our son Brian near the quayside, waiting to board, and then the gendarmes began searching everybody. And that’s when I realized that things might not go so well for me. Fleming was involved with Operation Mincemeatand Operation Golden Eye. He also worked with two intelligence units,30 Assault UnitandT-Force. In his role, he liaised and dealt with colleagues at the Secret Intelligence Service and the Special Operations Executive. NARRATOR: They did work together on one operation though, a ruse worthy of Bond at his most daring,

It’s unknown how many are left in the world, due to the fact they were carried in one of the UK’s most recognisable aircraft during World War Two. I’m actually thrilled that there is another pencil in circulation." CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Chemical firelighters, chocolate, bandages, map, compass, miniature saw, benzedrine tablets. In April 1943, the body was dropped into the sea from a Royal Navy submarine and then floated towards the coast of Spain, where it was spotted by a sardine fisherman and the series of events was set in train. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Given my unrewarding conversation with the police at Scotland Yard, I stipulated that no classifieds were to be placed in the London newspapers. I had a hunch that the Yard wouldn’t keep such a close eye on the regional press.

Paper Chase

Charles Fraser-Smith was, to many that knew him in the Second World War, a junior civil servant in the clothing section of the Ministry of Supply in London. In fact this was an elaborate cover for his real task of procuring items for Britain’s intelligence services. He was the James Bond ‘Q’ figure of the Second World War. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: I’m pleased to say that even his cycle tires and brakes were provided by me. Very hard to get the materials at that time in France. No need for any cloak and dagger devices though. It was enough we were able to support his very demanding practice rides. The last thing one wanted was for him to take a tumble. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Then, Nazi air-sea rescue would no doubt be scrambled to rescue the bomber crew. Once they reached the crew, Fleming’s commandos would throw off their disguises, assassinate their rescuers and steal the German codebooks. My job was to provide disguises. Quite an intriguing challenge, as it happens, from a textile point of view.