SECRET WAR OF CHARLES FRASER-SMITH

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NARRATOR: Another pilot in the squadron keeps a beret stashed in the cabin at all times to allow him to transform himself instantly into a convincing Frenchman. McCairns has a similar attitude of preparedness. One of the initial problems was finding a suitable material to print the maps on that could be rolled up sufficiently tightly to be inserted inside a pencil. After some trials it was found that the maps to go inside the Cumberland pencils should be printed on a very fine, non-rustling paper. This allowed the map to be tightly rolled round a soft wire, folded over at the tip and fixed on with three cotton ties. It meant the diameter of the rolled up map was no more than 3 mm in diameter and therefore could be inserted into the cavity drilled inside the pencil. 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'.

Initially Fraser-Smith supplied clothing and standard props (from second-hand sources) for SOE agents working behind enemy lines, but SOE directives and his taste for gadgetry led him to develop a wide range of spy and escape devices, including miniature cameras inside cigarette lighters, shaving brushes containing film, hairbrushes containing a map and saw, pencils containing maps, pens containing hidden compasses, steel shoelaces that doubled as garrottes or gigli saws, an asbestos-lined pipe for carrying secret documents, and much more. [4] [5] On leaving school he veered from one occupation after another, working as a prep school teacher in Portsmouth, a motorcycle messenger rider, and an aircraft factory worker. Eventually, inspired by his foster family, he went to Morocco as a Christian missionary. Returning to England in 1939, he gave a Sunday sermon at the Open Brethren Evangelical Church in Leeds. In the sermon, Fraser-Smith described his practice of bricolage, and the necessity of procuring supplies from just about any source. In the congregation were two officials of Britain's Ministry of Supply, who were impressed by his adventures. As a result, the Director of the Ministry of Supply offered him what he later described as "a funny job in London". [4] Wartime experiences [ edit ] 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." NARRATOR: In Britain, the Fraser-Smiths are put up by fellow members of their church, and Charles gets a junior job in an aircraft factory.After his wife died of cancer, Charles was involved in a number of ministry enterprises. One was funding a Bible translated into Arabic. 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.

For maps hidden inside gadgets - we had to think of something else. A pure silk fabric and a non-rustling rag tissue of the finest paper imaginable were obviously suitable materials. The latter, especially made for the job, was magnificent. Nylon came along in the latter stages of the war, with the entry of the Americans. Then all we needed to do was to secrete these flimsy, beautifully printed little miniature works of art inside the minute space where the graphite lead should be". NARRATOR: Even if an agent has the tools to observe the enemy, they also need a way of recording their findings. In an example of lateral thinking, Fraser-Smith used a special left-hand thread for the disguised screw-off top of a hidden-document container; he suggested this would prevent discovery by the "unswerving logic of the German mind", as no German would ever think of trying to unscrew something the wrong way. [4] CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: I’m ashamed to say that I became unaccountably busy over the next few days, almost impossible for Scotland Yard to reach on the phone, and almost never in the office.Hitler transferred German troops from France to Greece, believing they had achieved an intelligence coup. However, it was all a hoax. NARRATOR: You can find out more about the life of Charles Fraser-Smith in his autobiography The Secret War of Charles Fraser-Smith, and his biography The Man Who Was Q - The Life of Charles Fraser-Smith. We also made extensive use of Lysander Pilot by James Atterby McCairns and Surgeon At Arms by Lipmann Kessel - both superb memoirs of the war. Antony Beevor’s D-Day: The Battle For Normandy was one of our main sources for the description of the announcement of D-Day. After the war, Fraser-Smith bought a rundown dairy farm in Bratton Fleming, in southwest England. It became a profitable business. In the late 1970s, his family persuaded him to seek permission to write a book about his wartime exploits. With clearance under the Official Secrets Act he wrote several, donating the royalties to charity. CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Harmless fun I suppose. But is there really a call for quite so many superficial sex encounters?

Charles Fraser-Smith supplied British intelligence and soldiers with a number of innovative gadgets during WWII. When Ian Fleming began writing his James Bond novels, he based the detective’s gadget master, “Q,” on Fraser-Smith. 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. They initially went to live in Harrow and then moved to Blanche's family home in Leeds, Charles having been offered a position with Avro, an aircraft factory at Yeadon nearby. 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.After the war, Fraser-Smith bought a rundown dairy farm in Bratton Fleming, in southwest England. It became a profitable business. In the late 1970s, his family persuaded him to seek permission to write a book about his wartime exploits. With clearance under the Official Secrets Act he wrote several, donating the royalties to charity. [4] The two masterminds of the operation were Charles Cholmondeley and Ewan Montagu, two men with what Churchill called "corkscrew minds". NARRATOR: Two fellow committed Christians but these two happened to have a major role in Britain’s war effort. Ritchie Rice was the director of the Ministry of Supply in the city of Leeds, and Sir George Oliver was the director general of the Ministry of Supply in London.

CHARLES FRASER-SMITH: Manufacturing them from scratch was out of the question, which meant finding guns that had already evaded the authorities and persuading their owners to relinquish them. According to the Pencil Museum, it is believed only a very small number of the Cumberland 'Map and Compass Pencil' sets still exist. They know only of 10 sets still in existence, including the one that has been on display at the museum since it first opened in 1982. In 1999, the Cumberland Pencil Co decided to try and re-create a new set of the the WW2 pencils. Fraser-Smith’s parents died when he was a child. He was brought up by a missionary family and became a Brethren missionary to Morocco. His ministry was what we’d call a “tent-maker” type today, a phrase coined from when the apostle Paul made tents to support himself for a while. Fraser-Smith directed a large farm for which he hired local workers. He was able to have conversations with them about the Lord while working side by side. He had kept examples of most of his gadgets, and an exhibit of his wartime works was presented at the Exmoor Steam Railway, a tourist attraction in Bratton Fleming. Once a year, Fraser-Smith would spend a week explaining their workings to visitors.

During the First World War, British war ships were disguised to look like freighters and unarmed fishing trawlers. These were known as 'Q' ships and Charles Fraser- Smith called his gadgets 'Q' gadgets in which Ian Fleming copied into his novels.