Ian Fleming & British Legation in Stockholm

Does anyone know if Ian Fleming had contacts/friends etc., at the British Legation, Stockholm in Sweden? The contacts/friends could have been British, Norwegian or both. I am particulalry interested in the time period of 1945. I have checked Peter Tennant's book, 'Touchlines of War' as any contact with Tennant would have been understandable, but Tennant makes no mention of Fleming. Ann Waring could have been another as could her husband, of course.

If anyone knows of any connection to Fleming, no matter how slight then I would warmly welcome your comments.

Mvh

Bob

Hello Bob,

One place to check is a book written by the wartime naval attache to Stockholm, Captain Henry Denham, RN. Naval attaches had a major role in intelligence collection, and if I recall correctly, Fleming was a RNVR officer. I do not have this book at hand or I would check for you. The full citation is:

Denham, Henry B. Inside the Nazi Ring - A Naval Attache in Sweden 1940-1945. London: John Murray, 1984.

Good luck!

Mark C. Jones

I boken om Henry Denham finns endast omnämnt att han träffade Ian Fleming på en middag i London.
Var Admiral Sir John Godfrey i Stockholm?
Ian Fleming arbetade ju under honom i Navys Intelligence Service.

Har du sett den här:

http://00bien.tripod.com/

Thanks, Mark - I had totally forgotten about Denham. I have his book (in the loft) so will dig it out again. I am back at the TNA the week after next so will take a look at various HS9 files including Ann Waring etc. Unfortunately, Denham is not listed on the TNA site. I don't know if he left memoirs (apart from the book) or if there is a surviving family, but it would be very interesting if there were something tucked away in some archive.

Tom, I am not sure if Godfrey ever visited Stockholm, but if he did it would have been early on in the war. The event I am chasing (an assassination) happened in June 1945. I know for certain that Colonel Wilson was in Norway at the time, but I don't know if Wilson was in contact with Fleming. To be frank it could be anyone from SOE or SIS, but I was rather hoping (forlornly!) that Fleming would have had an established friend at the legation in Stockholm. Maybe I am seeking/searching too hard against the hard fact is that no one is going to boast about setting up an assassination.

Thanks again to Mark and Tom

mvh

Bob

A good call with reference to Captain Heny Deham's book. A quick scan of the pages reveals his admiration for Sir Charles Hambro, Adm Godfrey and Ian Fleming - enjoying his lunches and dinners with these men. I checked out Denham at the TNA, but sadly there's nothing of note. However, I then found Denham's archived papers at Cambridge - so a trip to the university will certainly be on this summer's plans.

Thanks again to Mark & Tom

mvh

Bob

Henry Denham is an extremly interesting person from a Swedish point of view, well worth a more comprehensive biography than his own book. He was indeed involved in much of the history of Sweden and relations Sweden-UK and Sweden-Germany during the war. If it was possible to find more documentation I might write it myself. Ha ha.
He ought to have a heavy file at Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archive)

Hi Tom,

Yes, almost certainly the Swedish archives will have a sizeable file on Denham - unfortunately, I have no plans to visit Sweden at the moment, but if the chance arose then a visit to the archives would be on my agenda.

As mentioned before, Fleming makes reference to an assassination in Norway in his first book, Casino Royale - and after reading Denham's book again I am reasonably certain that Fleming would have got the info from Denham.

Cheers

Bob