New research has revealed that Ian Fleming, British intelligence officer and author of the original James Bond spy novels, almost got busted during a mission to USSR due to certain intimate items he was carrying, The Telegraph reports.
As the newspaper notes, in 1938 Fleming was sent to the Soviet Union to gather information for the Foreign Office and, while he was "keen to keep his activities low key and his notes secret", Fleming once ended up being caught at the border with "newly devised Soviet synthetic condoms" he apparently failed to declare.
This peculiar episode was reportedly uncovered in private letters by Fleming's biographer Edward Abel Smith who speculated that the contraceptives were likely procured by Fleming for personal use.
"The ones Fleming was smuggling were made from a special Russian synthetic, which Fleming was no doubt keen to test out," Abel Smith said. "It tells us he was a bit arrogant and lived in his fantasy... It is extraordinary that he was willing to risk arrest for something so petty."
Despite the risk of being arrested and having his espionage activities discovered, Fleming managed to "charm his way out" of this mess, with the biographer suggesting that Bond's creator might've used a letter from Joseph Stalin himself to help smooth things over.
The letter in question was apparently obtained by Fleming when, in his capacity as a journalist, he requested an interview with Stalin and received the refusal in handwritten form from the Soviet head of state himself.
"He would use it 'like a visa or to get out of tricky situations'," Mr Abel Smith said. "Although nothing is recorded about him using it during this visit, he may well have revealed the letter to the border guards."