A close Bond: How the real

The US spy chiefs wanted a pocket-size magnetic tracking device after seeing one used by 007 to track villain Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce in the 1964 film of the same name.

They also recreated the spring-loaded, poison-tipped blade which flicked from the shoe of villainess Rosa Klebb as she tried to stab Bond, played by Sean Connery in 1963's From Russia With Love.

Newly-declassified letters between Bond author Ian Fleming and then CIA chief Allen Dulles have been analysed by Dr Christopher Moran of the University of Warwick.

His report in the specialist publication Journal of Cold War Studies shows how the relationship between Fleming and Dulles mirrored the friendship between Bond and his fictional CIA colleague Felix Leiter.

Dulles even persuaded Fleming to use his books to boost the CIA's image at a time when its activities could not be officially publicised.

There was a surprising two-way influence between the CIA and the James Bond novels during the Cold War

Dr Christopher Moran, University of Warwick

Dr Moran said: "There was a surprising two-way influence between the CIA and the James Bond novels during the Cold War, stemming from the mutual admiration between Allen Dulles and Ian Fleming.

"This ranged from the copying of devices, such as the poison-tipped dagger shoe in From Russia With Love, to the agency using the 007 novels to improve its public profile.

"For a long time, the James Bond books had a monopoly on the CIA's public image and the agency used this to its advantage."

The CIA's shoe blades worked. Alas the Goldfinger tracking device was not a success.

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