James Bond props on display at Oxfordshire spy exhibition

Spy Oxfordshire at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum will also shed light on local connections to the world of spies and intelligence.

The 25th instalment of the Bond franchise, No Time To Die, was further delayed until April next year.

However, fans of 007 will be able to get up close to film props and replicas on loan to the museum, including the Walther PPK used by Sean Connery in Dr. No, and original concept drawings for the PPK/S handgun with dermal sensors, used by Daniel Craig in Skyfall.

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Bond author Ian Fleming features heavily in the exhibition, with objects including his walking stick and an exact replica of the golden typewriter he used at his Goldeneye home in Jamaica, where he wrote the 14 Bond novels.

Also on display will be items from the private collection of Mike Van Blaricum, founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation.

These items have rarely been seen outside the USA, including original storyboards from Diamonds Are Forever and Mr Connery’s shoes from Never Say Never Again.

While there will be enough to keep 007 fans entertained, the exhibition will also be home to artefacts from real-world spies.

Rare Second World War-era gadgetry, including sleeve daggers and dummy pieces of coal used to conceal explosives will be on display.

Uniforms and equipment of women in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry will also feature.

In a statement, the museum said: “Oxfordshire intelligence officers were at the heart of the British war effort during the Second World War.

“From the commandos that knew no fear and wreaked havoc behind enemy lines, to the codebreakers, analysts, and ‘connectors of the dots’ who provided Prime Minister Winston Churchill with unprecedented insights into the Nazi war machine.

“Everyone featured in the exhibition has been chosen to illuminate a different part of what is called the ‘Intelligence Cycle’, the process by which intelligence is collected, analysed, produced, and used by the policymaker in the service of protecting national security.

“In learning the stories of these remarkable men and women, visitors will see that the truth of intelligence is often stranger than the fiction.”

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The exhibition launches on Wednesday, running until December of next year.

It follows the release of a book last month that revealed the secrets of a Great Rollright spy who some say was responsible for the start of the Cold War.

Ben Macintyre’s Agent Sonya: Mother, Lover, Soldier, Spy tells the story of Ursula Kuczynski, who passed information to Moscow using a powerful radio transmitter she had built in her outside privy.

The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is open from Wednesday to Saturday, from 11am to 5pm, and on Sundays from 2pm to 5pm.