Operation Mincemeat is one of the better known operations of the Second World War, thanks to the film of the same name which was turned into an improbable musical. It caught the imagination because it was so very macabre: the body of a British officer would be found washed up near the coast of Spain bearing details of an intended action in Greece and Sardinia — to distract attention from the real operation, the liberation of Sicily. The body would be brought to the Spanish authorities who would, in turn, hand it over to the German intelligence in Spain before returning it to the British. It was a convoluted operation in which, it seems, Ian Fleming, the James Bond creator, had a part and it succeeded. The unfortunate corpse was that of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from ingesting rat poison, but who as a drowned officer became Captain (Acting Major) William Martin.