He was to give Talwar a nickname that would stick: Silver. (This was a Fleming joke, based on one Mr Silver, an official at the political intelligence wing of the India Office in London.)

Although Silver was only 17 months younger than Fleming, the two men could not have been more different.

Before the war, Fleming, an old Etonian and Oxford graduate, had worked as a journalist for The Times and explored the rivers of central Brazil, about which he wrote a bestselling book. Such was his aura that even British generals stood up when he walked into the room.

Meanwhile, Silver had left school with a rudimentary education and spoke what Fleming called ‘broken’ English. What united the pair was their shared love of deception. And even on that first difficult mission, escorting an unfit and overweight politician 200 miles on foot across the border over hazardous, mountainous terrain to Kabul, Silver showed not only bravery but masterful powers of espionage.

Dangerous passage to Afghanistan

He and Bose had just crossed the border into Afghanistan and were celebrating being outside British territory when they met a Pathan (an ethnic Afghan) who asked where they were from. Silver had never been to Afghanistan but had heard of a village called Lalpura, and nonchalantly replied that they were from there. ‘I come from Lalpura,’ thundered the Pathan. ‘I have never seen you there.’