- Peter Smithers
Sir Peter Henry Berry Otway Smithers (
9 December 1913 inYorkshire ,England –8 June 2006 inVico Morcote ,Switzerland ) was aUnited Kingdom ConservativeMember of Parliament and junior Minister. He also served asSecretary General of the Council of Europe 1964-1969.He was educated at
Harrow School andMagdalen College, Oxford . He received a First Class Honours Degree in Modern History. He was called to the bar from theInner Temple in 1936.Smithers became an officer in the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1937 and by 1958 he retired as aLieutenant Commander . During theSecond World War he was associated with intelligence work, being a friend and colleague ofIan Fleming , who arranged for Smithers diplomatic career.Smithers' "Financial Times " obituary suggests he was the model for Fleming's most famous character, CommanderJames Bond . Other possibilities are discussed inInspirations for James Bond .He received a number of diplomatic postings, being Assistant Naval Attaché at
Washington, D.C. and Acting Naval Attaché atMexico City (also covering part ofCentral America ).Smithers served as a councillor on
Winchester Rural District Council 1946-50.He was elected MP for Winchester at theUnited Kingdom general election, 1950 and sat until he resigned in January 1964 on his appointment to theCouncil of Europe post. He had previously been a British delegate to the Council.He wasParliamentary Private Secretary to a number of Ministers before becomingParliamentary Under Secretary of State at theForeign Office 1962-1964.At the end of his life, he was a Swiss citizen. He died on
June 8 2006 inVico Morcote ,Ticino ,Switzerland at the age of 92.References
* "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV 1945-1979", edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (The Harvester Press 1981)
External links
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2006/06/10/db1001.xml Daily Telegraph obituary]
* [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d59c413e-fbd6-11da-b1a1-0000779e2340.html Financial Times obituary]
* [http://www.vicogarden.com/ Official Homepage]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
