Captain Peter Mason is a former member of the post-war SAS Baker Team who were issued a licence to kill by the British government.

Mason was involved in the mission to seek out and 'remove' Nazi Special Forces who had followed out orders to execute captured British forces during the Second World War.

His experiences and knowledge of the spy world was influential in the creation of the fictitious spy James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

. Creator Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

 was a friend of Mason and would consult him on the gadgets and methods used during the period. Gadgets used by Mason are part of a display at the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon

Maldon

-Placenames:* Maldon, Essex is a town on the Blackwater estuary in England** Maldon , a local government district based in Maldon, Essex** Maldon Town F.C., an English football club** Maldon *The Battle of Maldon...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. The items on show were all used by spies of all sides during the Cold War period of the 1950s and 60s.