Frederick Forsyth Tells How He Helped MI6

Author Frederick Forsyth, famous for his espionage novels, has revealed how he was also conducting missions for MI6 for more than 20 years.

Mr Forsyth told Sky News that he was talking about his past now because "it doesn't do any harm to mention various adventures that were had way back".

He described his work as "just run(ning) a couple of errands - no James Bond work, that's just ridiculous".

Some of his work was also vetted by the spy agency, he said, adding: "If I wanted to use stuff that I knew might be sensitive...the reply was usually 'write it first and let us have the pages and we'll vet it'."

Mr Forsyth says he helped MI6 on several occasions, including in what was then East Germany in 1973 at the height of the Cold War. One of his missions was to bring back a package from a Russian colonel.

The author, who has released a memoir The Outsider, also gave information to MI6 during the Biafran War (also known as the Nigerian Civil War, between 1967 and 1970) and took part in fact-finding missions to South Africa and what was then known as Rhodesia.