There is a long history of regarding John Dee as a possible spy (Letters, 21 January). The 17th-century scientist Robert Hooke suggested that Dee was employed on “affairs of state” by Elizabeth I, and that Dee’s “book of spirits” was in fact cryptographic. In 1968, Richard Deacon said Dee signed his name 007 in correspondence with the Queen, but during the course of my research for the current free exhibition on Dee at the Royal College of Physicians, London, I’ve not found any original documents in which this is the case. I’d be interested to know where they can be found.
Katie Birkwood
Curator, Scholar, Courtier, Magician: The Lost Library of John Dee
• Ian Fleming adopted Dee’s cryptic 007 signature for his own James Bond novels after a visit to Manchester Cathedral, according to the book Secret Manchester, by Phil Page and Ian Littlechilds. It was thanks to Elizabeth I, for whom he may have been a spy, that Dee became warden of Manchester Collegiate church, later Manchester Cathedral.
Dave Hulme
Stockport
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