Dahl led a Bond-style double life

London: Roald Dahl led an extraordinary life in America during the Second World War as a James Bond-style spy with a "stable" of women, a new biography of the children's author reveals.

Apparently motivated by a combination of duty and lust, Dahl slept with countless high society women while gathering intelligence in the United States.

His life as a young, handsome and dashing RAF officer in the early 1940s is detailed in a new book by Donald Sturrock, Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl.

‘Gorgeous' looks

Antoinette Haskell, a wealthy friend of Dahl's who looked up to him as a brother, even though he was "drop dead gorgeous", said the author had a "whole stable" of women to wait on his every need.

"He was very arrogant with his women, but he got away with it. The uniform didn't hurt one bit — and he was an ace [pilot]," she said. "I think he slept with everybody on the East and West coasts that had more than $50,000 (Dh183,000) a year."

Dahl had fought as a fighter pilot earlier in the war until injuries grounded him.

He then worked for a secret service network based in America called British Security Co-ordination (BSC).

It was established to promote British interests and counter Nazi propaganda.

It is not known exactly how Dahl was recruited as a British agent, but it is thought he was working loosely for BSC by early 1944 when, officially, he had a public relations role at the British Embassy in Washington.

Terrible gossip

Yet Dahl's secretive role went against the grain because he was a terrible gossip who frequently betrayed confidences, according to his family and friends.

His daughter Lucy admitted: "Dad never could keep his mouth shut."