BOND IS BACK; Secrets of 007 revealed at last.

Byline: By GAYLE RITCHIE

JAMES BOND is back - and 007 is bigger than ever.

A new novel featuring Britain's favourite secret agent went on sale last week with his latest movie adventure due in the autumn.

Devil May Care - penned by Sebastian Faulks - flew off book shelves, whetting fans' appetites for blockbuster Quantum Of Solace.

A major, year-long exhibition about Bond has also opened at London's Imperial War Museum to mark the centenary of 007 creator Ian Fleming's birth.

For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming And James Bond boasts fascinating memorabilia, much of it on display for the first time.

It includes annotated Bond manuscripts, Fleming's Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver and film props such as Halle Berry's bikini from Die Another Day.

Here are some of the best exhibits.

WING-MIRROR DART GUN

This deadly device is part of soft voiced henchman Whisper's 'pimpmobile' in Live And Let Die. It fires a poison dart that knocks out Bond's CIA driver in New York, forcing 007 to try to steer the car from the back seat.

GOLDFINGER'S GOLF SHOES

Millionaire villain Auric Goldfinger wins big money cheating at cards and golf. Bond discovers he is treasurer of feared Soviet spy-killing corps SMERSH and sets up a golf game, cheating the crook out of EUR10,000.

SPEAR GUN

These feature in a number of novels. In 1965's Thunderball they are used in underwater battles and Bond uses one to kill villain Largo's assistant. The crook is then shot in the back with a spear by Bond babe Domino.

YELLOW HELMET

Megalomaniac Hugo Drax plans to wipe out mankind in 1979's Moonraker by launching nerve gas from a space station. His physical and mental elite will then reinhabit Earth. This helmet was worn by one of his henchmen.

HEART TRANSPLANT UNIT

This was used to smuggle diamonds in 1987's The Living Daylights. Gems are hidden in the ice packed around a heart. It is a hi-tech update of the ruse in Diamonds Are Forever, in which jewels are stashed in golf balls.

DEADLY CELLO

Fleming's The Living Daylights sees Bond sent to Berlin to kill an assassin who hides her weapon in a cello case. In the film, the cello belongs to Kara, who is crossed by her KGB general boyfriend. She is an ally for Bond and her reward is asylum in the West.

SILVER BOMB

This destroys the headquarters of British oil tycoon Sir Robert King in 1999's The World Is Not Enough. Bond's only suspect, a woman from a Swiss bank, blows herself up with the aid of a hot-air balloon.

FLICK-KNIFE SHOES

Colonel Rosa Klebb - a member of feared spy agency SMERSH - tries to kick Bond with a poison-tipped shoe in 1963's From Russia With Love. In the novel the poison used is from the Japanese globefish.

OVERCOAT

Sean Connery wore this navy trenchcoat frequently in the first Bond movie, 1962's Dr No. Fleming's first choice for Bond was actually David Niven. But like Bond, Connery was Scottish, suave and had served in the Royal Navy.

CAPTION(S):

Licence to thrill: Fleming; Write stuff: Author Sebastian Faulks at the launch of Devil May Care with its cover model Tuuli Shipster; WING-MIRROR DART GUN; GOLDFINGER'S GOLF SHOES; SPEAR GUN; YELLOW HELMET; HEART TRANSPLANT UNIT; DEADLY CELLO; SILVER BOMB; FLICK-KNIFE SHOES; OVERCOAT