A collection of medals awarded to the late star of stage and screen Christopher Lee achieved £8,000 ($10,598) in an auction at Spink London yesterday.

That’s a big increase on its £5,000 ($6,623) estimate.

Christopher Lee served as an RAF intelligence officer during the second world war

The set featured the CBE Lee was awarded in 2001, alongside his second world war service medals - which include an Africa Star and a 1939-1945 defence medal.

Lee served as an intelligence officer in the RAF in Italy and Egypt during the war.

Later he was tasked with helping track down and detain Nazi war criminals.  

He said of his time in the forces: “When the second world war finished, I was 23, and already I had seen enough horror to last me a lifetime. I'd seen dreadful, dreadful things, without saying a word.”

He hinted at those years while filming Lord of the Rings, when he offered to teach an actor the correct sound to make when being run through with a sword with the words: "Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back? Because I do.”

His acting career began in 1947, with a role in a film called Corridor of Mirrors. By the late 1950s, he was on the roster at the legendary Hammer Film Productions where he played all manner of horror villains.

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