Spy talk, the CIA and secret visits from Hollywood heart throbs - this is a side of Chiswick that has never been seen before.

But after Matt Damon, star of The Bourne Supremacy and Oceans 11, paid a visit to acclaimed journalist and spy author Tom Mangold, the cover of the quiet suburban refuge has been blown.

Damon's visit came as he was researching his role as fictional secret service boss Edward Wilson in upcoming movie The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert de Niro.

The character is said to be loosely based on James Angleton, a former chief of the CIA's counter intelligence unit and "remarkable character", who was the subject of an acclaimed biography, Cold Warrior, written by Mr Mangold in 1986.

Mr Mangold said: "Paul Greengrass who directed Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy is a friend of mine. He phoned me up and said that Matt Damon was playing Angleton in a film and he wanted to talk to me and he asked if he could come round."

The former Panorama journalist, who claims to have seen "every spy film ever made", said that Damon was "absolutely lovely and totally unselfconscious" during their three hour chat.

He added: "We talked a lot of Hollywood gossip and then we spoke about the CIA and what motivated Angleton."

But the visit, which occurred several months ago, landed Mr Mangold in some hot water with his children who "have never forgiven me for not telling them" that the Hollywood actor was coming.

The Chiswick-based author, who has not yet been invited to the film's premiere, gets a credit in the film's closing titles but has been told that the film does not stick to historical facts.

"Someone gave me the plot of the film but I did not recognise any of it," Mr Mangold said. "They seem to have taken liberties. It doesn't bear much relation to reality, but then that's Hollywood."

Also starring Angelina Jolie, The Good Shepherd is released in the UK on February 23.