The 89-year-old daughter of a D-Day hero has gone to France to pay tribute to him.

Anthea Goldsmith, née Ionides, left her home in Flask Walk, Hampstead, with her great niece Zola to make the journey to Bayeux War Cemetery.

It is here where she will be standing beside her father Theodore Ionides's illuminated grave on June 5 -  the eve of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Theo had been a naval intelligence commando under Ian Fleming – who later became famous as author of the James Bond novels.

He died four days after being part of the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, when Anthea was just nine years old.

Anthea's daughter, Joanna Terry, said her mother was going to Normandy with the BBC, as part of their Tribute to the Fallen coverage on BBC One on June 5 from 8.30pm.

"She's going to be speaking live, in her 90th year, beside the grave of her father who she adored, talking about him and sharing her story," she added.

"At dusk, so as darkness comes, all the 4,600 graves in Bayeux Cemetery are going to be lit up.

"Eighty years ago that evening many were alive and the next day they weren't."

She said her mother was proud of the fact she was fifth generation Hampstead, who went to school at King Alfred's.

"She remembers the Blitz, the bombing, they weren't evacuated," Joanna added.

"My grandmother was an architect and she worked throughout the whole war and she kept her two girls with her -  they slept in a Morrison Table Shelter -  a cage under the dining room table so if the roof caved in they'd be as protected as possible." 

D-Day 80: Tribute to the Fallen is being presented by Kirsty Young and is also being broadcast from Portsmouth as well as Bayeux.

The programme, also on BBC iPlayer, will feature the light displays, readings and music.