Profumo Dead; Liaison with Prostitute Nearly Brought Down Brit Government

[LiberalHeart]

Profumo, who spent more than 40 years redeeming himself with charity work for London's poor, was Britain's secretary of state for war when he was involved with Christine Keeler in 1963. At the same time, she was seeing a Soviet naval attache and intelligence agent. Profumo first denied the affair, but after the publication of a letter he wrote her, he resigned on June 5, 1963.


Much more:
http://wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=4612814

[Greeby]

1. *sigh* When the worst thing a Secretary of War had to resign for

Was sharing a prostitute, you get some idea of how far this country's "leaders" have fallen

[NYC]

19. The problem was the sharing of secrets and confidential information

that came with the sharing of a prostitute.

[murielm99]

2. I read something about Christine Keeler in a People

Magazine a few years ago.

She did not fare as well as Profumo. She lost her looks and lived in terrible poverty. It was very sad.

[Greeby]

6. I dunno, if I recall correctly

But she seemed to be doing pretty well when she was doing the rounds for her autobiography.

Mind you, this was 2001, and that feels like a thousand centuries ago

[murielm99]

8. It sure does feel like a thousand centuries ago!

The article I read was before 2001. I Googled Miss Keeler and you are correct. She seems to be doing well for herself.

The article may have been to drum up some publicity or sympathy. I remember quite clearly the pictures of her and her run-down living quarters.

[kskiska]

3. I wonder how Mandy Rice-Davies made out

I remember that case very well. Even over here, it was huge - as big as Watergate. Headlines every day in the tabloids.

[LostinVA]

4. I read something about her a few years ago -- quite well

[LostinVA]

5. And Stephen Ward -- he really WAS a "spy"

Ridiculed, called a liar, et.... and he was telling the truth the whole time...

[NYC]

20. And he tied into Anthony Blunt and Ruth Ellis.

Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in England. They made a movie about Ruth Ellis called Dance with a Stranger or something similar.

The Anthony Blunt (Keeper of the Queen's Pictures) story was also fascinating, and of course, involved a spy in Washington, D.C.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. And he died quite young, didn't he?

Like when the scandal was still fresh in people's minds or maybe even while it was still going on.

I was perhaps 12 to 13 years old at the time, so my memory is sketchy.

[LostinVA]

24. Yeah -- he killed himself

[murielm99]

7. She is a grandmother and live in the U.S. nt

[dryan]

9. Thaks for the trip...

down memory lane. I remember this case very well -- it was all over the papers. The movie about it that came out about 10 years ago didn't do the case justice.

[kskiska]

15. Mandy pic

[ProudToBeLiberal]

10. Christine Keeler is a beauty!!

No wonder the navy secretary fell for her .

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. To which you have to add the iconic image

One the the 'defining' sixties images.

[Octafish]

11. The Monica Lewinsky of her day.

Some things never change, like using people to make events go a certain way.

[0007]

13. Christine Keeler was quite a lady. I remember that scandal

clearly.

[acmavm]

14. So do I. And it was a tad more involved than the Monica

affair. There was some very real problems what with her involvement with the Russian agent.

Monica was just a chubby little strumpet who like powerful married men.

[0007]

16. LOL!! Absolutely so comparison, and definitely more than a tad.

I was so pissed at Clinton for being so stupid I couldn't see straight.

In my opinion Christine wouldn't broke Bill down like a double barrel shot gun and put him in a corner and made a pet out of him.

[LostinVA]

25. A good movie was mad about it -- decently accuare, "Scandal"

John Hurt, Joanne Walley, Bridget Fonda, and Sir Ian.

[onager]

17. The movie about it contained one of the most erotic scenes ever...

Or maybe I'm just weird. No, I'm definitely weird, but anyhow...

For those who never saw it, the movie about the Profumo-Keeler scandal was entitled..."Scandal"! From 1989, with John Hurt as Stephen Ward, Ian McKellen as Profumo, and in one of her first major roles, Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies.

Watch it and see how many parallels you can find with our current situation here in the U.S. Especially the wealthy, hypocritical Conservative politicians, with their famous marketing slogan: "You never had it so good!"

And the most erotic scene ever? Christine Keeler and Rice-Davies preparing for a night on the town. Fastening stockings to garter belts, adjusting bras, applying lipstick in EXTREME close-ups. While in the background, the soundtrack plays the great junk-rock instrumental Apache.

Excuse me, now I need some Private Time...

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. The movie was on TV here a few weeks ago

and I can indeed remember the scene.

[mitchum]

23. You're not weird...

that IS a great scene

[Hand]

22. I remember that whole scandal...

It was back in the relatively prudish early 1960s just on the cusp of the sexual revolution. The newspapers were hard pressed to explain the whole thing without actually mentioning taboo subjects such as S-E-X explicitly. I was only in my early teens and had a hell of a time figuring out what the problem was--the way the descrbed the goings on, it sounded like someone just went to the wrong garden party a few times!

On the other hand, a more mature schoolmate (female, by the way) explained it all in one joke: "Who's the world's worst carpenter? Christine Keeler--One screw and the whole cabinet fell apart!"

[blitzen]

26. I had a beer with his son once in London...

a nice guy who writes and edits books about flyfishing (which happens to by my passion as well)...I made a point of not mentioning a word about his dad.

[LiberalHeart]

27. How old would the son have been when it happened? (EOM)

[blitzen]

28. i think he was a young child....

when i met him, around 1990, he was in his early or mid 30s (just a guess)