Keeler

I was sent this link by a friend the other day http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html  It's called We Didn't Start the Fire, and is a tribute to the song from the seventies by Billy Joel.  As the introduction to the clip says the writer didn't pay a lot of attention to the lyrics at the time.  Well neither did I much, nor was I particularly fond of the song.  But seeing the video brought back how much has gone on over the last 50 years or so.

One short picture did grab my attention - a quite pretty brunette.  It was Christine Keeler and I looked her up on the Web soon after.  People of say less then 60 would probably not recognize her, not would most Americans I think, but at the time - 1963 - it is hard to imagine any scandal that has been bigger then what was always known as The Profumo Affair.  It almost brought down a government and ended the very promising political career for a man who at the time was Minister of War. (so much more sensible a title, I think, than Defense Minister, but I'll leave that for another occasion.)

The entire business was well documented in a movie called Scandal and it certainly was that.  Briefly, a young woman of questionable character - don't you just love these old fashioned terms! - had an affair with John Profumo, the aforementioned Minister.  At the time she was also "involved" with a drug dealer and an envoy from the Russian embassy.  The entire thing was looked over by one Stephen Ward, who was a seedy little osteopath, also of questionable character, who just enjoyed meddling.  He committed suicide when the affair became public.  This is the picture published at the time by the Daily Mirror, I think. It did quite a number for most red-bloodied men at the time.

As a matter of interest, how big was it in the States back then - did anyone know much about it?