Some of you will be astonished to hear I'm old enough to remember this scandal when it happened; at Charterhouse School; amazed and fascinated; I used to pop into Raymond's Revuebar (under age but faked ID).
The show is OK so far but slightly annoying.

Vaz, Archer, Aitken, Parkinson, Mellor, Jellicoe, Lampton, Thorpe, Profumo, Kagan.

Just ten of our post war political scandals - or those that we know of.

Great for the media - and John Le Carre, Ian Fleming et al.

To make up an even dozen - these two could be added:-


John Stonehouse. A goverment minister (who was jailed); later discovered to be a Czech spy.

Lloyd George. PM and vendor of 1,500 honours/titles - through his agent Maundy Gregory.


Yes we like - and/or attract scandals...

Second episode - I'm not hooked and can't quite work out why. Because we all know the story?

Brush With Fame #99 : I met Keeler years ago in a lift in one of those tall World's End council flat buildings were she lived.

Going up with a pal who also lived there introduced her as "my neighbor Chrissy" only later telling she was Keeler.

always fascinated by the John Stonehouse story.

The Stonehouse story is intriguing - though not as bizarre and colourful, as that of Maundy Gregory (worth a Google).

Actor, theatre manager, property investor, historian, blackmailer, murderer, hotel/club owner- and friend of the aristocracy and famous.

Most notably though, Lloyd George's Agent for selling honours and titles about a century ago. Replicated by others later.


George need funds urgently - and fathomed that the only (and harmless) consequence of creating an Earl or Baronet, was to satisfy someone's vanity.

Keeler & Ward were basically scapegoats, I guess it's good that the mainstream has come around to this point of view.

tdf wrote:
Keeler & Ward were basically scapegoats, I guess it's good that the mainstream has come around to this point of view.

Keeler could have easily been a movie star with her quite beautiful and unique looks. Shame the way they were treated.

Stephen Ward's trial looks very much like a vengeful fit-up. He sounds like a fascinating character and I can understand how so many were drawn to his company.

Christine Keeler seems like someone always struggling to get by after a tough start in life, and just doing what she had to do.

She also claimed some knowledge or involvement in the Cambridge Five scandal, although it's not exactly clear what. Incidentally, there was a really good BBC TV dramatization of the Cambridge Five quite a few years ago. It starred Tom Hollander as Guy Burgess.

Randall wrote:
She also claimed some knowledge or involvement in the Cambridge Five scandal


But the Five concluded their activities around 1955 - at the latest - when Keeler would have been 13!

In her autobiography, she claims that Stephen Ward was a Soviet agent and worked with the Cambridge Five (something about honey trap spying, perhaps?). There's no evidence to support her claim.

By the way, on the chronology of the Cambridge Five... Maclean and Burgess defected in 1951. Kim Philby defected in 1963. Anthony Blunt confessed in secret in 1964 in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

John Cairncross's tale is more complicated. He was discovered to be a spy during the investigation into the disappearance of Guy Burgess, and privately confessed. Then he moved to America and worked as a University lecturer (French literature) with no particular indication that he was involved in espionage. He confessed privately again in 1964 to an MI5 officer who interviewed him as part of the investigation of Kim Philby's defection. He then took a job at the UN in Rome and confessed to spying yet again, when confronted by a journalist.

How and when do Stephen Ward and Christine Keeler fit into all this? God only knows...