Christine Keeler

Christine Keeler (born February 22, 1942) was a British model and showgirl. Her involvement with a British government minister discredited the Conservative administration of Harold Macmillan in 1963 in what is known as the Profumo Affair.

The Profumo Affair

In July of 1961, Ward introduced her to John Profumo the British Secretary of State for War, at a pool party at Cliveden, the Buckinghamshire mansion owned by Lord Astor. Profumo entered into an affair with Keeler, not suspecting that she was also sleeping with Yevgeny Ivanov, a naval attaché at the embassy of the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
1961 - John Profumo - Secretary of State for War - Cliveden - Buckinghamshire - Mansion - Lord Astor - Yevgeny Ivanov - Naval attaché - Embassy - Soviet Union

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Keeler was briefly imprisoned for nine months, for perjury, in a related trial involving a former lover, turned stalker, named Lucky Gordon, a Jamaican immigrant. Stephen Ward was convicted of living off of the immoral earnings of prostitution, including earnings from Christine Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies; Ward committed suicide on the last day of his trial, before he could be convicted.

Related Topics:
Mandy Rice-Davies - Suicide

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Already the author of several books on the affair, in 2001 she worked with editor Douglas Thompson to write her autobiography titled '.

Related Topics:
2001 - Editor - Autobiography

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In the 1989 film about the Profumo Affair entitled Scandal, actress Joanne Whalley portrayed Keeler.

Related Topics:
1989 - Film - Scandal - Joanne Whalley

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She is also the subject of a song by Phil Ochs entitled "Christine Keeler", and her name appears in the Porcupine Tree song Piano Lessons.

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