Author Topic: Profumo affair  (Read 2871 times)

Johned

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #15 on: Sep 02, 2018, 05:22:03 PM »
Mr Profumo was a misguided man to say the least who should have known better about the company he was keeping.  He was well regarded as M of D by the forces at the time, he, himself was an ex wartime officer and I was one of those who returned to the active reserves after a TV appeal by him in 1961, for ex servicemen to volunteer.  I eventually signed off in 1975.

rotate

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #16 on: Sep 02, 2018, 08:29:14 PM »

That Chair, That Photograph!
Sales of Arne Jacobson chairs and their copies went through the roof after the now famous/infamous Lewis Morley photos of Christine Keeler seated on one were published in the national press. The actual chair in the photos was a lookalike sold by Habitat stores and today these chairs originals and copies command a high saleroom price.


I was a teenager when the Profumo affair became public and while I and my mates were not particularly interested in the politics or the security threats the stories surrounding the sex scandal were of infinite fascination, I'm sure my parents were just as surprised as others were at their teenage son's sudden interest in the news!


Years later I met Christine Keeler, in her late 40's early fifties she was still an attractive and intelligent woman, haunted by her past and by those seeking more scandal she was fairly reclusive, a reclusiveness which grew greater toward the end of her life, but once she knew you were not looking for a story and that you weren't going to ask questions she could be quite charming. As far as I know and unlike Mandy Rice Davies she never really if at all capitalised on her early infamy and indeed in her final years she lived in what appeared to be quite constrained circumstances.
Having known the real person rather than the newspaper storied version I'll admit to a little guilt about being part of the baying mob as a teenager waiting for the next piece of juicy scandal to come out the whole sorry affair. RIP Christine, let's hope St. Peter was more forgiving than some of the sanctimonious living saints who judge others and not themselves.

zoony

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #17 on: Sep 02, 2018, 08:54:25 PM »
Well said Rotate and welcome to PF.
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Audrine

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #18 on: Sep 02, 2018, 09:00:08 PM »
Thank you Rotate, what an amazing story. Christine was an attractive woman, I can understand why John Profumo fell for her. A shame he did not help her a little when as an old lady she needed it the most.

crabbyob

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #19 on: Sep 03, 2018, 08:17:24 AM »
i dont think he was around at that point Audrine
and yes welcome Rotate you sound like a nice person
try not to be too nice, or you will make the forum a nice place too...lol
“Life may not be the party we hoped for, but as we are already here we may as well dance”

Alfred

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #20 on: Sep 03, 2018, 08:26:28 AM »

hello rotate and welcome to the forum, yes at the time when the story first hit the head lines the story ran for quite some time , today with all that's going on with stars and some celebrities some of whom want to tell everything dishing the dirt, letting everyone know their secrets ,??


i once briefly met Valerie Hobson profumos wife ,she was an actress then ( i think that was her name ,) many years after profumo had died, and she struck me a being a very loyal wife, as she stayed with him, through out the times when the scandal made the head lines, i thought she was lovely and she kept out of the lime light altogether, i felt sorry for her as the press and the news kept the story going and going ,which must have made her feel really awful ,

rotate

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Re: Profumo affair
« Reply #21 on: Sep 03, 2018, 01:10:48 PM »
Thanks all for the welcome and the comments.


crabbyob, I'm afraid that I'll have to dissapoint as I'm not particularly nice at all being more of a 'flog em and hang em' type, although I suspect like most it all depends upon the subject what the weathers doing or which side of the bed I emerged from on the day.
I don't hold any particular brief for Christine Keeler and her part in the Profumo scandal but certainly she was not at all like the person portrayed in the national press during the 60's when I later knew her.

Audrine, I don't know if John Profumo or anyone else ever tried to help Christine or not, certainly help from wherever was never spoken of to me or in so far as I know to my late sister in law, a sociology and political history researcher who knew See Kay, as she referenced her through her research work for longer than I did.


Alfred, you're correct about the press keeping the story going with John Profumo's entirely innocent wife suffering more than the main characters in the affair. The story still resonates through British political life with betrayal and sex probably appealing more than the politics to most. To her credit John Profumo's wife seems to have been instrumental in throwing up the defence cordon against an overly inquisitive press allowing her husband to rebuild his life to the point where he was eventually honoured by the establishment for good works done.