GREAT BRITAIN WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO CHRISTINE KEELER ? SHE WAS JUST 
ANOTHER GIRL FROM MIDDLESEX WHO CALLED HERSELF A MODEL A EUPHEMISM 
AS VAGUE AS " STARLET " AND WITH JUST AS MANY 
IMPLICATIONS . BUT LEGGY, REDHEADED CHRISTINE KEELER, 21, MANAGED TO MOVE 
IN MAYFAIR'S SMARTEST CIRCLES AND NUMBERED AMONG HER WIDE RANGE OF 
GENTLEMEN ACQUAINTANCES TOP NAMES IN LONDON'S POLITICAL, SOCIAL, DIPLOMATIC AND SHOW 
BUSINESS WORLDS . LAST WEEK THE SOCIAL LIFE OF CHRISTINE KEELER, 
ONETIME WAITRESS AND FULLTIME PLAYGIRL, WAS ALL OVER THE FRONT PAGES 
OF THE BRITISH PRESS . CHRISTINE'S SPONSOR WAS A SOCIAL GADABOUT 
NAMED STEPHEN WARD, 43, AN ARTIST AND OSTEOPATH WHO LIVES IN 
A THAMESSIDE SUMMER HOUSE ON VISCOUNT ASTOR'S FAMED ESTATE AT CLIVEDEN 
. / I KNOW A LOT OF VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE AND 
AM OFTEN RECEIVED IN SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS HOMES IN 
THE COUNTRY, " SAYS WARD . " SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL AND 
MANY LEADING POLITICIANS HAVE BEEN AMONG MY PATIENTS ; PRINCE PHILIP, 
THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF KENT AND LORD SNOWDON HAVE BEEN 
AMONG MY SITTERS . " WARD ALSO HAD A GENUINE INTEREST 
IN YOUNG GIRLS OF HUMBLE ORIGIN . " I LIKE PRETTY 
GIRLS, " HE SAYS . " I AM SENSITIVE TO THE 
NEEDS AND THE STRESSES OF MODERN LIVING . " TO THE 
GREAT AND NEAR GREAT, WARD INTRODUCED " ATTRACTIVE YOUNG GIRLS LIKE 
CHRISTINE KEELER, WHO COME FROM THE PROVINCES OR THE REMOTE SUBURBS 
" AND FOR WHOM " LONDON IS A BATTLEFIELD . " 
CHAIN OF EVENTS . WARD ARRANGED AN UNSUCCESSFUL SCREEN TEST FOR 
CHRISTINE WITH DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR., INTRODUCED HER TO A NAVAL ATTACHE 
AT THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY, AND TO A " SENIOR NAVAL OFFICER 
OF THE AMERICAN FLEET WHO SORTED OUT HER PROBLEMS . " 
BUT CHRISTINE, SAID WARD, ALSO HAD " OCCASIONAL FOOLHARDY ADVENTURES IN 
THE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLD OF COLORED MEN . " ONE DAY 
LAST DECEMBER, JOHNNIE EDGECOMBE, CHRISTINE'S WEST INDIAN LOVER, SHOWED UP OUTSIDE 
WARD'S WEST END FLAT, WHERE CHRISTINE WAS VISITING, AND FIRED SEVERAL 
SHOTS AT THE DOOR . POLICE CARTED JOHNNIE AWAY AND TAGGED 
CHRISTINE TO BE A PRINCIPAL WITNESS AT HIS TRIAL . THEN 
CAME A PECULIAR CHAIN OF EVENTS . CHRISTINE KEELER FAILED TO 
SHOW UP FOR JOHNNIE'S TRIAL, AND THE LEADING NEWSPAPERS HINTED THAT 
CHRISTINE FEARED CROSS-EXAMINATION ABOUT HER PRIVATE LIFE AND HAD DROPPED OUT 
OF SIGHT TO PROTECT HER PROMINENT FRIENDS . ON TOP OF 
THAT CAME NEWS THAT WARD'S CLIVEDEN HOUSE, THE SCENE OF MANY 
A FASHIONABLE PARTY AND FORTUITOUS INTRODUCTION, HAD BEEN RANSACKED ; WARD'S 
LETTERS WERE STOLEN, AND SCATTERED ALL OVER THE FLOOR WERE A 
NUDE PHOTOGRAPH OF CHRISTINE AND A SLEW OF PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES, WHICH 
WARD CLAIMED WERE NOT HIS . IN WHITEHALL AND IN THE 
HOUSE OF COMMONS SMOKING ROOMS, RUMORS BEGAN CIRCULATING THAT ONE OF 
CHRISTINE'S MANY ACQUAINTANCES WAS A GOVERNMENT MINISTER . CHEEK TO CHEEK 
. AT A LATE-NIGHT COMMONS SESSION LAST WEEK, A LABOR M.P 
. UNEXPECTEDLY ASKED THE GOVERNMENT " TO DENY THE TRUTH OF 
THESE RUMORS :. INVOLVING A MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT'S FRONT BENCH 
. " ANOTHER M.P . TRIED TO MAKE LIGHT OF THE 
ISSUE . " WHAT DO THESE RUMORS AMOUNT TO ? " 
HE SAID . " THEY AMOUNT TO THE FACT THAT A 
MINISTER HAS AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH A VERY PRETTY GIRL . I 
SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT THAT WAS A MATTER FOR CONGRATULATION RATHER 
THAN ENQUIRY . / BUT LEFT-WING LABORITE BARBARA CASTLE INSISTED ON 
GETTING BACK TO THE QUESTION OF " MISS CHRISTINE KEELER, MISSING 
CALL GIRL, VANISHED WITNESS . " WHAT, SHE ASKED, " IF 
THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE OF MUCH GREATER IMPORTANCE ? WHAT IF 
THERE IS A QUESTION OF THE PERVERSION OF JUSTICE AT STAKE 
? / FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANSWER NEXT MORNING, THE COMMONS WAS 
PACKED . ON THE FRONT BENCH WITH PRIME MINISTER HAROLD MACMILLAN 
SAT URBANE TORY SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR JOHN PROFUMO, 48, 
WHOSE BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS WIFE VALERIE (GREAT EXPECTATIONS) HOBSON SAT QUIETLY IN 
THE SPEAKER'S GALLERY OVERHEAD . PROFUMO ROSE AND CALMLY SAID, " 
I UNDERSTAND THAT MY NAME HAS BEEN CONNECTED WITH THE RUMORS 
ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MISS KEELER . / INDEED, PROFUMO SAID, 
HE AND HIS WIFE HAD MET CHRISTINE AT CLIVEDEN, AND HE 
HAD SUBSEQUENTLY SEEN HER " ON ABOUT SIX OCCASIONS AT DR. 
WARD'S FLAT " IN LONDON . " I LAST SAW MISS 
KEELER IN DECEMBER 1961, AND I HAVE NOT SEEN HER SINCE 
. ANY SUGGESTION THAT I WAS IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH 
OR RESPONSIBLE FOR HER ABSENCE FROM THE TRIAL IS WHOLLY AND 
COMPLETELY UNTRUE . THERE HAS BEEN NO IMPROPRIETY BETWEEN MYSELF AND 
MISS KEELER . I SHALL NOT HESITATE TO ISSUE WRITS FOR 
LIBEL AND SLANDER IF SCANDALOUS STATEMENTS ARE MADE OUTSIDE THIS HOUSE 
. / AFTER THE TWO-MINUTE SPEECH, PROFUMO AND HIS WIFE LEFT 
THE COMMONS FOR THE RACES AT SANDOWN PARK, WHERE THEY WERE 
THE GUESTS IN THE ROYAL BOX OF THE QUEEN MOTHER . 
THAT NIGHT THE PROFUMOS DANCED CHEEK TO CHEEK AT A TORY 
PARTY BALL . 