Beschreibung:

Christine Keeler
A collection of documents:
i) Harrods “Lightweight” Diary, 1962, appointment diary with one page per day, giving space for hourly engagements 9am to 7pm, with appointments recorded throughout, in different coloured inks and pencil and in several hands, giving names (often incomplete), addresses, some telephone numbers, and occasional other comments, also with 9 pages at the back given over to addresses (including Stephen Ward and Mandy Rice-Davies), 140 x 95 mm, limp green covers stamped in gilt (“Diary 1962”), c.41 leaves (82 days) excised in full or in part, worn, stained
ii) British Passport, issued 27 March 1961, with entry/exit stamps for France in September-October 1961 (three trips), US visa dated July 1962, entry/exit stamps for France (March and May 1963) and Spain (March 1963 and September 1964), cancelled
iii) Telegram from her father (“Good luck Darling – Colin”) addressed to “Christine Keeler, Marylebone Court London”, at the beginning of her trial for perjury, 3 October 1963
iv-vii) Four letters from Keeler’s time in prison, comprising: two autograph letters signed, by Christine Keeler (“Chris”), to her mother and stepfather (“Dear Mum & Dad”), on her time in prison and domestic affairs, 7 pages, 8vo, HM Prison Holloway, 26 April-3 May 1964; one letter by her mother Julia (signed “Dad & Mum”), on domestic affairs, 4 pages, 8vo, dated by prison warden 22 December 1963; letter by Shiela Dring, to Christine Keeler, 2 pages, 8vo, 2 January 1964
PERSONAL EFFECTS OF THE GIRL AT THE HEART OF THE SCANDAL THAT NEARLY BROUGHT DOWN THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. These documents are the only items from this turbulent period that survived in Keeler’s possession. Her 1962 appointment diary provides a compelling picture of the chaotic life of a young woman as well as the weight of the later all-consuming scandal; it is very likely that the many missing pages from the diary were deliberately destroyed by someone, presumably Keeler, who was concerned about what they could reveal.
Christine Keeler (1942-2017) was seventeen when she was befriended by Stephen Ward a successful and well-connected osteopath. Ward enjoyed surrounding himself with beautiful and sexually available girls, whom he would then introduce to his rich and powerful friends. In the summer of 1961 Ward, with the connivance of MI5, encouraged Keeler into bed with Yevgeny Ivanov, Soviet naval attaché and KGB agent, as the unknowing bait in a “honeytrap” operation; however, the affair soon became more complicated when Keeler also began an affair with Jack Profumo, Secretary of State for War. The two met when Keeler was skinny-dipping in the pool at Clivedon House, Lord Astor’s exquisite country house in Berkshire. By the beginning of 1962 Keeler had (probably) stopped seeing Profumo and had moved out of Ward’s home into a flat in Dolphin Square, Pimlico. Only twenty years old, she was involved with various men, living on her looks, had gained a taste for cannabis, and her life was spiralling out of control. Her diary records lunches and parties (such as “Peter’s Party” on 5 February), gives addresses for evening assignations, interviews for modelling work, and occasional intimate details (one entry, “Curse back” on 18 July, probably refers to her first period after an illegal abortion in January). Stephen Ward’s name comes up many times in the diary; she makes a note of the phone number for Mandy Rice-Davies; there are several references to “Murray” (probably Percy Murray, owner of Murray’s Cabaret Club where Keeler had worked as a showgirl), and to Stephen Ward’s friend Freddy Mullally; and the “Jonnie” with whom she records dinner on 22 October was presumably Johnny Edgecombe. There are also some incidental insights into her life such as a list of clothes (10 October) and a sketch of a scantily-dressed showgirl (18 March). People would often write down their own contact details and invitations in the diary, so many of the entries are not in Keeler’s hand. Al Aarons (then jazz trumpeter for Count Basie), for example, invites her to the Gaumont Cinema on 23 May.
Keeler (and Ward) entered the public eye in December 1962 when one of her boyfriends, Johnny Edgecombe, in a jealous rage against another lover, “Lucky” Gordon (a man with a history of violence against women), fired shots outside Ward’s flat and was subsequently arrested. As the scandal involving Profumo gradually entered the public eye, there was a widespread belief that other government ministers had been involved in the sex parties and prostitution rings that began to come to light; there was even a racial element to add to the salacious mix, as both Gordon and Edgecombe were of Black Caribbean ancestry. Profumo – who had lied to Parliament about his affair with Keeler – resigned in disgrace; Keeler went to prison for perjury and suffered a public humiliation from which, in many ways, she never recovered; Ward was hounded by the police and subjected to a show trial at the end of which he committed suicide (a group of writers and artists, including Kenneth Tynan and John Osborne had a wreath sent to his funeral addressed “To Stephen Ward a victim of British hypocrisy”). 
THESE DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN RETAINED BY THE FAMILY OF CHRISTINE KEELER UNTIL NOW, AND ARE PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN.