05 Thursday Mar 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on ‘Dear Christine’ Symposium Rescheduled
The Dear Christine symposium has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 28, at Deptford Town Hall, London from 12-6 pm – more details here. (Shown above is ‘Casting the First Stone’ by Marguerite Horner, oil on linen, 2017.)
UPDATE: Due to ongoing concerns about Coronavirus, this symposium has been postponed until further notice.
23 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in History, Politics, Profumo Affair, Television
≈ Comments Off on ‘Keeler, Profumo, Ward and Me’
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Andrew Lloyd-Webber, BBC, Caroline Kennedy, Christine Keeler, Cliveden, Ernest Marples, Eugene Ivanov, Geoffrey Robertson, George Wigg, Harold Macmillan, John Profumo, Keeler Profumo Ward and Me, Lord Astor, Lord Denning, Lord Hailsham, Mandy Rice-Davies, Natalie Livingstone, Profumo Affair, Stephen Pound, Stephen Ward, Thomas Critchley, Tom Mangold
“The story that defined a decade of great change in Great Britain was my big break in Fleet Street, and I covered and loved every moment of it, from the ridiculous to the tragic …”
Tom Mangold, described in The Times as ‘the doyen of broadcast reporters’, began his career as an investigative journalist on Fleet Street before moving into television as a foreign correspondent, and has since made over 100 documentaries, including many for the BBC’s Panorama. But like many others drawn into the Profumo Affair, Mangold has never quite moved on from the 1963 scandal which still leaves more questions than answers.
Keeler, Profumo, Ward & Me is the third documentary on the subject in which Mangold has played a prominent role within the last decade: BBC Radio Four’s Profumo Confidential, which he presented, and ITV’s Sex, Lies and a Very British Scapegoat both aired in 2013, fifty years after the event. And as BBC1’s six-part drama, The Trial of Christine Keeler, sets the rumour mill in motion again, its final episode was followed immediately by Mangold’s latest account on BBC2. Continue reading
18 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on Goodbye (For Now) to ‘Dear Christine’
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I regret to tell you that ARTHOUSE1 is currently closed and the Dear Christine exhibition – plus a symposium scheduled for this Saturday – has been postponed until further notice. My sincere regards go out to everyone affected, and I hope to write more about this wonderful show in the near future. I currently have several related articles in the pipeline – including a review of the recent BBC documentary about the Profumo Affair, which I hope to post here later this week. (The above photo shows a print from a series by Lewis Morley, 1963, on loan from Camilla Shivarg; commissioned embroidery by Fine Cell Work, ‘Christine in Gold’; and ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by Sarah Shaw. And in the photo below is Fionn Wilson’s ‘Christine Mesmerises’, opposite the iconic Morley print.)
11 Tuesday Feb 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on ‘Dear Christine’ Symposium in London
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Amanda Coe, Arthouse1, Carol Dyhouse, Caroline Coon, Cathy Lomax, Christine Keeler, Dear Christine, Profumo Affair
Dear Christine: A Tribute to Christine Keeler, on display until February 29 at London’s ARTHOUSE1 (open from 3-7 pm on Thursdays to Sundays) is accompanied by a symposium featuring artists and commentators including historian Carol Dyhouse and Amanda Coe, writer/producer of The Trial of Christine Keeler, on Saturday, February 22. Admission is free but reserved to 40 places so book now via Eventbrite. (The painting shown above is ‘God Save Christine’ by Sal Jones.)
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has now been cancelled – more info here.
09 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Interviews, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on Reframing the Keeler Affair
My interview with Fionn Wilson – artist and curator of Dear Christine: A Tribute to Christine Keeler, an exhibition featuring works by twenty women artists now on display at London’s Arthouse1 until February 29th – is published today on the excellent Culture Matters website. (The painting shown above, by Fionn herself, is Christine and the Poisoned Apple – conjuring both the biblical Eve, and Snow White.)
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this exhibition is postponed until further notice – more info here. (18/02/2020)
03 Monday Feb 2020
Posted in Art and Photography, Magazines, Profumo Affair, Television
≈ Comments Off on ‘Dear Christine’ Steps Out in London
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Arthouse1, Bermondsey, Christine Keeler, Dear Christine, Fionn Wilson, Her Edit, Julie Burchill, Keeler Profumo Ward and Me, London, Profumo Affair, Seymour Platt, The Trial Of Christine Keeler
Dear Christine: A Tribute to Christine Keeler has just begun the final leg of its tour at Arthouse1 in Bermondsey, London. The opening night was attended by, among others, Christine’s son Seymour Platt, and her close friend, Desmond Banks; Geoffrey Robertson QC; and the writer Julie Burchill. (You can view Julie and Seymour’s speeches here.)
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this exhibition has been postponed until further notice – more info here. (18/02/2020)
26 Thursday Dec 2019
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Music, Profumo Affair, Television, Updates
≈ Comments Off on Merry Christmas To All My Readers
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BBC, Christine Keeler, Christmas, Dear Christine, I'll Be Home For Christmas, Kacey Musgraves, Lana Del Rey, Marilyn Monroe, Profumo Affair, Scandal, The Trial Of Christine Keeler
Just a little note from me to wish you all a merry Christmas. If you thought you’d seen off my lists for another year, make room for one more as in a few days, I’ll be looking back at the end of this decade in music, books and film. But first, let’s enjoy this nostalgic carol from Lana Del Rey and friends.
As some of you may know, The Trial of Christine Keeler is coming to BBC1. First announced here, the six-part drama starts at 9 pm this Sunday, December 29th. With the exhibition Dear Christine heading to London in February, and Scandal set for reissue by the BFI, the women of the Profumo Affair may finally get their due in 2020.
15 Tuesday Oct 2019
Posted in Art and Photography, Poetry, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on Swansea Celebrates ‘Dear Christine’ in Art and Poetry
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Caroline Coon, Christine Keeler, Dear Christine, Elysium Gallery, Pauline Boty, Poetry, Profumo Affair, Swansea, Wales
Dear Christine: A Tribute to Christine Keeler continues its run at the Elysium Gallery in Swansea with an evening of poetry this Saturday, as curator Fionn Wilson told Wales Art Review recently. An artist panel discussion will follow on October 26, and the exhibition will be on show until November 9. (If you can’t make it, Dear Christine will move to London next February.) Continue reading
07 Monday Oct 2019
Posted in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on ‘Dear Christine’ Opens in Swansea
Dear Christine: A Tribute to Christine Keeler is now on display at Elysium Gallery in Swansea, open from Tuesdays to Sundays at 12pm until November 9, with a series of associated events. (Shown above is ‘Welcome to the Sixties’ by Cathy Lomax.) Continue reading
24 Tuesday Sep 2019
Posted in Books, History, Non-Fiction, Profumo Affair
≈ Comments Off on Christine Keeler’s ‘Secrets and Lies’ Redux
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Christine Keeler, Dennis F. Evans, Desmond Banks, Douglas Thompson, Eugene Ivanov, Gisela Winegard, Jeremy Hutchinson, John Profumo, Lucky Gordon, Mandy Rice-Davies, Profumo Affair, Secrets and Lies, Seymour Platt, Thomas Grant
“I never met Christine Keeler,” Seymour Platt writes in his foreword to the latest edition of her memoirs, Secrets and Lies: The Trials of Christine Keeler. (This is a paperback reissue of her 2012 book, itself an update to her 2001 autobiography, The Truth At Last.) His mother changed her name, he explains, “to get away from being Christine Keeler. In our house Christine Keeler was talked about in the third person – who would want to be associated with Christine Keeler? Christine Keeler would get the blame for a lot of things that happened. Friends, family, relationships that soured, all that would be Christine Keeler’s fault.” Continue reading
