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Tara Hanks

~ Author of 'The Mmm Girl' and 'Wicked Baby'

Tara Hanks

Tag Archives: Stephen Ward

Rumours

26 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by marina72 in History, Profumo Affair, Radio, Theatre

≈ Comments Off on Rumours

Tags

BBC, Christine Keeler, Christopher Booker, Colin Shindler, Harold Macmillan, John Profumo, Private Eye, Profumo Affair, Radio 4, Richard Ingrams, Rumours, Satire, Stephen Ward, Timothy Bligh, Willie Rushton

Lord Denning’s report on the Profumo Affair was published fifty years this week. Though dismissed as a government whitewash, its steamy topic made this official enquiry an unlikely bestseller.  At the same time, a very different version was unfolding in the pages of a new satirical magazine, Private Eye. This is the subject of Colin Shindler’s radio play, Rumours. Continue reading →

Scandal ’63

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by marina72 in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barry Fantoni, Christine Keeler, Lewis Morley, Mandy Rice-Davies, Michael Ward, National Portrait Gallery, Pauline Boty, Profumo Affair, Scandal 63, Solihull, Stephen Ward, Tom Blau

ScanImage001a

Scandal ’63, currently a wall display in Room 32 of London’s National Portrait Gallery, takes its name (and logo) from journalist Clive Irving’s account of the Profumo Affair, published fifty years ago. Continue reading →

50 Years Ago: Stephen Ward Dies

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by marina72 in Books, History, Profumo Affair, Wicked Baby

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Christine Keeler, Profumo Affair, Stephen Ward, Tara Hanks, Wicked Baby

On the last day of Dr Stephen Ward‘s infamous trial, the jury went out, and Stephen returned home to his London flat. The next morning, he was discovered unconscious, having overdosed on sleeping pills. He died several days later, on August 3rd, 1963 – having been convicted in his absence.

Whatever his personal flaws, Ward did not live off immoral earnings as charged. He is now widely accepted to have been a scapegoat for Profumo, Astor and others implicated in the scandal, and his tragic fate is a reminder of the true cost of English hypocrisy.

In this extract from my novella, Wicked Baby, Christine Keeler – the model at the centre of the Profumo Affair, and Stephen’s former friend – reflects on his passing. Continue reading →

Archive on 4: Profumo Confidential

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by marina72 in History, Profumo Affair, Radio

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Archive on 4, BBC, Christine Keeler, Denning Report, Eugene Ivanov, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson, Hod Dibben, John Blake, John Profumo, Lord Denning, Lord Hailsham, Mandy Rice-Davies, Mariella Novotny, Noel Howard-Jones, Profumo Affair, Profumo Confidential, Rupert Allason, Stephen Ward, That Was the Week That Was, Thomas Critchley, Tom Mangold, Valerie Profumo

Stephen Ward

Fifty years after one of Britain’s most notorious political scandals erupted, journalist Tom Mangold has looked back on events in Profumo Confidential, a special episode of BBC Radio’s Archive on 4 series. Continue reading →

‘Aren’t You the Baker’s Daughter?’

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by marina72 in Art and Photography, Profumo Affair, Updates, Wicked Baby

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Tags

Christine Keeler, Cliveden, Miss X, National Portrait Gallery, Profumo Affair, Richard Davenport-Hines, Scandal 63, Stephen Ward, Wicked Baby

Sketch of mystery woman

Driving out of London, the clubs that stank of beer and sweat. London in July was hot and heavy as a rush-hour ride on the tube. They swept past the airport, on the road to Maidenhead. Christine’s hairdo tangled in the breeze.

“A party in the country is just the ticket, little baby.”

Stephen pulled over at a bus stop where a young girl waited.

“Aren’t you the baker’s daughter?  Hop in. We’re off to Cliveden, don’t you know. We’ll sneak you in for a sherry, if you promise to behave yourself.”

This pastel sketch – by Stephen Ward – is of the unidentified girl who attended the infamous 1961 party at Cliveden, where Christine Keeler first met John Profumo. It was found on the reverse of Ward’s portrait of Keeler, which can be seen on the cover of my 2004 novella, Wicked Baby (soon to be reissued via Kindle.)

This discovery was made by the curators at London’s National Portrait Gallery, while preparing their new display, Scandal ’63, which I hope to review. Writing for the Telegraph, Richard Davenport-Hines – author of An English Affair – suggests the model could be none other than ‘Miss X‘, later a witness in Ward’s ill-fated trial.

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