The updated edition of the full story behind this defining moment of the twentieth century In 1961, a beautiful 19-year-old girl had a short affair with the Minister for War, John Profumo. Within two years, this led to the downfall of Harold Macmillan's government - she had also been having an affair with a Russian diplomat (this was the height of the Cold War), and Profumo had lied to Parliament. But the social impact was greater than any political legacy: sex was now on everyone's lips, and the press had discovered that it could, and would, expose the private lives of public figures. The story that Christine Keeler, the woman at the epicentre of this scandal, tells reverses all our preconceptions of this near-legendary episode. The political and diplomatic ramifications of the affair and the activities of the circles in which she moved may well have been more far-reaching than ever imagined. But above all this is the life's journey of a woman whom history has refused to let go, of her enormous personal sacrifices, and of her unstinting resolve.

Author Biography

Christine Keeler, born in the Midlands, was a model of note in her teens - her portrait astride a chair by Lewis Morley has become iconic. Tried for alleged perjury after the death Steven Ward and briefly jailed, the story of her early life was adapted as the film Scandal. She now writes and presents for television, and lives in north London.