Mandy Rice-Davies, (born Marilyn
Davies, 21 October 1944) is undoubtedly best known for her role in the 1963
Profumo scandal, the sex and spy shenanigans that rocked British society in the
early 19860s and led to the downfall of the Tory government. Ahh, simpler times:
today it seems that a government of any stripe can get away with anything.
For those unaware, or in need of
a refresher, it all began one weekend in July 1961 when William, Viscount Astor
(known to everyone as Bill) and his wife Bronwen were hosting a house party at
their Buckinghamshire pile, Cliveden House, with guests including the president
of Pakistan, and the then-Secretary of State for War, John Profumo and his wife,
actress Valerie Hobson. At the same time in Spring Cottage, a small house on
the Cliveden estate, 19-year-old Christine Keeler was attending a different
party held by Stephen Ward, a friend of the Astors and a keen amateur artist who
had recently been invited to Buckingham Palace, where the Duke of Edinburgh and
Princess Margaret had sat for pencil portraits.
On the Saturday evening, guests from both parties mingled
at the Cliveden swimming pool. Keeler, who had been swimming naked, was
introduced to Profumo (although it was later established that the pair had met
previously), and they began an affair shortly afterwards. Sadly for Profumo,
Ward was also friends with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a naval attaché at the
Soviet Embassy in London - and Ivanov was also having an affair with Keeler. Profumo
broke off the affair, and that might have been the end of it had all of this
not occurred at the height of the Cold War. MI5 wanted to use Keeler to entrap
Ivanov, who they saw as a potential double agent, and they encouraged Ward to
ensure that this happened. MI5 knew of Profumo’s liaison with Keeler, and
rumours began to circulate around Fleet Street about the affair, but even then
it may have blown over if Keeler had not become involved in another scandal, a
shooting incident at Ward’s London home in December 1962 that led the press to
investigate her more thoroughly.
Christine Keeler was as the apartment with her friend Marylin Davies. The man
who had tried to shoot the lock off the door, and admitted that he had intended
to kill Keeler, was Johnny Edgecombe, a petty criminal and thug who had already
carved up one of Keeler’s other lovers, Aloysius “Lucky” Gordon, on the
dancefloor of Soho’s Flamingo club, formerly owned by Jeffrey Kruger, the
founder of Ember Records. Kruger, who had helped bail Joe Meek out when he was
setting up his studio at Holloway Road, could never be accused of missing an
opportunity. Ember would issue the single Christine by Miss X (which I wrote about back in 2015), inspired by Christine Keeler: the enigmatic Miss X was actually Joyce Blair,
the sister of dancer and choreographer Lionel. The company also issued an album
that lampooned the whole affair, Fool
Britannia, featuring Peter Sellers and Joan Collins.
Questions were being asked about the relationship between Profumo and Keeler
and about the Government’s involvement in another spy scandal concerning John
Vassall, a naval attaché at the British embassy in Moscow. Labour MPs George
Wigg and Barbara Castle took advantage of Parliamentary privilege, which
provides immunity from legal action, to refer to the rumours linking a minister
with Keeler and then raised questions about how the scandal related to the
Vassall case. Wigg demanded that there should be either an enquiry into the
rumours or a denial from Profumo, although he stopped short of identifying him
in the House.
The following day Profumo made a personal statement in which he admitted he
knew Keeler and Ward, but he insisted that ‘There was no impropriety in my
acquaintanceship with Miss Keeler and I have made this statement because of
what was said yesterday in the House by three MPs and which remarks were
protected by privilege. I shall not hesitate to issue writs for libel and
slander if scandalous allegations are made or repeated outside this House.’
Keeler was absent for the duration of the Edgecombe trial. Barbara Castle
suggested that Profumo could be involved with her disappearance, but Miss Davies
was happy to tell reporters that she believed that her friend was somewhere on
the Continent: ‘Christine has very influential friends who mix in diplomatic
and political circles in European capitals.’ Among her influential friends was
Alex Murray, the former lover of both Lee Middleton (Lady Lee, who would later
marry DJ Kenny Everett) and Lionel Bart (Bart once revealed that his ballad As
Long As He Needs Me, which was featured in Oliver!
and had provided Shirly Bassey with a big hit in 1960, was written about
Murray) who, under his real name Alex Wharton, had recorded Keeler’s
confessions on to tape for a possible ‘tell all’ book about the affair.
On 5 June 1963, Profumo was forced to admit that he had lied to the House, and
he resigned from office. The
following month, Ward stood in the witness box of the Old Bailey, charged with
five counts of living off immoral earnings. The jury found him guilty, but he
was not there to hear the verdict. Ward was in a coma when the sentence was
passed, having taken an overdose of sleeping tablets. He died three days later,
leaving suicide notes addressed to several people including Lord Denning and Vickie
Barrett, who had claimed that Ward had picked her up in Oxford Street and had
taken her home where she was “required to be intimate with some men and to whip
and cane others.’ Ward admitted knowing Barrett and having sex with her but
denied acting as her pimp. He did admit to paying the rent on the flat occupied
by Keeler and Rice-Davies, and to introducing them to Lord Astor and others. Barrett's
letter said: ‘I don't know what it was or who it was that made you do what you
did. But if you have any decency left, you should tell the truth. You owe this
not to me, but to everyone who may be treated like you or like me in the
future.’
The series of scandals scuppered the Conservative government. Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan, who openly supported Profumo as he lied to the House,
resigned in October and the following year the Labour party won the General
Election, ending 13 years of Tory rule.
Rice-Davies traded on the notoriety the trial brought
her, and in 1964 released a four-track EP, again for Ember, entitled Introducing
Mandy. That would be her only UK release, but it was followed in several
European countries by the single Hey Mr Robinson (a nod to Labour grandee
Geoffrey Robinson, who was alleged to have passed on highly sensitive
intelligence including defence secrets to communist agents), backed with Auf
Die Grosse Liebe, both sung in pigeon-German and with the tune for the
latter based on Au Clair de la Lune.
Over the next few decades she would be involved in
several enterprises, including running nightclubs, issuing her autobiography ad
even acting, appearing in the Tom Stoppard play, Dirty Linen and
New-Found-Land. She went on to appear in a number of television and film
productions, including the comedy series Absolutely Fabulous and Chance
in a Million. Her film career included roles in Nana, the True Key of
Pleasure (1982), Black Venus (1983), and Absolute Beginners
(1986). She was played by Bridget Fonda in the 1989 film Scandal, alongside
Joanne Whalley as Keeler.
Mandy Rice-Davies died, aged 70, on 18 December 2014 after
a long battle with cancer.
Here are a couple of tracks from Miss Rice-Davies, the aforementioned
Hey Mr Robinson and, from the Introducing Mandy EP, her flat but
fun cover of the classic You Got What It Takes. Enjoy!
Download Robinson HERE
Download Takes HERE
