Sex, lies and the Profumo affair

Fifty years ago, Christine Keeler and John Profumo brought down a government and changed a nation forever. Clive Irving on the scandal that rocked Britain

SHE sits astride a knockoff copy of a plywood Arne Jacobsen chair, the chair reversed so that its kidney-shaped back provides just enough modesty to the axis of her nakedness. Her elbows rest on the chair back; her forearms cover her breasts, her chin in her cupped hands. She stares with impudence at the camera. She is young, but there is a little coarseness to her as she plays the vamp; she has been groomed in a hurry for the role.

“Lucky chair,” says someone.