Mandy Rice-Davies, a key figure in the 1963 Profumo affair, has died after a short battle with cancer, a spokesman for publicist Hackford Jones said today.

The music mogul Simon Cowell - who has his own record label Syco - is in the early stages of putting together a pop group to conquer the US market and has been in talks with a number of producers and songwriters to create the right sound.