In its early report on the death of John Profumo, the Conservative War Minister whose liaison with Christine Keeler—who was also sleeping with a Russian intelligence officer—rocked British politics in 1963, the Times of London noted that at first the press had not played up the story. “With a discretion that now seems astonishing,” wrote Jenny Bootha and Simon Freeman, “the newspapers to whom Ms. Keeler sold her story held back from publishing details.” It was a reminder of how much scandal itself has changed in the last forty-three years. So, in a different way, was The New York Times’s headline to an Associated Press story about Profumo’s passing: “John Profumo, Scandal-Plagued Briton, Dies at 91.” Why do I think there’s something wrong, something anachronistic about that epithet? Profumo wasn’t a scandal-plagued Briton. Back in those days you were either involved in a...

 

A Message from the Editors

Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.

Popular Right Now