Christine Keeler

1 portrait of Christine Keeler

© Lewis Morley Archive

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Christine Keeler

by Lewis Morley
vintage gelatin silver print, June 1963
14 3/8 in. x 9 5/8 in. (365 mm x 245 mm)
Given by Lewis Morley, 1981
Photographs Collection
NPG x88354

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Lewis Morley (1925-2013), Photographer. Artist or producer of 308 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

One of a series publicity photographs that Morley was commissioned to take for a film about the Profumo Affair planned by Nicholas Luard, proprietor of the Establishment Club. The producers of the film insisted that Keeler was contract-bound to be photographed nude. Morley's suggestion that Keeler sit naked astride the chair, a Heals imitation of an Arne Jacobsen design, allowed her to fulfill the contract but remain hidden. Various poses were shot during the session and this image soon gained notoriety following its first unofficial publication in the Sunday Mirror, 9 June 1963.

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Events of 1963back to top

Current affairs

The Secretary of State for War, John Profumo is found to have lied to the House of Commons when he denied having an affair with the showgirl, Christine Keeler. The Profumo Affair was a public scandal for the Conservative party, and ultimately contributed to the resignation of Harold Macmillan.

Art and science

Doctor Who is first broadcast on the BBC with William Hartnell playing the Doctor. This long running science fiction series about an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his police-box-shaped Tardis has been watched by generations of viewers (often from behind the back of the sofa), and features imaginative, but traditionally low-budget, special effects, innovative electronic music, and the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks.

International

John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Texas. The arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald for his murder did not prevent a score of conspiracy theories involving Cuba, the CIA, the KGB, and the Mafia among others.
Martin Luther King delivers his 'I have a dream' speech, marking an important moment in the civil rights movement in America and helping to secure him the Nobel Peace Prize' in 1964.

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Andrew Stys

13 February 2016, 16:17

Chris Ridley was the assistant to Lewis Morley on this shoot.
"She was utterly beautiful, and sexy.. his studio was at the top of the Establishment Club, run by Peter Cook and co at the time. in Greek Street, Soho."