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Unknown sitter

by Stephen Ward
pastel, 1960 or 1961
12 in. x 9 7/8 in. (304 mm x 250 mm)
Purchased, 1984
Primary Collection
NPG 5720a

Artistback to top

  • Stephen Ward (1912-1963), Osteopath and artist. Artist or producer of 2 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This drawing, on the reverse of Stephen Ward’s portrait of Christine Keeler (NPG 5720), was once owned by Keeler. She had typed and signed a note in 1975 authenticating it, adding, ‘I don’t know who the girl on the back is – she is somebody we just picked up at a bus-stop.’
In one of her autobiographies (subsequently made into the film Scandal in 1989, starring John Hurt as Ward and Ian McKellan as John Profumo), Keeler describes the night when she and her friend Leon Norell drove out of London, having failed to find a girl for Ward:
“Driving past London airport, we offered a lift to a girl waiting at a bus stop. She seemed so nice, so we invited her to the party at Stephen’s cottage...’
Keeler was describing the party at Spring Cottage on the Cliveden estate on the weekend of 8th and 9th July 1961, when she was introduced to John Profumo, Minister for War. It has been suggested that this mystery portrait could be the ‘Miss X’ who testified at Ward’s trial for immorality charges, or a hitch-hiker picked up by Keeler and her boyfriend Noel Howard-Jones, or, as Norell recalled, possibly a girl named Ursula.
See the NPG blog entry from June 2013 for further details about this portrait and the Christine Keeler portrait on the obverse.

Related worksback to top

Events of 1960back to top

Current affairs

Prince Andrew is born, the third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
The Contraceptive Pill is introduced in England, dramatically changing the nation's approach to sex and relationships, and significantly contributing to the 1960s culture of liberation.

Art and science

Penguin books defend D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover against charges of obscenity by demonstrating that the novel was of literary merit. The 'not guilty' verdict was seen as a victory for free speech and marked the beginning if a new era of liberalism.
The satirical revue Beyond the Fringe launches the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller.

International

Harold Macmillan delivers his 'wind of change' speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, announcing Britain's decision to grant independence to many of her colonies. The speech recognised the emergence of African nationalism, and criticised the policy of Apartheid in South Africa.

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