Unholy Joy: 50 Years On - A Short History of the Profumo Affair E-Book

John Lawton

• Herausgeber: Grove Press UK
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, the Profumo Affair was the biggest British political scandal of 1963. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy, followed by his lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of Profumo and damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government. Here, John Lawton explores how the scandal evolved and the effect it had upon the population of an increasingly liberated Britain. Unholy Joy went on to become the basis for a novel. A Little White Death has its roots in the Profumo affair, the correspondences will be apparent to the reader... but the 'buds and leaves' are Lawton's fiction. This kindle edition includes an extract from A Little White Death.

Leseprobe

First published in hardback in Great Britain in 1992 by

Hodder & Stoughton, an imprint of Hachette Livre

This E-book edition published in Great Britain in 2013 by

Grove Press UK, an imprint of Grove/Atlantic Inc.

Copyright © John Lawton, 1992

The moral right of John Lawton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.

Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright-holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity.

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A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

E-book ISBN 978 1 61185 976 8

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Contents

UNHOLY JOY

Read on for an extract from A LITTLE WHITE DEATH

§ 19

§ 20

§ 21

§ 22

§ 23

§ 24

§ 25

§ 26

§ 27

§ 28

§ 29

§ 30

UNHOLY JOY

I doubt Im alone in arguing that the 1930s lasted a lifetime prolonged by the austerity of the war and immediate post-war years it is more culturally sound to defy the calendar and say they they finally ran their course in 1963. In 1963 Britain began to shrug off one way of life and adopt another. Shrug is an understatement the process was loud and physical. Few things louder than the Beatles, fewer still more physical than the Profumo affair.

The world prior 1963 is not a world we lost, its one we threw away. This piece is about that casting off but equally its about the resistance to the process as much about the moral backlash as the sexual liberation.

The title is taken from a phrase coined by Bernard Levin. I was fortunate enough to work with Bernard some twenty years after these events. I dont think he cared much for reminiscence, but kindly agreed to an interview quite possibly the last he ever gave on the subject of 1963.

With a roar of unholy joy, the deprived flung themselves on the sated.

Bernard Levin1

Even Suez was clean about war and politics. This was all dirt.

Harold Macmillan2

There is an affair in the tides of men. At 11 oclock on the evening of March 21st, towards the end of the fruitless debate on Foster and Mulholland, Colonel George Wigg, MP for Dudley, took it at the flood: