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The truth at last: My story

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Christine Keeler was the woman at the centre of the Profumo scandal in the 1960s, which led to the downfall of Harold Macmillan's government. Keeler was tried for alleged perjury and briefly jailed. For the first time, she tells her side of the story.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Gary.
1,032 reviews254 followers
October 23, 2016
What a miracle Christine Keeler survived all the threats and attempts on her life
A case of unjust gender bias is how the establishment for some of the men involved in the scandal to be rehabilitated but not Christine Keeler
She was swept into a world beyond her control at 16 and is a victim of what today we call 'slut shaming' Slut shaming should be done away with in this day and age but alas still persists
Profile Image for Perry.
170 reviews3 followers
November 4, 2018
I've had this book for a few years but never got around to reading it. Then, last year, when she died, I remembered and took it off the shelf ready to read. Even then, I always found something more compelling to bury my head in. Finally, a few days ago I started to read it and was totally absorbed by her account of the scandal she gave her name to.

I'm only a few months older than Keeler, and I remember well the names and the general hoo-ha that took place at the time. I lived in Britain then and for a while worked in the City. The Swinging Sixties. Flower Power and all that. It was a fascinating and often exciting era to live through.

Keeler names many identities that were familiar at the time, and not just those who were involved in her case. Her story is markedly different to Lord Denning's version. She was naive, hedonistic, and very young, and was clearly set up to be a scapegoat to protect those in power. So many Etonians, Harrovians, and other public school types occupied the upper echelons of government and the diplomatic service. You would think that the British might have learned by now that this distortion should be redressed, but take a look at the current government and you'll see that not much has changed.

This is a good, well (ghost) written story that keeps you wanting to know more even though the story is already known. Definitely recommended.
Profile Image for Roy.
143 reviews4 followers
Read
July 25, 2011
The reason that I read this book was I wanted to hear her verdion of the story .
Profile Image for Chris Phillips.
Author 6 books2 followers
June 6, 2020
This is something I remember as a schoolboy in the 1960s. Reading the book over the past few months, it really opens up the eyes to what nasty things go on in Government.
Christine was 19 years old when she first got involved in this terrible situation, and was lead on by Steven Ward into much hush-hushed events. The lies and inuendos in government circles were much more than one suspected, One really needs to read this book to see how devious things were.
And perhaps will open up minds to how devious things in government are still going on.
Things are really not as the media try & make us believe.
1 review
Read
January 1, 2023
Received as a gift for Christmas 2022. I was curious as the Profumo scandal was a proper scandal but I didn't know much about it.
Not a very pleasant tale and I confess I didn't complete it. It just left too unpleasant a taste for me.
Profile Image for Melinda.
816 reviews
March 19, 2013
I had this book for quite a while and saw a show on PBS about Jack Kennedy's women which mentioned Christine Keeler. So I dug it out and began reading.
So no, she didn't sleep with him (let's get that right out of the way!). She did sleep with Peter Lawford though, who was rather under-endowed, and half of England from the sounds of it. I just had to keep thinking of her age- she was 17 when she left home and had a beautiful face and a non stop body. So yes, men were hitting on her constantly. But did she have to sleep with them all? I am (really!) not a prude, but she seems truly amoral. And so naive. Even after the Profumo affair, she seems to be taken advantage of by men of all kinds,for sex, money, whatever. She is beaten once, twice by a particular man and yet she still goes out with him? I am glad she found happiness with her second child and seems to have come out with enough to live, but I have to say, a lot of it seems of her own making through omission if not commission.
Profile Image for Karen.
2,594 reviews
Want to read
June 25, 2016
Christine Keeler was the woman at the centre of the Profumo scandal in the 1960s, which led to the downfall of Harold Macmillan's government. Keeler was tried for alleged perjury and briefly jailed. For the first time, she tells her side of the story. #memoir #government #british #primeminister #legal #sex #scandal
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