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Bringing the House Down: A Family Memoir
David Profumo was just seven when his father, who had been Secretary of State for War, resigned from the Macmillan government. Despite the furore and humiliation that followed, his parents famously stayed together - and now, forty years on, their son has written this long-awaited account of their family life before, during and after the sensational events of 1963. Drawing on diaries, letters and other memorabilia never before made public, Bringing The House Down describes their background and careers before they met. After an apprenticeship in Hollywood during her teenage years, the beautiful Valerie Hobson went on to star in numerous British films before her stage triumph in 'The King and I'; John Profumo had been the youngest MP during the Second World War, became a Brigadier at the age of thirty, and was rapidly rising through the ranks of the Conservative party. This is the story of their complicated courtship and volatile marriage, the destruction of their glamorous lifestyle and their endurance of the aftermath. By turns intimate, caustic and poignant, their only child's personal memoir of their three lives together not only puts flesh on the bones of the old family skeleton but also offers a remarkable portrait of a love affair that somehow survived in a world turned upside down.
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First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 3, 2023
An absorbing read. The politician John Profumo's son David has written what he calls a "family memoir" to put the record straight about his father's life.
John Profumo and Valerie Hobson, the film actress, were a glamorous couple, very much in the public eye when the "Profumo Scandal" broke. David Profumo's book is a loving account of both his father's and his mother's life, starting before they ever met. (Both came from wealthy families.) He continues after the event, chronicling the valuable political work his father did after the affair.
David Profumo does not shy away from contentious areas in this account. For instance his mother had a baby with some kind of learning or mental problems, whom she never acknowledged publicly, but put in an institution. On the other hand the author is fiercely loyal to his father, whom he considers was badly treated by the government during the Christine Keeler episode. There seems to have been a lot of media hype about so-called secrets told to the Russians, and although his father was certainly involved with Christine Keeler, so were other politicians. Whether there were any secrets to be passed on, should Christine Keeler have been in a position to do this, was also unclear. It looked very much as if John Profumo was made to carry the can for a messy situation which had been blown up out of all proportion once the newspapers realised the value of the story. The idea of a pretty young girl giving sexual favours in turn for military secrets, and thereby bringing down the government was irresistible. In order for the government to stay in power a scapegoat had to be found, so John Profumo resigned.
This is the part of the story which most readers will have some knowledge of, if they remember the times or have an interest in British Politics. It is carefully documented with all the available evidence, and an attempt to be wholly objective. But it only forms a small part of this memoir, which embraces the whole family. David Profumo writes an account of an unusual family, and unique circumstances, with wry humour and wit.
John Profumo and Valerie Hobson, the film actress, were a glamorous couple, very much in the public eye when the "Profumo Scandal" broke. David Profumo's book is a loving account of both his father's and his mother's life, starting before they ever met. (Both came from wealthy families.) He continues after the event, chronicling the valuable political work his father did after the affair.
David Profumo does not shy away from contentious areas in this account. For instance his mother had a baby with some kind of learning or mental problems, whom she never acknowledged publicly, but put in an institution. On the other hand the author is fiercely loyal to his father, whom he considers was badly treated by the government during the Christine Keeler episode. There seems to have been a lot of media hype about so-called secrets told to the Russians, and although his father was certainly involved with Christine Keeler, so were other politicians. Whether there were any secrets to be passed on, should Christine Keeler have been in a position to do this, was also unclear. It looked very much as if John Profumo was made to carry the can for a messy situation which had been blown up out of all proportion once the newspapers realised the value of the story. The idea of a pretty young girl giving sexual favours in turn for military secrets, and thereby bringing down the government was irresistible. In order for the government to stay in power a scapegoat had to be found, so John Profumo resigned.
This is the part of the story which most readers will have some knowledge of, if they remember the times or have an interest in British Politics. It is carefully documented with all the available evidence, and an attempt to be wholly objective. But it only forms a small part of this memoir, which embraces the whole family. David Profumo writes an account of an unusual family, and unique circumstances, with wry humour and wit.
February 27, 2014
Review first posted on BookLikes: http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/...
The story of John Profumo, Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward has been in the news again over the past few months following the refusal of the government to release the official records relating to Ward's trial and open further investigation into whether Ward had been a victim to possibly the most publicized miscarriage of justice of the 1960s. To a lesser degree, the recent news coverage has of course also been spurned on by Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest stage production but that is one angle I'll gladly leave to the theatre critics.
I picked up this memoir after reading the official report on the Profumo scandal that was commissioned by the Prime Minister in 1963.
David Profumo's memoirs of the events surrounding his fathers resignation do not add much to the information that is already available. It is a nicely written recollection of his childhood but his using a lot name-dropping does not make his story that engaging to read.
The story of John Profumo, Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward has been in the news again over the past few months following the refusal of the government to release the official records relating to Ward's trial and open further investigation into whether Ward had been a victim to possibly the most publicized miscarriage of justice of the 1960s. To a lesser degree, the recent news coverage has of course also been spurned on by Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest stage production but that is one angle I'll gladly leave to the theatre critics.
I picked up this memoir after reading the official report on the Profumo scandal that was commissioned by the Prime Minister in 1963.
David Profumo's memoirs of the events surrounding his fathers resignation do not add much to the information that is already available. It is a nicely written recollection of his childhood but his using a lot name-dropping does not make his story that engaging to read.
March 6, 2014
Bringing The House Down: A Family Memoir
Profumo
non-fiction
spring 2013
R4x
politics
biography
pub 2006
1: 4 Extra Debut. Spies in scandal - two people meet at the Chelsea Arts Club Ball. Written by John Profumo's son David. Read by Robert Glenister.
2: the glamorous couple finally tie the knot.
3: the news breaks and a young boy is baffled.
4: the press pursue, the family goes to ground.
5: a school library offers the answers sought.
Valerie Hobson
Dusty Springfield, Pet Shop Boys - Scandal (Nothing Has Been Proved)
3*
Profumo
non-fiction
spring 2013
R4x
politics
biography
pub 2006
1: 4 Extra Debut. Spies in scandal - two people meet at the Chelsea Arts Club Ball. Written by John Profumo's son David. Read by Robert Glenister.
2: the glamorous couple finally tie the knot.
3: the news breaks and a young boy is baffled.
4: the press pursue, the family goes to ground.
5: a school library offers the answers sought.
Valerie Hobson
Dusty Springfield, Pet Shop Boys - Scandal (Nothing Has Been Proved)
3*
January 31, 2020
I decided to re-read this as I’ve been watching the latest TV adaption of the Profumu Scandal with half an eye . My take on the TV series is that younger viewers will find the story totally baffling and although that is in part a criticism of the series, it is also a fairly confusing saga. At its basic level it is straightforward enough; John Profumu, a Government Minister, lied to the House of Commons when he denied sleeping with the call girl, Christine Keeler, and then resigned in disgrace when he realised the lie was about to exposed. Of course, even that simple explantation is now difficult to understand as post Margaret Thatcher’s ‘the truth is stranger than fiction’ bluster in the wake of the Westland Affair, lying to the House is apparently no longer a resigning matter.
However, even in more straight forward times, this saga had elements of virtually everything. This was the Cold War era and just two years after the Bay of Pigs crisis, Profumo, managed to chance upon a girl who was also associated with a KGB spy. Then there is the ‘upstairs/downstairs’ element; the first fateful meeting occurred at Lord Astor’s Cliveden Estate. So, so far we have the Minister, the Prostitute, the Lord and the Spy, so what else do we need.? Well a Doctor apparently, because we are to led to believe Stephen Ward, a London Osteopath, was Keeler’s pimp and trying to understand Ward’s motives is where the saga becomes unduly complex. Financially it is unlikely he needed the money (and for a call girl Keeler seemed remarkably poor at collecting payment), so was he a spy (MI5 did have him under observation for long spells) or did he just enjoy being some odd ball puppet master? Now add in a couple of actresses, the celebrated actress Valerie Hobson was Profumo’s wife and, the Oscar Wilde of the piece, Mandy Rice -Davies (who probably never met Profumo) described herself as an actress. Finally throw in the sub-plot of two Notting Hill based jazz musicians, Lucky Gordon and Johnny Edgecombe, who were both Keeler’s lovers and whose ongoing spat and Keeler’s non-appearance as a witness at Edgecombe’s court case was the catalyst for the press to build the pressure that led to Profumo realising the game was up.
This is the messy plot that Profumo’s son set himself the task of explaining, but he starts with his parent’s earlier lives. Even without the scandal they had eventful lives, including Hobson’s time in Hollywood and Profumo being present at the surrender of the German forces in Italy. Despite the family connection the author steers a fairly dispassionate course, but is perhaps overly scathing about Keeler, whilst he clearly admires MR-D for maximising the commercial benefits of her peripheral involvement. Neutrals might have perhaps preferred more focus on the trials of Keeler for perjury and Ward for pimping, which with hindsight look like establishment vindictiveness. Overall he writes well, but can be a tad dismissive (a nanny is condescendingly described as a ‘simpleton’) and he has an annoying habit of over-using French and Latin phrases. By his own admission the author was too young to have any real insight into how his parents coped and stayed together in the immediate post scandal months, but he does detail Profumo’s subsequent relentless charity work with Toynbee Hall in London’s East End. This part of Profumo’s story always interests me most of all (I was too young in 1963 to take in much of the detail at the time) as in the 1970s I went to evening classes in the college next to Toynbee Hall i and often saw Profumo coming and going. A quite ordinary looking man who probably didn't bring down a Government. Macmillan resigned on health grounds, even at my young age I could see his replacement Douglas-Home was not quite up to it (although compared with recent PMs he would look a quality act) and Wilson was the coming man. In any event this was also the era when the electorate was willing to give one party a go for five years or so and then try the other lot.
However, even in more straight forward times, this saga had elements of virtually everything. This was the Cold War era and just two years after the Bay of Pigs crisis, Profumo, managed to chance upon a girl who was also associated with a KGB spy. Then there is the ‘upstairs/downstairs’ element; the first fateful meeting occurred at Lord Astor’s Cliveden Estate. So, so far we have the Minister, the Prostitute, the Lord and the Spy, so what else do we need.? Well a Doctor apparently, because we are to led to believe Stephen Ward, a London Osteopath, was Keeler’s pimp and trying to understand Ward’s motives is where the saga becomes unduly complex. Financially it is unlikely he needed the money (and for a call girl Keeler seemed remarkably poor at collecting payment), so was he a spy (MI5 did have him under observation for long spells) or did he just enjoy being some odd ball puppet master? Now add in a couple of actresses, the celebrated actress Valerie Hobson was Profumo’s wife and, the Oscar Wilde of the piece, Mandy Rice -Davies (who probably never met Profumo) described herself as an actress. Finally throw in the sub-plot of two Notting Hill based jazz musicians, Lucky Gordon and Johnny Edgecombe, who were both Keeler’s lovers and whose ongoing spat and Keeler’s non-appearance as a witness at Edgecombe’s court case was the catalyst for the press to build the pressure that led to Profumo realising the game was up.
This is the messy plot that Profumo’s son set himself the task of explaining, but he starts with his parent’s earlier lives. Even without the scandal they had eventful lives, including Hobson’s time in Hollywood and Profumo being present at the surrender of the German forces in Italy. Despite the family connection the author steers a fairly dispassionate course, but is perhaps overly scathing about Keeler, whilst he clearly admires MR-D for maximising the commercial benefits of her peripheral involvement. Neutrals might have perhaps preferred more focus on the trials of Keeler for perjury and Ward for pimping, which with hindsight look like establishment vindictiveness. Overall he writes well, but can be a tad dismissive (a nanny is condescendingly described as a ‘simpleton’) and he has an annoying habit of over-using French and Latin phrases. By his own admission the author was too young to have any real insight into how his parents coped and stayed together in the immediate post scandal months, but he does detail Profumo’s subsequent relentless charity work with Toynbee Hall in London’s East End. This part of Profumo’s story always interests me most of all (I was too young in 1963 to take in much of the detail at the time) as in the 1970s I went to evening classes in the college next to Toynbee Hall i and often saw Profumo coming and going. A quite ordinary looking man who probably didn't bring down a Government. Macmillan resigned on health grounds, even at my young age I could see his replacement Douglas-Home was not quite up to it (although compared with recent PMs he would look a quality act) and Wilson was the coming man. In any event this was also the era when the electorate was willing to give one party a go for five years or so and then try the other lot.
June 8, 2023
A view from the other side of the profumo affair,a good read but found that there were sentences in French or Latin.i started to Google them but found out it was interfering with the continuity of the book.i felt as though the author was trying to prove how clever he was,it didn't work for me.interesting lead up to and beyond the incident,nowadays it be a seen as a badge of honour what was then frowned upon by those who were probably doing the same but had not got caught.make your own mind up when you read it.
April 5, 2020
David Profumo is an excellent writer, and I loved that I had to look up some words I didn't know. Despite that, this gets boring in spots. I didn't really know this story, and that made it interesting.
January 20, 2015
I saw this book on a list of people's favorite books from the past year, although this is several years old. I didn't know much about the Profumo scandal. This is a pretty amazing family memoir -- the son seems to see the father pretty clearly, good points and bad. He's sort of tough on his mother, although she stuck with the father. The father's life post-scandal is amazing -- John Edwards should take note.
The writer of this book, David Profumo, has the most unbelievable vocabulary I've even encountered. At some point, I stopped looking the words I didn't know (at least one every other page). He's really funny though. Very English voice.
The writer of this book, David Profumo, has the most unbelievable vocabulary I've even encountered. At some point, I stopped looking the words I didn't know (at least one every other page). He's really funny though. Very English voice.
June 1, 2012
Family memories are never easy to communicate. Attempts in print generally fail through being sentimental, or merely factual, or by trying to hide the hurt which attends every maturing under a wash of humour applied too late to make any difference.
But this account is as rare as it is real, by being as loving and generous and courageous as its central characters J and V.
I found myself increasingly appreciative of their example; by the end, I loved them as much as I admired them.
This is a beautifully drawn portrait.
But this account is as rare as it is real, by being as loving and generous and courageous as its central characters J and V.
I found myself increasingly appreciative of their example; by the end, I loved them as much as I admired them.
This is a beautifully drawn portrait.
October 22, 2008
Profumo's father was at the center of the infamous Profumo Affair in the early 1960s, that brought down the British government (indirectly). His dry humor and wit are quintessentially British and also what make the book enjoyable even if you have never heard of Christine Keeler...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews