The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward: Sex, Scandal and Deadly Secrets in the Profumo Affair

by Anthony Summers and Stephen Dorril

The Profumo Affair was the political scandal of the twentieth century. The Tory War Minister, John Profumo, had been sleeping with the teenage Christine Keeler, while at the same time she had been sleeping with a Russian spy. The ensuing investigation revealed a secret world where titled men and prostitutes mixed, of orgies and S&M parties. The revelations rocked the British establishment to its core and lead to the resignation of the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. And seemingly at the centre of it all was one man, Dr Stephen Ward.


Stephen Ward was many things to many people. He was a successful osteopath to an establishment list of clients. He was a part-time artist who had drawn portraits of members of the Royal Family. To some he was a 'provider of popsies to rich people'; a man who knews lots of pretty girls of flexible morals. And finally, when the scandal came crashing down on the government, he was a scapegoat, put on trial and, ultimately, hounded to his death.


The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward is the definitive investigation into the Profumo scandal and the life and mysterious death of the man at its heart.

• ISBN10: 1472216636
• ISBN13: 9781472216632
• Publish Date: 6 December 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lianne]

I was approved of an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/03/07/review-the-secret-worlds-of-stephen-ward/

The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward chronologically follows the life Dr. Stephen Ward, his mingling amongst the upper and political classes and the events that not only affected their activities but also led to Ward’s downfall. It’s a pretty crazy course of events, one that you’d find in a movie or a thriller novel, but it actually happened. The reader learns not only how all of these developments led to the scandal–from the Kennedy administration to the showdown with the Soviet Union in the early sixties to the orgy parties that were happening behind the scenes (call me naive but I had no idea these sorts of things were going on during this time period)–but also learns how these developments raised questions about security and trust in the people who work in public office.

The book also raises questions whether Stephen Ward served as a scapegoat to cover up the more scandalous happenings amongst these circles as well as the involvement of the Soviets and what the spy community was doing during this time. I would have appreciated it if the authors had also delved a little bit on the impact of the scandal in the epilogue, how the scandal affected British politics moving forward (if at all). I read after the fact that there was a movie made back in the late 1980s about it and there are a few stage dramatisations on it (one as recent as 2013) but I wonder how prominent it factors into the public consciousness these days.

Nonetheless The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward was an interesting read and a great starting point if you don't know much about the scandal.