Editing Profumo affair (section)

===Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies, and Lord Astor===
[[File:Cliveden Estate from the River Thames - geograph.org.uk - 94809.jpg|thumb|Spring Cottage, Stephen Ward's rented riverside cottage on the [[Cliveden]] estate, one of the key locations in the Profumo affair]]
[[Christine Keeler]], born in [[Uxbridge]] in 1942, left school at age 15 with no qualifications and took a series of short-lived jobs in shops, offices and cafés. She aspired to be a model, and at age 16 had a photograph published in [[Tit-Bits|''Tit-Bits'' magazine]].<ref>Irving et al, pp. 6–7</ref> In August 1959, Keeler found work as a topless showgirl at [[Murray's Cabaret Club]] in [[Beak Street]], [[Soho]]. This long-established club attracted a distinguished clientèle of whom, Keeler wrote, they "could look but could not touch".<ref>Knightley and Kennedy, p. 56</ref><ref>Keeler, p. 2</ref>

Shortly after starting at Murray's, Keeler was introduced to a client, the society [[Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine|osteopath]] [[Stephen Ward]]. Captivated by Ward's charm, she agreed to move into his flat, in a relationship she has described as "like brother and sister"—affectionate but not sexual.<ref>Summers and Dorril, p. 88</ref> Keeler left Ward after a few months to become the mistress of the property dealer [[Peter Rachman]],<ref>Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 58–59</ref>{{#tag:ref|Rachman later transferred his attentions to Mandy Rice-Davies, who lived in his Bryanston Mews flat for more than a year, until his death in November 1962.<ref>Davenport-Hines, pp. 148 and 286</ref> |group= n}} and later shared lodgings with [[Mandy Rice-Davies]], a fellow Murray's dancer two and a half years her junior. The two girls left Murray's and attempted without success to pursue careers as freelance models.<ref>Irving et al, p. 35</ref><ref>Knightley and Kennedy, p. 80</ref> Keeler also lived for short periods with various boyfriends, but regularly returned to Ward, who had acquired a house in [[Wimpole Mews]], [[Marylebone]].<ref>Irving et al, p. 13</ref><ref name="Denning8">Denning, p. 8</ref> There she met many of Ward's friends, among them [[William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor|Lord Astor]], a long-time patient who was also a political ally of Profumo.<ref name="odnbP" /><ref>Davenport-Hines, pp. 100–01</ref> She often spent weekends at a riverside cottage that Ward rented on Astor's country estate, [[Cliveden]], in [[Buckinghamshire]].<ref>Robertson, p. 20</ref>