The Profumo affair was a 1963 British political scandal that originated with a sexual liaison between John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's government, and Christine Keeler, a 19-year- old would-be model. Profumo originally denied any impropriety, but in June 1963 admitted the truth and resigned from parliament in disgrace. Concern was heightened by Keeler's alleged simultaneous involvement with Yevgeny Ivanov, a suspected Soviet spy. Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her mentor, Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite. After the scandal broke, Ward's private life was investigated, and he was convicted of immorality offences. He took a fatal overdose during the final stages of his trial, which has since been perceived as an act of Establishment revenge, rather than as serving justice. In January 2014 the case was under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Profumo redeemed himself by a long period as a volunteer worker in London's East End; he died, honoured and respected, in 2006. The repercussions of the affair contributed to Macmillan's resignation in October 1963, and to the Conservative Party's defeat in the 1964 general election.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_affair
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1173:
The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the Leaning Tower of Pisa, began. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa
1854:
Henry David Thoreau published Walden, his account of having spent two years living mostly in isolation on the shores of Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden
1914:
World War I: France launched its first attack of the war in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the province of Alsace from Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mulhouse
1965:
Malaysia expelled the state of Singapore from its federation due to heated ideological conflict between their respective ruling parties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore
1974:
In the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office due to the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the only President of the United States to resign from office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
pankration: An Ancient Greek martial art combining aspects of boxing and wrestling, introduced in the Greek Olympic games in 648 BC. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pankration
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
 We are all made of the same stuff, remember, we of the Jungle, you of the City. The same substance composes us — the tree overhead, the stone beneath us, the bird, the beast, the star — we are all one, all moving to the same end. Remember that when you no longer remember me, my child. --P. L. Travers https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._L._Travers
daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org