Unseen letters, photos of Christine Keeler on show

Christine Keeler, the notorious 'Profumo affair' callgirl, was immortalised in the iconic 1963 photo showing her sitting astride a chair naked. But a new exhibition of photos, letters and memorabilia promises to show Keeler as the public’s never seen her before, as well as revealing the young woman’s aspirations for a post-jail celebrity career.
 
Some 70 previously unseen images include photos of Christine Keeler relaxing in a South Downs field (above), nibbling on a chicken leg and wearing a bikini. Another photo shows Keeler at one of the many infamous parties at Cliveden House, where the 19-year-old met Tory war minister John Profumo. Her affair with Profumo scandalised 1960s Britain, particularly after it transpired she was having a siumltaneous affair with Russian naval attache Eugene Ivanov.
 
Some of the letters, meanwhile, reveal Keeler's hopes to translate her notoriety into fame and fortune after serving nine months for perjury at Holloway Prison. Writing to her mother from her jail cell in 1964 - some 35 years before the Big Brother generation decided celebrity was a valid career option - Keeler quips: "I am only young and should start on a career of some sort seeing my name is well known. I might as well carry on with it and make us lots of money ha! ha!"
 
In an earlier letter, written soon after she began her jail term in December 1963, Keeler tries to reassure her parents that she is coping in prison: "Don’t worry, I’m fine, in fact it's just like being back at school, and there is a girl I went to school with."
 
Keeler, who was brought up by her mother and stepfather in two converted railway carriages in Berkshire, never managed to find the riches she hoped for. Now 68, she ended up living in a series of council flats.

The exhibition, 'Christine Keeler: my life in pictures' is on at London's Mayor Gallery from November 4 to December 17. ·