Wimpole Mews

Wimpole Mews is a mews street in Marylebone, London W1, England. It is known for being a key location in the Profumo affair in the early 1960s.

Wimpole Mews
View along Wimpole Mews
LocationMarylebone, London, United Kingdom
Postal codeW1
Nearest Tube station Regent's Park
Coordinates51.519930°N 0.148217°W / 51.519930; -0.148217
NorthWeymouth Street
EastHarley Street
SouthNew Cavendish Street
WestWimpole Street
Other
Known forProfumo affair

The street runs north–south, with Weymouth Street to the north and New Cavendish Street to the south.[1] To the east is Harley Street and to the west is Wimpole Street. It is named after Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, the seat of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.[2][3]

17 Wimpole Mews was the home of the osteopath Stephen Ward (1912–1963)[4] in the early 1960s. He acted as "landlord" to Christine Keeler (1942–2017)[5] and Mandy Rice-Davies (1944–2014). Keeler had affairs with the politician John Profumo (1915–2006), Secretary of State for War, and the Soviet naval attaché and spy Captain Yevgeny Ivanov (1926–1994), resulting in the Profumo affair scandal in 1963. In December 1962, Johnny Edgecombe (1932–2010), a former lover of Christine Keeler, fired five shots at the lock of 17 Wimpole Mews using a handgun that Keeler had given him, triggering events that led to the scandal.[6]

The experiences of Christine Keeler were dramatised as the six-part television serial The Trial of Christine Keeler and broadcast by the BBC during December 2019 to January 2020, featuring events in Wimpole Mews.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. Lockie, John (1810). "Lockie's Topography of London". Google Books. London. p. 344. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  2. Fairfield 1983, p. 342.
  3. Bebbington 1972, p. 348.
  4. Norton, James. ""Somewhere in between exploitation and empowerment": James Norton on society osteopath Stephen Ward". BBC History. BBC. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  5. Carr, Flora (29 December 2019). "Who was Christine Keeler, and how did she know Stephen Ward?". Radio Times.
  6. Olden, Mark (14 November 2009). "Haunted by the Profumo scandal". The Guardian.
  7. Leaper, Caroline (30 December 2019). "The real story of the Profumo Affair: Ellie Bamber on playing the 'heroine' behind the 1960s sex scandal". Daily Telegraph.
  8. Harris, Anna. "Sex, lies and spies: the real history of the Profumo Affair". BBC History. BBC. Retrieved 30 December 2019.

Bibliography
  • Fairfield, Sheila (1983). The Streets Of London: A Dictionary Of The Names And Their Origins. Papermac. ISBN 978-0-333-28649-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bebbington, Gillian (1972). London Street Names. Batsford Books. ISBN 978-0-333-28649-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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