Ripples from a swimming pool in Kent led to one suicide, loss of a government minister, resignation of a prime minister and defeat for a Conservative government. It took a bombshell, rather than a stone, to spread the waves that far, and the man blamed for dropping it was Dr Stephen Ward.
Ward was a society osteopath with a surgery in Cavendish Square, friends in high (and low) places and a rented cottage on the Cliveden Estate in Kent, owned by Lord Bill Astor. His list of clients read like the pages of Who’s Who: European royalty, Hollywood movie stars, politicians and ambassadors. Being also a talented artist, he frequently drew portraits of his clients and British royalty.
As well as his society contacts, he had many young female friends, two of whom, model Christine Keeler and actress Mandy Rice-Davies, shared his London flat and frequently joined him at parties in Cliveden. One of these parties, referred to as a ‘naked pool party’, led to the first ripple
