Celebrity Interview - David Currie
Hedonistic TimesRevisited
David Currie Hedonistic TimesRevisited
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ANNABEL MILNES-SMITH, DAVID CURRIE REVEALS NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED DETAILS ABOUT HIS TORRID AFFAIR WITH CHRISTINE KEELER.
In March this year, John Profumo died having suffered a severe stroke. This should have been a time for the scandal of the "Profumo Affair" that rocked the then Tory Government to be finally laid to rest, and for Christine Keeler to find the peace she so strongly craved - removed once and for all from the public eye.
However, at a delightful lunch with David Currie in Puerto Banús, I discovered yet more revelations of this most famous of all former call girls, responsible for demolishing Cabinet Minister John Profumo's political career.
En route to meeting David, I felt a sense of excitement knowing that I was soon to gain an insight into the hedonistic lifestyle of the sixties, and discover an integral part of Keeler's past that, until now, had never come to light.
It was the year 1970 when their fateful first meeting took place. Says David, "It was an old Etonian friend of mine, Julian Cameron, who suggested we meet at her house in Shawfield Street, just off the Kings Road. I was very excited at the prospect, and wore an extremely smart and dandy yellow suit which had been made for me by Vincent's of Savile Row (incidentally owned by my friend Douglas Bunn, Master of the All England Jumping Course) especially for the occasion.
"When I arrived Julian introduced me to Christine and then discreetly left. We chatted away whilst having drinks, but before I could finish my first glass, she got up and proceeded upstairs and said, quite simply, 'Come on'. I thought this all a bit sudden, but obviously did not object, and that was the start of our eight-month romance."
I see a twinkle in the eye of this Stowe Public School-educated 65-year-old. The style and savoir-faire are still much in evidence. Forty years ago he must have been sex on legs!
David was clearly made of pretty sturdy stuff to romance a woman who was perceived as a sexual time bomb. "Quite early on in our affair, I was working in an estate agency in Beauchamp Place together with an extremely respectable, staid, middle-aged school mistress type of woman. Christine telephoned the office and gave this lady absolute grief and accused her of doing all sorts of lewd things to me. Needless to say, I was extremely embarrassed. I learnt from this that she was extremely insecure."
There were many well-documented incidents, one of which took place on The Hon. Michael Pearson's yacht. "Christine was getting into one of her rather itchy moods, and was getting a bit fed up staying in Spain with me. As we were walking around Puerto Banús, we were summoned on board Michael Pearson's yacht, Hedonist. As I knew that we were going to split anyway, Willie Fielding went back to my villa with me and packed up her clothes. We then returned to the boat and had another drink before it set sail for England with Christine in the company of former James Bond actor George Lazenby and Patrick Lichfield.
"However, it did not turn out as simple as I thought, extricating myself from her clutches. Two days later she appeared back again of her own accord, and walked straight into the Marbella Club and accused me of what I had been doing whilst she had been away, which I thought was rather droll."
However, there were some lighter moments in David's tumultuous relationship. "I was living with Christine in Shawfield Street when the 1970 General Election took place; I remember opening the bedroom window in the morning and seeing some workmen on the scaffolding on the house opposite. I shouted, 'Who got in?' The reply was, 'The Tories, mate.' I thought it quite bizarre that lying in bed behind me was the girl that almost single-handedly brought down the last Tory Government and there I was witnessing the scene of the Tory re-emergence with the same girl!"
David has a devilish character, which some would even say influenced Christine's rather crazy attitude to life. "No definitely not. If there was a devilish side, it was already in her. If anything I was a calming influence; as I said, she did like me rather a lot which prevented her from rushing off all the time whilst in my company."
Christine was not universally popular. How did this affect their relationship? "A lot of people are rather toffee-nosed and actively disliked her. I took her down to my country mansion Dinton Hall that my father, grandmother and step-mother lived in, and my step-mother said to me, 'I am not having that tart in my house.' So I went up to my grandmother Lady Currie, who welcomed her with open arms. There was no question of Christine being with me for my money. We were just in love."
It was not only in England that Christine was considered beyond the pale. "I remember being asked to lunch at The Cuarton Development at Tarifa, and when Christine and I arrived at the security gate, the guard told us that he had been instructed by the owner of the development not to allow Christine entry, which was not only extremely out of order but embarrassing for both of us. How petty can people be?"
So was David the knight in shining armour who would now give "this scarlet woman" some form of respectability, and become the greatest love of her life? "That is certainly a difficult question. I certainly was a major love of her life. She said it was an instant attraction. I don't think I really rescued her from anything. In the end she married somebody else, because I would not commit."
Christine and David spent much of their time together in Marbella, mainly at the Marbella Club and Pepe Moreno's disco club. One evening, while they were sitting on the beach, Christine said, "Let's get married." David could not actually remember his reply, probably because he was in a state of shock, but it was something along the lines of, "Well, let's wait and see how things turn out."
What was the real reason behind him turning down such a proposition, one wonders? "She was a little bit unreliable. You could be having a private dinner, in a house, and suddenly she would run out and go on the razzle, and leave me there. I knew it wouldn't last. She had this insatiable appetite to party. This happened with the person she married, Anthony Platt; she came running back to me. I knew it would end in disaster, so I gently declined."
The relationship between David and Christine was, some would say, relatively short-lived. "For me seven to eight months was quite a long time, especially with someone like Christine. We had a lot of fun in Spain and in England, and it just came to an end.
"As she said in her autobiography, The Truth At Last, I was invited with Christine pheasant shooting, but a former girlfriend of mine was invited to make up the numbers for dinner that night. Christine said if I went, she would leave me. I did go, and she left me. The final denouement was rather sad."
Needless to say even, when David and Christine had gone their separate ways, Keeler maintained her outwardly wayward behaviour. "Back in London after we separated, Christine had by then got married and was living in Seymour Walk in Chelsea. I was giving a couple of friends dinner in my flat in Ralston Street, Chelsea, when there was a loud bang on the door and in barged Christine's husband, who insisted on searching my flat. He duly did and left. After 10 minutes there was another loud bang on the door, and in came a pregnant Christine. We then drove to Heathrow and stayed the night in a hotel."
Obviously, with Christine being not only a married woman but pregnant to boot.... should David have slept with her? "Sleeping with married, pregnant women is not something I make a habit of, but on this occasion she insisted and put on the pressure. I could do nothing else but succumb."
Christine throughout many years has been splashed over the tabloid press. Who exactly was the real woman behind the façade? "She was very affectionate as far as I was concerned, and very good company. We used to go out drinking together and chat about everything under the sun. We got on very well quite aside from the sex, which incidentally she enjoyed immensely as did I!"
David's illicit conquests started at a relatively young age, and at one time almost got him shot. "In 1960 when I was aged 19, and on leave from my regiment The Grenadier Guards, I was staying with my parents in Marbella. This was also in the days when the Guardia Civil used to patrol the beaches for drug smuggling. Late one night, when I was in the process of seducing a lovely married woman, I heard a noise in the sand and there was a Guardia Civil pointing a pistol directly at my temple. After some hefty negotiating I persuaded him to accompany us to the Jacaranda Club where someone would be able to vouch for us. As we went in, I made a run for it, and headed safely back to our hotel. However, that was not the end of it. Ten minutes later, I was woken by the telephone, and requested downstairs. There, to my horror, were my parents, the husband, his wife, the Guardia and the hotel manager.
"After lengthy discussions, the Guardia decided not to press any charges, and everyone went their separate ways. The following day, a large package tour of young Swedish girls arrived in Marbella, and as I was walking down the street with one of them we happened to pass the same Guardia, who smiled at me and said, "Ah, le Casanova!"
Keeler was not the only high-profile relationship David had. He also romanced actress Ingrid Pitt, who co-starred alongside Christopher Lee playing Dracula in the Hammer House of Horror films. "She took me down to Elstree where I met Elizabeth Taylor, who showed me the famous Krupp diamond that she had just been given by Richard Burton. Clint Eastwood was also there; he was celebrating because his wife had just given birth."
Another relationship was with Gloria Kindersley, who he managed to snatch from the arms of not only Robin Hood star Richard Green but also David, The Marquis of Milford Haven. He was also great friends with actress Charlotte Rampling. Their friendship deepened following a terrible car accident on the way to stay at David's rented villa in the south of France, where Charlotte broke her leg and recuperated for some time in the able care of her host.
At the end of the day, what did Christine really feel about her role in the Profumo Affair, once it came to light? "I do feel that she felt manipulated to a certain extent. She, on many occasions, appeared worried, and a little furrow came down her brow."
Christine must have been one hell of a character; if that is the only way her catastrophic philandering affected her. Christine obviously had skin like a rhino.
One day, as David recounts, "She came with her then husband into my office, Currie Allen Stone Estate Agents in Kensington Church Street, and told me that they wanted to buy a house in Marbella, and could we help. At that time Christine's husband did not know that I had taken her to Spain, so I had to be careful what I said, but was ultimately flattered that perhaps she wished to relive some fond memories!
"Subsequently I was cited as a correspondent in their divorce proceedings but fortunately managed to get away unscathed!"
David continues his louche life. Indeed, his new venture is opening continental Europe's first topless car wash, aptly named Fluffy's, a nickname of his. Well you heard it first here in H!. Whatever next!
