Portrait of Yevgeny Ivanov

Stephen Ward was a central figure in the political scandal which engulfed John Profumo, Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and Yevgeny Ivanov in the 1960s. A society Osteopath, whose patients included Sir Winston Churchill, he was also an accomplished artist. Hugh Leggatt, the West End dealer, gave him a solo show in 1960. Commissions for The Daily Telegraph and Illustrated London followed, and these led to an abortive scheme to sketch the Politburo in the Soviet Union. This introduced Ward to the Soviet diplomat and suspected agent Ivanov, who was to play a key part in the drama that followed.