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wun to pon Be emer tc. ahaet LL ey acer dd wer gross. CHAPTER XXVIC 6 ries RUMOURS ARISING INDIRECTLY OUT OF THE PROFUMO AFFAIR | 329. “There were in June and July, 1963, rumours arising indirectly out of the Profumo affair, in this sense, that they were given credence because of it and became merged in the vast crop of rumours then circulating : and, for the Teasons I have given, I have inquired into them. i) “ The Man without a Head” 330. A certain Minister brought two connected rumours to my attention concerning himself which I also heard from other sources. They were referred to in foreign newspapers too. He pointed out that these were of a mast damaging nature, and asked me to inquire into them: (i) That he was the unknown man in an improper photograph which featured in the recent Argyll divorce case; and that a copy of this photograph was in the possession of Stephen Ward. (Another version of this romour was that the Minister paid a sum of money to the Duke to have the photograph altered so as to have his head removed from it.) © @ That he paid money to preveat himself being cited in the Acgyil divorce case; and that Stephen Ward acted as an intermediary in this transaction. 331. As to rumour (i), it has been demonstrated to my entire satisfaction that the “unknown” man in the photographs was not this Minister. All the photographs in the case have been produced to me. The man’s head did not appear in any of them. In order to enable me to dispose of the matter, the Minister offered to undergo a medical examination: and he was examined by a medical man whose name was suggested by me, and who is of the highest eminence. This medical man proved conclusively that the man in the photographs was nor this Minister. He gave me a written report in which he set out convincing detail, He showed that the physical characteristics of the ‘unknown’ man differed in unmistakable and significant respects from those of the Minister. 332. Furthermore there were words: written in capital letters below some of the photographs : and the photographs themselves, when found, were enclosed in a piece of notepaper on which there were sentences with capital letters. It is clear that the “ unknown man” wrote the words in capital: letters on the piece of paper and on the photographs. I have had the hand@ examined by an expert who compared it with a specimen of the hadi of the Minister, taken without prior warning. The expert was able iy conclusively that the writing on the photographs and that on the ne@l were by the same hand but nor the writing of the Minister. The sottamper was the paper of a London Club, of which it may fairly be presumed that the unknown mgr R' member. But the Minister is pot a member of that nl