A 6 x 4½ page from an autograph album, signed in person on one side by John Profumo and on the other by Mikhail Baryshnikov.

John Profumo (1915 – 2006) was the British Secretary Of State for War in the Conservative government, whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affair, aroused much public interest, given that it had all the ingredients needed for lurid newspaper stories; sex, Russian spies, politicians and a famous actress (Profumo's wife Valeria Hobson was a popular film star). The claim was that Keeler may have been simultaneously involved with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, thereby creating a possible national security risk. Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her friendship with Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite who had taken her under his wing. The exposure of the affair generated rumours of other sex scandals and drew official attention to the activities of Ward, who was charged with a series of immorality offences. Perceiving himself as a scapegoat for the misdeeds of others, Ward took a fatal overdose during the final stages of his trial, which found him guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies. 

Mikhail Baryshnikov was the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s who started out with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in Western dance. After his 1974 defection, Baryshnikov never returned to the USSR. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States and had success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema, and television. In 1977, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Yuri Kopeikine in the film The Turning Point. He starred in the movie White Nights with Gregory Hines, Helen Mirren, and Isabella Rossellini, and had a recurring role in the last season of the television series Sex and the City.