Pamela Chaudry Singh (born 1961), known for some years as Pamella Bordes, is an Indian
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
and former
Miss India Miss India may refer to:
* Femina Miss India, the most prestigious and oldest surviving national beauty pageant in India that started in 1964. It sends its winner to Miss World.
* Miss Diva, the national beauty pageant that sends its winners to Miss ...
.
Personal life
Singh was born in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
in 1961; her father, Major Mahinder Singh Kadian, was an officer in the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
. She attended the
Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' Public School in
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
then transferred to the Lady Sri Ram College in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
to study literature. She won the Miss India crown in 1982 and represented India in the
Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...
pageant the same year. She subsequently moved to Europe, where she met and married Henri Bordes.
Singh studied at
Parsons School of Design
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...
in New York, the
American University of Paris
The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first to ...
, and the
International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...
in New York. She took to photography as her career in 1997.
Allegations
In the late 1980s Singh worked in a
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
which had provided one of British publicist
Max Clifford
Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers.
In December 2012, as part of Operation Yewtree, Clifford was arr ...
's clients with various services. Clifford asked the
madam
Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French ...
to reveal details of her
girl
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...
s and clients, and found that one prostitute, Pamella Bordes, was simultaneously dating
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a Scottish former journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of ''The Spectator'' and presenter of '' The Andrew Neil Show'' on Channel 4. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He f ...
(then editor of ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''),
Donald Trelford
Donald Trelford (born 9 November 1937) is a British journalist and academic, who was editor of ''The Observer'' newspaper from 1975 to 1993. He was also a director of ''The Observer'' from 1975 to 1993 and chief executive from 1992 to 1993.
Ea ...
(then editor of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
''), Conservative minister for sport
Colin Moynihan
Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baronet, 4th Baron Moynihan (born 13 September 1955) is a British Olympic silver medalist, businessman, Conservative politician, and sports administrator. Lord Moynihan served as chairman of the British O ...
, and billionaire arms dealer
Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi ( ar, عدنان خاشقجي, ‘Adnān Khāshuqjī; 25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his lavish business deals and lifestyle. He was estimated to have had a peak net worth of ...
.
Clifford rang ''News of the World'' editor
Patsy Chapman and drip-fed her the story of Bordes through the investigative reporter she was using on the madam. The story was published in March 1989 under the headline "Call Girl Works in Commons", since it was discovered she had a
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
security pass arranged by MPs
David Shaw and
Henry Bellingham
Henry Campbell Bellingham, Baron Bellingham, (born 29 March 1955) is a British Conservative politician who sits in the House of Lords and former barrister. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Norfolk in 1983. ...
.
Clifford claimed Bordes was never his client, and that he earned his fee for "writing" the story, which ultimately served the purpose of saving the madam from any adverse publicity or court case.
[Max Clifford and Angela Levin ''Max Clifford: Read All About it!'' Virgin Books, 2005,()]
References
External links
Featurefrom the ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
''
*https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19890415-pamella-bordes-sexual-escapades-with-high-and-mighty-rock-british-establishment-815974-1989-04-15
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bordes, Pamella
1961 births
20th-century Indian photographers
20th-century Indian women artists
21st-century Indian photographers
American University of Paris alumni
Photographers from Delhi
Femina Miss India winners
Indian emigrants to England
Indian photojournalists
Indian women photographers
Living people
Miss Universe 1982 contestants
Parsons School of Design alumni
Rajasthani people
Delhi University alumni
Women artists from Delhi
20th-century women photographers
21st-century women photographers
Women photojournalists