The President of the United States played by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick's satire _Dr. Strangelove (1964)_ was named Merkin Muffley. In 1963, Sellers, Anthony Newley and Joan Collins released a satirical record, "Fool Britannia!", lampooning the Profumo Scandal that had rocked the U.K. (Secretary of State for War John Profumo, a member of the Privy Council, had resigned after lying to the House of Commons about his affair with show girl Christine Keeler, the mistress of a Soviet spy. The Profumo Affair was the subject of the 1989 British film Scandal (1989).) The comedy record, based on improvisational skits written by Newley and Leslie Bricusse, reached #10 on the British album chart in October 1963. In naming the protagonist of his autobiographical movie Merkin, Newley likely was inspired by the name of Sellers's character.