The title might suggest an exciting tale ahead (contradiction in last two words not intended). Well, it was a great story and about someone that many would call a great man. The jury will be out on that second assessment, though this guy did achieve global fame and invented a great deal, including himself. Only to muddy the waters by practising one deception too many. It earned him a criminal record.
Whether he was ‘great’ or not, they threw away the mould when they made Jeffrey Archer. He was from relatively modest beginnings to become the youngest ever member of the British Parliament; and later a close adviser to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher; then finally as a writer of novels of which more than 320 million copies have been sold throughout the world.
Jeffrey Archer did not get the ideal start in life. What was of no assistance at all was the presence in his early years of a father, William Archer, who was a convicted fraudster and confidence trickster; an accused who jumped bail with a dash to the United States, never to return and account for his sins.
Jeffrey Archer’s years of youth and early adulthood are peppered with tales of his alleged lying about what school he went to and what academic qualifications he obtained. Yet this was a talented boy who grew to be an international athlete, representing Great Britain in the 100 metres sprint. So why the pretence? Well, given that we so frequently observe a boy or girl inheriting physical characteristics from their parents, perhaps DNA somehow passed certain brain cells down from his father. Whatever the cause, Jeffrey Archer appeared tempted into serious pretence, with material ambition frequently pursued the wrong way, until he had enough.
Archer continued to proceed into full adult life with a history of alleged manipulations of the truth in many areas of human activity. He developed a reputation for mischief and serious deception. Yet, while leaving school with little in the way of academic qualifications and status, he proceeded to run programmes, raising money for well-known charities like OXFAM. Was this a fundamental beneficence or creating the opportunity to siphon off money? Impossible to say at this point, though there were also negative allegations in that area; but he survived them all.
Proceeding to serious self-invention, Jeffrey Archer became MP for Louth, gaining a place in the House of Commons in the British Parliament at the age of 29 years, which is still the record for the youngest-ever British MP. That was no mean feat and has proved a good example to many; one of creating a continuum of belief in oneself. In that respect, Archer was one of the most formidable players.
His appetite for financial wealth then proceeded to let him down and, as in ‘don’t do this’, providing a powerful lesson to young people today. Follow your passion but stay honest and don’t worship money. You will make more than enough to exist comfortably for the rest of your life. But Archer, in too deep, got powerfully struck by a fraudulent financial scheme in Canada in 1974, which not only took all his money but also left him £0.5 million in debt. In today’s money, perhaps E50 million.
He did not seek re-election as MP. Most people would be devastated. Not Archer. He chose writing as the key to revival. Assisted by his personal fame as the youngest British MP, he was invited to a popular American chat show. The compère held a book to the camera and said, “This book was written by our guest, Jeffrey Archer. Read it!” The novel, “Kane and Abel,” went to the top of the US Bestseller list in one week!
In writing terms, Archer never looked back; not revered by the top writers but loved by millions as the master storyteller. By now knighted as Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, he then came a cropper. In 1987, he was accused by the News of the World newspaper of very inappropriate behaviour one Saturday night that year. He took them to court, having persuaded a close friend to swear that Archer had stayed with him throughout that night. Archer got the judgment and around £1 million. But years later his key witness developed a conscience and spilt the beans. Archer thus acquired a criminal record, with a few years in jail to go with it.
He even wrote a best-selling book, ‘Prison Diary’, when he was in jail. Jeffrey Archer was not a man to be cowed by society and its oft-hypocritical behaviour. While experiencing lapses of optimal integrity, he still showed the world how to tackle the huge challenges, claiming to learn from his mistakes and being grateful for society’s forgiveness. He dedicated his twilight years to charity functions and six hours a day of handwritten fiction, bringing literary pleasure to the millions. Then, at a function in his honour on 5 October 2026, he delivered a Shakespeare poem to the guests, then quietly and politely left the function to return home and die peacefully in bed. Only Jeffrey Archer could have ‘written’ that one.
