Jeffrey Archer
Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940)[1] is an English novelist, former politician, convicted perjurer, and peer of the realm. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt.[2] He revived his fortunes as a best-selling novelist; his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.[3]
Archer became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party (1985–86), before resigning after a newspaper accused him of paying money to a prostitute. In 1987, he won a court case and was awarded large damages because of this claim.[4] He was made a life peer in 1992 and subsequently became Conservative candidate to be the first elected Mayor of London. He had to resign his candidacy in 1999 after it emerged that he had lied in his 1987 libel case. He was imprisoned (2001–2003) for perjury and perverting the course of justice, ending his elected political career.[3]
Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in the City of London Maternity Hospital in Holloway, London on 15 April 1940.[5] He was two weeks old when his family moved to Somerset, eventually settling in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare,[6] where Archer spent most of his early life.[7] His father, William (died 1956),[8] was 64 years old when Jeffrey Archer was born. Early in his career, Archer gave conflicting accounts to the press of his father’s supposed, but non-existent, military career.[7] William Archer was, in fact, a bigamist, fraudster, and conman, who impersonated another William Archer, a deceased war medal holder. He was at different times employed as a chewing gum salesman in New York and a mortgage broker in London. In the latter capacity, he was charged at the Old Bailey for a series of fraud offences. On being allowed bail, he absconded to America under the name William Grimwood. In America, William Archer fathered a child Rosemary, who was thereby Jeffrey’s half-sister. In 1940 Rosemary married the famous lawyer Brien McMahon who went on to become the Democratic senator for Connecticut (1945–52) and a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952. After Brien McMahon’s death that year, Rosemary married, in 1953, the Belgian ambassador to Washington, Baron Silvercruys, and the First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, was the guest-of-honour at their wedding.[9][10][11] As a boy Archer dreamt about being captain of Bristol Rovers Football Club, and is still a fan of the club.[12]
In 1951, Archer won a scholarship to Wellington School in Somerset, not Wellington College in Berkshire, as he was later inclined to claim.[8] At this time his mother, Lola, was employed as a journalist on Weston’s local newspaper, the Weston Mercury.[13] She wrote a weekly column entitled “Over the Teacups”, and frequently wrote about Jeffrey, calling him ‘Tuppence’.[14] Although Archer enjoyed the local fame this brought him, it caused him to be the victim of bullying while at Wellington School.[4]
Archer left school with O-levels in English literature, art and history. He then spent a few years in a variety of jobs, including training with the army and a short period with the Metropolitan Police.[4] He later worked as a physical education teacher, first at Vicar’s Hill, a preparatory school in Hampshire, and later at Dover College in Kent.[7]
In 1963 Archer was offered a place at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education to study for a Diploma of Education. The course was based in the department, and Archer became a member of Brasenose College. There have been claims that Archer provided false evidence of his academic qualifications to Brasenose College, for instance, the apparent citing of an American institution which was actually a bodybuilding club, in gaining admission to the course.[4][15] It has also been alleged Archer provided false statements about three non-existent A-level passes and a U.S. university degree.[13] Although the diploma course only lasted a year, Archer spent a total of three years at Oxford.[4] The reasons for this are unclear.
At Oxford, Archer was successful in athletics, competing in sprinting and hurdling, and became president of the Oxford University Athletic Club.[4] Television coverage survives of him making false starts in a 1964 sprint race, but he was not disqualified. He gained a blue in athletics and went on to run for England, and once successfully competed for Great Britain.[13]
