Lord Luck

Whether Lord Archer thinks of himself as a fictional character or simply a maverick, his life has turned into the most fantastic soap opera over the years, and, as is befitting, he got his come-uppance in the end.

But of course this is real-life, not fiction, and the reality was being thrown in the slammer for perjury with a bunch of murderers for two years to realise the error of his ways.

In typical Archer style, the 68-year-old did his time, dusted himself off, and is now back at his desk, writing ferociously, and turning words into gold, with each new book flying into the bestseller lists.

So why he feels the need to trot down to Oxford’s Borders this afternoon to meet Joe Public and sign their books is anyone’s guess. Surely he’s had enough of the great unwashed for a while?

“You must never take anything for granted,” he says firmly, “because it’s the public who always make the decision about whether you’re number one, which is a great honour, so I still get nervous about it. And it’s always agony waiting to find out what everyone thinks.”

Besides, Archer loves people, really loves them, and says all new opportunities give rise to ideas for his next books.

“I was in a taxi this morning chatting away to the driver and I kept thinking ‘this man has got to appear in my next book’,” he says.

Is this why he wrote his prison diaries then, I ask. “Well there was a wealth of material all around me every day, all I had to do was record it. And of course it was so boring in there that there was nothing else to do.

“When you consider that I wrote a million words a year when in jail, and normally I write 200,000 – I just wrote and wrote and wrote – everything I saw, everyday. And I had not anticipated how fascinating people clearly found the subject.”

Ironically, Archer’s three volumes of prison diaries were the most critically acclaimed of his career, even though he has sold 200 million books worldwide.

Part of his fabled life story, in which politics has also played a large part, was his birth as an author. It all began when a bad investment in 1974 rendered the Archer family bankrupt. But instead of wringing his hands, Archer sat down and wrote Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less in just six weeks from a friend’s spare room. It was turned down by 16 publishers, but the 17th, Jonathan Cape took it on and turned it into a bestseller.

Paths of Glory is the latest addition to the Archer stable, but is again a departure from his usual fiction, being based on the real-life account of Mallory’s attempt at Everest.

“It all started in Oxford,” Archer explains, “when steeplechaser Chris Brasher, described Mallory’s attempt at Everest as being ‘the best untold story there was’. Brasher was the pace-maker for Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, and got a gold at the Olympics. He was a great friend of mine and we dined together regularly. Anyway, he didn’t let up, so I went out and read all the non-fiction books about Mallory I could find and discovered the amazing story. I just couldn’t resist it.”

This is a typical speech from Lord Archer with a bit of name-dropping and boasting thrown in for good measure.

“They were very happy days,” he remembers, “because of course that’s where I met Mary at a friend’s drinks party.”

Mary is of course Jeffrey Archer’s infamous wife who has stood by him throughout their 42 years together despite his numerous misdemeanours. And during our chat he mentions Mary over and over again, extolling her virtues and achievements.

“There is a lot of Mary in all my heroines and they are always beautiful and bright,” he says.

While at Oxford, Archer ran for GB, got an athletics Blue and rowed in the 1962 Boat Race. But he was actually at Brasenose doing a teaching diploma awarded by the Oxford Department For Education, which is something he omits from our conversation.

“I still have close associations with Brasenose and my son Jamie went there of course,” he says. Archer also hosts charity auctions on a regular basis, two of these being held in Oxford colleges this year, and is angry that journalists prefer to dwell on his jailbird days rather than his fundraising achievements – £2.2 million last year alone.

His friends at least are loyal, both inside and out and he says he still sees Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Michael Howard regularly.

And presumably the next book is already in the offing? “My life has always been about looking forward to Monday, not Friday and that will never change,” he says “and new stories go through my mind all the time.”

Jeffrey Archer will be at Borders today at 5.30pm signing copies of Paths of Glory, and then afterwards is taking part in the Oxford Literary Festival at the Newman Rooms, St Aldate’s, at 8pm being interviewed by Julie Summers.