Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86. The novelist and former Conservative party deputy chairman died ‘suddenly and peacefully at home’ between writing sessions on Monday, according to his publisher HarperCollins. He is survived by his wife Dame Mary Archer, two sons, two granddaughters and three grandsons.
Over the course of his life, Lord Archer sold some 320 million books, with his most popular novel, Kane and Abel, selling 34 million copies sold globally.
In one of the final interviews before his death, he spoke to The Spectator’s editor, Michael Gove, about his last novel, Adam and Eve, in which the lives of two children born on Armistice day in 1918 are changed by war. Lord Archer explained that he had been inspired to write the book by the events of September 1940, when Hitler changed his mind three times about invading Britain.
In the interview, he also discussed class, snobbery and the House of Lords, with Archer made a life peer in 1992. He spoke of his regret about the day Diana’s divorce was announced and the advice he would give to Harry and Meghan.
On the subject of politics, Lord Archer discussed Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister he believed was most underrated, and whether Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage will ever reach an electoral agreement.
Listen to the interview here:
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