This Is Your Life: Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey ARCHER (1940-)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Jeffrey Archer, author, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews - with the help of the Somerset County Cricket team – while jogging on the Thames Embankment in Westminster, London.

Jeffrey, who was born in London but grew up in Somerset, was educated at Wellington School and the University of Oxford, where, as a keen athlete, he became president of the Athletic Club in 1965. After working as a charity fundraiser, he began a career in politics, serving as a Conservative councillor on the Greater London Council between 1967 and 1970.

Having been elected MP for Louth in Lincolnshire in 1969, he was a casualty of a fraudulent investment scheme involving a Canadian company, which left him bankrupt and unable to seek re-election in 1974. Jeffrey revived his fortunes as a novelist, his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less becoming a best-seller, followed by Kane and Abel, which reached number one on The New York Times bestsellers list.

"I don't believe it! You blighters!"

programme details...

Edition No: 561
Subject No: 557
Broadcast date: Wed 14 Jan 1981
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Tue 13 Jan 1981
Venue: Royalty Theatre
Series: 21
Edition: 14
Code name: Dan

on the guest list...

Brian Rose
Denis Breakwell
Keith Jennings
Derek Taylor
Colin Dredge
Victor Marks
Peter Denning
Philip Slocombe
Roy Kerslake
Ian Botham
Mary - wife
Alec Motts
Cathleen Bier
James - son
William - son
Lola - mother
Sally Alford
Wendell Mottley
Sir Noel Hall
Debbie Owen
Geoffrey Bailey
Barbara Bailey
Lesley-Anne Down
Melvin Frank

production team...

Researchers: John Graham, Katie Lander
Writers: Tom Brennand, Roy Bottomley
Directors: Stuart Hall, Terry Yarwood
Producer: Jack Crawshaw

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

A Novel Life

a page-turning good read

Ian Botham

Screenshots of Jeffrey Archer This Is Your Life

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

Jeffrey Archer, now Lord Archer, was taking an early evening jog over Westminster Bridge on 13 January 1981, perhaps thinking over the plot of his next book, but not knowing of our plot and the Life book.

Life-long cricket fan and Somerset supporter, the former Conservative MP for Louth in Lincolnshire, couldn't believe his eyes when he found himself jogging towards another group of 'joggers' - England and Somerset's Ian Botham, and the county team, with captain Brian Rose.

Elected to the Commons in 1969, at the age of twenty-nine, Jeffrey resigned in 1974 when his world collapsed in financial ruin at the pinnacle of his success. He had invested heavily in a Canadian company claiming to have the answer to pollution from car exhausts. It turned out to be a swindle.

But Jeffrey made another fortune by writing about his bad fortune in Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less.

How that book, first of his many best-sellers, got published was a remarkable example of inter-party co-operation. He sent the manuscript to literary agent Debbie Owen, wife of former Labour Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen.

Being particularly interested in the work of another MP, David Owen read it over the weekend and heartily recommended it to his wife.

It sold two million copies.

Series 21 subjects