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Archer

Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in London and spent his early life in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He won a scholarship to Wellington School in Somerset. After leaving school, he worked in various jobs including as a physical education teacher. His first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, was published in 1976 and was an instant success. Kane and Abel was his best-selling work, reaching number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Archer states that he spends considerable time writing and rewriting each book, doing up to seventeen drafts.

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74 views2 pages

Archer

Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in London and spent his early life in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He won a scholarship to Wellington School in Somerset. After leaving school, he worked in various jobs including as a physical education teacher. His first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, was published in 1976 and was an instant success. Kane and Abel was his best-selling work, reaching number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Archer states that he spends considerable time writing and rewriting each book, doing up to seventeen drafts.

Uploaded by

Shivam Barsainya
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in the City of London Maternity Hospital.

He was two
weeks old when his family moved to the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset,
where he spent most of his early life. His father, William, was sixty-four when Archer
was born. He died when Archer was fifteen. In 1951, he won a scholarship to Wellington
School, in Somerset (not to be confused with the public school Wellington College,
which is possible from the ambiguous biography in Archer's earlier books). At this time
his mother, Lola, contributed a column "Over the teacups" to the local press in Weston-
super-Mare and wrote about the adventures of her son 'Tuppence'; this caused Archer to
be the victim of bullying while at Wellington School.[1]

After Archer left school passing O-levels in English Literature, Art, and History, he
worked in a number of jobs, including training with the army and for the police. This
lasted only for a few months, but he fared better as a Physical Education teacher; first at
Vicar's Hill, a Prep School in Hampshire, and later at the more prestigious independent
school Dover College in Kent. As a teacher he was popular with pupils and reported by
some to have had good motivational skills.

Writing career

His first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, was picked up by the literary agent
Deborah Owen and published first in the US, then eventually in Britain in the Autumn of
1976. The book was an instant success and Archer avoided bankruptcy, never being
legally declared bankrupt. A BBC Television adaptation of the book was broadcast in
1990, and a radio adaptation was aired on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s. While he was
a witness in the Aquablast case in Toronto in 1977, Archer was accused of taking three
suits from a department store, an accusation he denied for many years. However, in the
late 1990s, Archer finally acknowledged that he had indeed taken the suits, although he
claimed that at the time he hadn't realised he had left the shop.[1] No charges were
brought.

Kane and Abel proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one on the New York
Times bestsellers list. It was made into a television mini-series by CBS in 1985, starring
Peter Strauss and Sam Neill. The following year, Granada TV screened a ten-part
adaptation of another Archer bestseller, First Among Equals, which told the story of four
men and their quest to become Prime Minister.[7]

Archer states to spend considerable time writing and re-writing each book. He goes
abroad to write the first draft, working in blocks of two-hours at a time, then writes
anything up to seventeen further drafts. It has been suggested that his books require
extensive editing by others to make them readable.[8][9]
In 1979, Archer purchased the Old Vicarage, Grantchester, a house associated with the
poet Rupert Brooke. He also began to hold shepherd's pie and Krug parties for prominent
people at his London apartment, which overlooks the Houses of Parliament.[1]

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