Afternoon Tea With

Lord Archer....

Adelaide is just one of the cities featured in Jeffrey Archer's latest best seller - The Fourth Estate. Lord Archer recently visited the home of Rupert Murdoch's huge News Corporation, and I caught up with him in the Hans Heysen room of the Hyatt Regency.

Jeffrey Archer spent the first part of his life wanting to become a politician. "I entered the House of Commons at the age of 29 - I was on the Economic Council at the age of 26. I left the House of Commons, sadly, five years later - having foolishly invested in a company called "Aquablast", on the advice of the Bank of Boston."

Bankrupted, Archer retreated to the home of his former principal at Oxford, and took to writing. "I wrote my first novel, Not a penny more, not a penny less, and was genuinely shocked by its success. I've been writing ever since. I'm now on my ninth novel - the latest one, The Fourth Estate, and I've written three sets of stories and two plays"

In 1992, Jeffrey Archer was made a Life Peer, and returned almost full time to politics. "I remain in politics in the sense that I'm a member of the House of Lords, and remain working very closely with the Conservative Government."

Being a Lord isn't a big deal to Jeffrey Archer - who prefers to be called Jeffrey than Lord. "I'm lord of Wesson Super Mere - that's where I come from. A town in the West Country of England, near Bristol." And there's no estate attached to the title. "When you become a Life Peer, you can be Lord Anything. I'm mean you could be Lord Adelaide, or your proper name. Such as Lord So-and-so Of Adelaide - but you don't get Adelaide thrown in! With Hereditary Peerage, you do get an estate. Many of them still do have lots of land, and lots of possessions. Though many of them don't, because they've had to sell them off - many of them are very poor."

The Fourth Estate is described best as a "novelography" It tells the story of the two most extraordinary men of our time - Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell. Primarily a work of fiction, although inspired by real events, the two ruthless and ambitious press barons duel to control the world's media. When asked, Archer says that the book contains 80 per cent truth. "Or around that. I wrote nineteen drafts of the book, so by the end I wasn't quite sure what had come out of the research, and what I'd invented. One or two of the stories I can pinpoint and say "That is an invention". But the editor of the Independent in England, Andreas Wickham-Smith told me that when he read it he could tell which bits were true. He did ask me about one bit, as to if I'd invented it or not, a Maxwellian story, and I had to say that I did - but he'd believed it! So, you see, you can never be quite sure."

The Fourth Estate took nearly two years to write - much of it in strict secrecy. "The only person I told was Eddie Bell, who is the publisher at Harper Collins. And he felt that the idea was the best I'd ever had, and that if I chatted to anyone about it, a lot of working authors could steal the idea of writing a novel about two men wanting to run the newspaper world. They'd base it on Rupert Murdoch, and Robert Maxwell - he thought that the idea was easily stealable. So he told me to shut up until they actually had the book in their hands, and they were printing it. Because once they were prinitng it, he thought that people couldn't bring one out. Even three months before they could rush a book out, so I remained absolutely silent until about six weeks before it came out on the shelves."

To research the book, Jeffrey Archer read over 30 biographies of the two men. "And each had to be read very carefully . Over the years I've come to know many journalists who knew them both very well, so I was able to talk to them. And of course I knew both men myself. I served in the House of Commons with Maxwell, and I've known Rupert Murdoch for some years."

He admits that he was shocked by Robert Maxwell's apparent suicide by drowning. "I still find it hard to believe that he killed himself, because he believed that he could conquer anything. Then, on the other hand, it's a very strange, ambivalent feeling I have about it, because I know he would not have liked a six month trial, and the possibility of going to jail. So, you know, which was the greater pull? And I suspect that in the end, that was the greater pull, and I think that explains it."

Lord Archer also went on to say that Maxwell was every bit as ruthless as he is portrayed in The Fourth Estate. "He was a very tough man. I put in that story in the book, where he shoots three Germans in cold blood. Well, Mike Malloy gave me that story, and I said, "I'll put it in the book if I know it's true." And he said, "Well, he used to tell everybody, with pride!". These three Germans stood up and surrendered, and he shot them. This is a tough guy."

With his books published through Harper Collins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, did Jeffrey Archer ever think that The Fourth Estate might not make it into print?

"No. Oh no - Rupert Murdoch has far bigger problems than myself! There's a winner and a loser in this story, and in real life there was a winner and a loser. Both faced the disaster, both could have gone under. Maxwell did go under, Murdoch has become an even more powerful and more successful man. That's the truth."

He went on to say that Mr Murdoch was very relaxed about the book's publication. "In fact, I rang him the other day, when the book had sold a quarter of a million copies, which is the highest sale ever for a hardback. And all he said was "You still haven't covered the advance yet". I think his mind works on a different level to us normal mortals."

A lot of authors say that their first books are extremely autobiographical - and this true of Archer's first book, Not a penny more, not a penny less. "Totally. The first half is about what happened to me. About how I stupidly lost my money, and about how I stupidly made a fool of myself . The second half is how they get the money back. I would like the second half to have been true - but I'm sorry that it isn't. I never got the money back."

If he hadn't been forced out of politics when he was 34, Jeffrey Archer thinks that he might now be Minister for Transport - but he's not sure. "I certainly wouldn't have written any books, because I never would have believed that I could be a novelist. Indeed, had I never have had a purpose or reason, I would have unquestionably remained in politics. But I have managed to get back in!"

Since his return to politics in 1992, rumours have abounded about John Major offering Jeffrey Archer a role in his Cabinet - something that he's very relaxed about. "Well, I think I'll know in early July. But I'll serve the Party in any way they see fit - even it's just moving the cars in the carpark on election night. I don't know what he'll offer me - if anything at all. He may not want me on his election team - I'd be disappointed if he didn't though."

"I think the next British General Election will be very close. We hope to win five elections in a row, which has never been achieved, and that will not be easy. Although the economic position is stronger - considerably stronger - than it was at the last election. I think there are a lot of people who decide that they want change for change's sake, and that is very dangerous."

When he was first a young back bencher, being the youngest member of the house, Jeffrey Archer thought he must have stood some chance of being a minister. "That is what you aim for at that particular time. And Harold Wilson had made this now often quoted statement that I would be going right to the top. But there's a hundred people who want the top job - and there's a hundred people who might get it."

He also feels that John Major's strong stance on the European Community's banning of British beef is going to enhance his re-election prospects. People admire the fact that he's told the truth, and that the British of all nations have told the truth, and then stood firm."

He feels that this is also indicative of a general resistance to England being part of a "United Europe". "I don't think many of the people in the House of Commons want to be part of a "federated" or "single-currency" Europe, and are even against the social charter and the minimum wage. So my own bet is we'll remain in Europe, as a trading partner, which we want to be. We won't let it go much further."

Lord Archer likes to relax from writing by watching sport - especially cricket and rugby, and visiting the theatre and art galleries "I would go to a theatre almost every week - and I invest in a theatre as well. And I go to art galleries two, sometimes three or four times a week. But if I was to give up writing, I'd take up being Captain of the English Cricket team!"

When asked if there was any one person who's most influenced his work, Jeffrey Archer was stumped. "I'm not sure how to answer that question. But I'm a great admirer of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh, and Graham Greene, who are damn good story tellers, but also fine writers. And so "influenced" would be wrong to say, but I admire them very greatly."

At present, Lord Archer is gathering the ideas for his next set of short stories while he's travelling around the world. "Of the twelve, I've already got seven. But that's not my next book, which will be a novel. The one after will be a set of short stories. So I won't be writing the short stories until 1999!"

"I picked up a very good one in Australia, quite recently, a very good idea for a short story. One of the reasons for travelling, one of the reasons for meeting lots of interesting people is that quite often they say something - and it may only be a sentence - that leads your mind down to a short story. Some tiny incident that happens, and you think: magic! And that's actually what this lady said to me - and I don't think she said more than a couple of sentences ."

Jeffrey Archer doesn't have a particular favourite amongst his own novels. "If I was to listen to the fans, and the fans only, I think a majority would still say "Not a penny more, not a penny less", but very many more people have read "Kane and Abel" - nearly five million people. But the real experts, the really serious critics, will always say "First among equals". And that may be because of my love of Parliament, and of the system and the country. You can't fail to miss it in that book. But they were all damn hard work to write."

Lord Archer's advice for those who want to take up writing is quite simple: "Do it. The best stories are drawn from real life. And the real life of a Police Officer on the beat must contain some very powerful, and very emotional stories."

Jeffrey Archer's latest book, The Fourth Estate, is available now in hardback at all good book stores. Special thanks must go to Christine Farmer of Harper Collins, and the Hyatt Regency, Adelaide.

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