Jeffrey Archer, author of the Clifton Saga and British politician, has died
The author of *Cain and Abel* has died aged 86. A leading figure in the Conservative Party, he was sentenced to prison in 1999 for giving false evidence.
The British writer and former politician Jeffrey Archer, author of several bestsellers, has died at the age of 86. The news was announced by his publisher HarperCollins, who explained that the novelist passed away on 5 October ‘suddenly and peacefully at home, between writing sessions’.
Author of The Clifton Saga and Cain and Abel, over the course of his career, Archer has sold over 300 million books, spending 14 years and five months on the British Sunday Times bestseller lists and over five years on those of the New York Times.
His writing career spanned five decades and helped him recover from the financial ruin caused by a number of bad investments. His debut novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, was published in 1976 and is said to have been inspired by his own experience, when he nearly went bankrupt.
A former Conservative MP who made his fortune during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being found guilty of lying in a 1987 libel case against the Daily Star.
Whilst he was campaigning to become Mayor of London in 1999, allegations emerged that Archer had lied in court during a libel trial that had taken place more than a decade earlier. He had sued the newspaper that had accused him of paying a prostitute and had been awarded damages of 500,000 pounds.
