Jeffrey Archer

His mother, Lola Cook, was born in Bristol in 1913 and lived in Sefton Park Road during her school years.

Educated at Wellington School, Somerset, and Oxford University, Jeffrey Archer gained an Athletics Blue, was President of the University Athletics Club, and went on to run the 100 yards in 9. 6 seconds for Great Britain in 1966. Jeffrey has served five years in the House of Commons and twenty-eight years in the House of Lords.

Jeffrey's first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was published in 1975 and was sold to 17 countries within a year.

His third novel, Kane and Abel (1979), became a number one bestseller in hardcover and paperback around the world and has sold over 7 million in the UK paperback edition alone, and is now on its 123rd reprint. Now, with 37 books, 275 million copies sold and 27 Sunday Times number one bestsellers, Jeffrey Archer is a global publishing phenomenon. Forty-four years since he first burst onto the literary scene, he has never been more popular, and is the only UK author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (twenty times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries).

The former MP and Conservative Party chairman was made a life peer by John Major's government in 1992.

(July 19, 2001) Began a four year jail sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice, relating back to his successful 1987 libel action against the Daily Star tabloid newspaper. He was released in 2003 after serving half of his sentence.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, vol. 136, pages 8-15. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.