The time has nearly come for Jeffrey Archer to put down the pen.
The prolific author and former member of Lords has sold over 350 million copies of his books, and has just wrapped up the William Warwick series with the release of the eighth book ‘End Game’.
He has one more book left to write, which he’s aiming to finish by Christmas and release in September next year.
But although this will be Archer’s final book, he’s not stepping back from writing altogether, telling Mike Hosking that he still plans on writing short stories and perhaps a screenplay.
“This book is, frankly, bigger than ‘Kane and Abel’ as a story,” he said.
“I’ve got to see if I’ve been able to write it, and frankly, I won’t want to follow it.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jeffrey Archer is back with news one. His William Warick
series is coming to a conclusion, but some more importantly,
it appears as the Archer writing career in Game as
the eighth and the Warick series. The last time we
caught up with him, of course, was in London for
the King's Coronation. So it's welcome back to Jeffrey Archer.
Good morning and a.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Very good evening to you as I'm sitting in.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
London, beautiful autumn in London. The news of your final
book is it overshadowing End Game?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Ah? No, not quite, but it is. It's a very
important on the end for me. It's a very important
landmark to end the Clifton Chronicles and then end the
William Warwicks and still be alive at eighty five.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Take me through the process. I mean, I suppose the
day was always going to come when you were going
to say enough is enough? How did that formulate in
your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, that's of course the next book. The next book
is the final book. It will be my fiftieth year
next year and I will be writing the final book.
This book. End Game is only just arrived in the
shops and it's the final book in the William Warwick series,
when he's a commander and he's in charge of the
(01:17):
Olympic Games. So I flew over to Monaco and saw
Sebastian co and asked what went wrong? And he said,
nothing that I know of, but you need to speak
to Commander Bob Broadhurst because he was in charge of security.
So I flew back to England, Mike and got in
touch with the commander who holds the Queen's Police Medal
(01:40):
and the CB a very remarkable man, and said did
anything go wrong? And he's I quite expected him to
say nothing I can't speak about, but he told me
fourteen things that went wrong. Twelve weren't of great significance.
They would have got headlines in the papers, but not
(02:01):
big headlines. Two were important. One would have closed the
opening ceremony and one would have had everyone in the
stadium having to leave on the fourth day of the athletics.
So all fourteen get into the book, and I added
seven from my own imagination, and you have beguns at
(02:23):
the end. Which fourteen are real and which seven are
just figments of my imagination?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Did it make the book in the sense if you'd
gone to lunch with co then talk to Bob, and
they both said nothing. You would have had to have
made up the whole lot correct.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
My seven would have your very good point. My seven
would have been the book. Whereas now the public are
going to be allowed to know what went badly wrong.
But thanks to the Commander and his amazing team, they
stopped the public ever finding out because and one of them,
by the way, Mike, was within twelve minutes of happening.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Wow, do you think sib Coe knows about the two
but just didn't tell you or not?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, no, he had no idea. When he took the
quiz at the back of the book where you're asked
to name the twelve and the seven, he got nineteen
out of twenty one. So the answer to your question
is no.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Where did you come up with the idea to talk
to him in the first place? And think they must
have been something to be told here?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think, Mike, if you're running something as big as
the Olympic Games and it goes on for a month,
you can't expect twenty eight days the pass without some
fairly important minor incidents. What he couldn't have anticipated was
two major incidents and Indeed, when I saw him last
(03:54):
week we were doing a television program together, he whispered
in my ear, I the person who has the responsibility
for the security for the next Olympics. And I said why,
and he said, drones, Jeffrey, we're going to do about drone.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, that questions applicable for Europe generally, and nothing to
do with the Olympic Games, Isn't it correct?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Absolutely correct?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Talk to me so that's same game. Talk to me
about your final book, the final final book. Where's that at?
Is it just in your head?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I got the idea six years ago when I read
a speech by Adolf Hitler, and I'd always assumed his
speeches were nothing but hot air and rampaging, but it
had a lot of detail in it. I then read
the counter speech by Winston Churchill and realized that on
September the fifteenth, nineteen forty one, the war could have ended.
(04:51):
Of course, because the war went on September fifteenth, nineteen
forty one, kind of got lost. And I then immediately
lee began to look for leading historians who'd written about
what happened on that day, and found three. Read very
carefully what they had to say. I then checked to
(05:12):
make sure no one had ever written the incident when
Hitler changed his mind three times in one day, on
a day which could have ended the war one way
or the other, and then sat down and began to write.
And I'm now on the fourteenth draft, so I'm hoping
to finish by Christmas, and it will be on the
(05:34):
bookshelves in September of next year.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Do you honestly believe, in your heart of hearts that
will be it?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yes? I might write short stories. In fact, I know
i'll write short stories. I might write a play. I
might write a screenplay. But this book is, frankly, Mike,
bigger than canaan Abel as a story. I've got to
see if I've been able to write it, and frankly
I won't want to follow it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Do you feel the pressure already or not?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
No, I've done fourteen drafts, and the publishing house are
frankly very very excited. So no they if I sense
they've thought, well, this is just fine, another book, great,
But no, the vibes that are coming out and the
things they're preparing rather suggest this is another canaanable.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Right, which leads me to ask Jeffrey whether or not.
You know, you're a little bit wistful at this point
in time. I mean, it's been such an amazing journey.
Is it time for you know, some sort of reflection.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yes, I've been very privileged and lucky to have a
simple talent to tell us story. That's a god given talent.
I always say to young people, if you're well educated
and well read, there's no reason why you shouldn't be
a decent, even good writer. But the act of telling
a story is no different to a ballet answer, no
(06:56):
different to a violinist, no different to an opera singer.
You divide those who really succeed with those who nearly
succeed by damned hard work and a bit of luck.
And that's a bit of luck. It's called talent, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I can't let this pass without a little observation about
what does Britain strike you as particularly troubled at the moment?
Or is it just me observing it from the other
side of the world.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
No, you are right, Mike. We're in a bright, leathering state.
We're up to our eyes as a nation in debt.
The problem we have and I'm sure you have it
as well, and everyone in the world has it is
that we are meant to retire at sixty five, you're
meant to collect a goals watch, you're meant to conveniently
(07:44):
die at the age of seventy. Well, I'm eighty five
and I've got lots of friends in their nineties, so
it's not easy for a nation to actually go on
dealing with the National Health Service for them and financing
for them. You are quite right to think we look
as if we're in trouble, But look at the French.
(08:08):
What are you laughing, Mikel I can't serious.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I can't help it exactly. Listen, I was reading it.
It was you, wasn't it. It was you that told
Cameron about Farage, and if he had done what you
had suggested with Farage, you might not be dealing with
Farage the way you're dealing with them today.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, I was surprised when the interviewer for The Independent
said I'm going to start the interview with something you
said ten years ago. I thought, oh my god, what
did I say ten years ago? And he read it
out that you had suggested to the Prime Minister that
Farage be put in the House of Lords. He was
at that time. Hold your breath on naught percent. My
line was, he's trouble. He's a brilliant mob orator and
(08:51):
he's still ambitious. But if you put him in the
House of Lords, we'll keep him quiet and he'll be
very happy, very happy being Lord Farage. You'll love them.
And a prime minister didn't agree with me, and he
is now causing us some trouble. Do you think by us,
I mean the Conservative Party?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Well, exactly under your electoral system, first past the post.
Do do you think in the next election his thirty
percent translates into seats or it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Oh no, I think this time it does. He got
more votes than the Liberals last time and only got
four seats, whereas the Liberals got fifty one. I think
this is going to change big time, big time.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
What are the Tories need to do.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We've got four years before the next election, and it's
difficult in politics, particularly with Trump at the helm, to
predict beyond a week, let alone four years. But I
must say, I meet a lot of people who say
I've had enough of the Tories and I could never
vote Labor. I'm going to give him a chance. And yes, Mike,
(10:02):
that may well translate in to speak into seats.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
And government or not.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, now, if you're asking for a technical of you,
he could be the biggest party, yes, which might mean
he has to join with the Conservatives in order to
form a government. Or Labor may be the second biggest party,
Liberals the third biggest party and they may be able
(10:32):
to join together to form a government. If I might say, Mike,
a right mess.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That is true. I'm just thinking you probably need to
keep writing something because every time we get together and
talk about books and politics, it's always fun. But for
now we must end. There is always a thrill and
a pleasure. Good to catch up with you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Very kind Mike, and lovely to speak to you again.
Thank you very much for keeping in touch.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Always a pleasure, Jeff Jeffrey Antcher out of Britain this morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talk Set B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Jeffrey Archer is back with news one. His William Warick
series is coming to a conclusion, but some more importantly,
it appears as the Archer writing career in Game as
the eighth and the Warick series. The last time we
caught up with him, of course, was in London for
the King's Coronation. So it's welcome back to Jeffrey Archer.
Good morning and a.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Very good evening to you as I'm sitting in.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
London, beautiful autumn in London. The news of your final
book is it overshadowing End Game?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Ah? No, not quite, but it is. It's a very
important on the end for me. It's a very important
landmark to end the Clifton Chronicles and then end the
William Warwicks and still be alive at eighty five.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Take me through the process. I mean, I suppose the
day was always going to come when you were going
to say enough is enough? How did that formulate in
your mind?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, that's of course the next book. The next book
is the final book. It will be my fiftieth year
next year and I will be writing the final book.
This book. End Game is only just arrived in the
shops and it's the final book in the William Warwick series,
when he's a commander and he's in charge of the
(01:17):
Olympic Games. So I flew over to Monaco and saw
Sebastian co and asked what went wrong? And he said,
nothing that I know of, but you need to speak
to Commander Bob Broadhurst because he was in charge of security.
So I flew back to England, Mike and got in
touch with the commander who holds the Queen's Police Medal
(01:40):
and the CB a very remarkable man, and said did
anything go wrong? And he's I quite expected him to
say nothing I can't speak about, but he told me
fourteen things that went wrong. Twelve weren't of great significance.
They would have got headlines in the papers, but not
(02:01):
big headlines. Two were important. One would have closed the
opening ceremony and one would have had everyone in the
stadium having to leave on the fourth day of the athletics.
So all fourteen get into the book, and I added
seven from my own imagination, and you have beguns at
(02:23):
the end. Which fourteen are real and which seven are
just figments of my imagination?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Did it make the book in the sense if you'd
gone to lunch with co then talk to Bob, and
they both said nothing. You would have had to have
made up the whole lot correct.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
My seven would have your very good point. My seven
would have been the book. Whereas now the public are
going to be allowed to know what went badly wrong.
But thanks to the Commander and his amazing team, they
stopped the public ever finding out because and one of them,
by the way, Mike, was within twelve minutes of happening.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Wow, do you think sib Coe knows about the two
but just didn't tell you or not?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, no, he had no idea. When he took the
quiz at the back of the book where you're asked
to name the twelve and the seven, he got nineteen
out of twenty one. So the answer to your question
is no.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Where did you come up with the idea to talk
to him in the first place? And think they must
have been something to be told here?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I think, Mike, if you're running something as big as
the Olympic Games and it goes on for a month,
you can't expect twenty eight days the pass without some
fairly important minor incidents. What he couldn't have anticipated was
two major incidents and Indeed, when I saw him last
(03:54):
week we were doing a television program together, he whispered
in my ear, I the person who has the responsibility
for the security for the next Olympics. And I said why,
and he said, drones, Jeffrey, we're going to do about drone.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, that questions applicable for Europe generally, and nothing to
do with the Olympic Games, Isn't it correct?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Absolutely correct?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Talk to me so that's same game. Talk to me
about your final book, the final final book. Where's that at?
Is it just in your head?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I got the idea six years ago when I read
a speech by Adolf Hitler, and I'd always assumed his
speeches were nothing but hot air and rampaging, but it
had a lot of detail in it. I then read
the counter speech by Winston Churchill and realized that on
September the fifteenth, nineteen forty one, the war could have ended.
(04:51):
Of course, because the war went on September fifteenth, nineteen
forty one, kind of got lost. And I then immediately
lee began to look for leading historians who'd written about
what happened on that day, and found three. Read very
carefully what they had to say. I then checked to
(05:12):
make sure no one had ever written the incident when
Hitler changed his mind three times in one day, on
a day which could have ended the war one way
or the other, and then sat down and began to write.
And I'm now on the fourteenth draft, so I'm hoping
to finish by Christmas, and it will be on the
(05:34):
bookshelves in September of next year.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Do you honestly believe, in your heart of hearts that
will be it?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yes? I might write short stories. In fact, I know
i'll write short stories. I might write a play. I
might write a screenplay. But this book is, frankly, Mike,
bigger than canaan Abel as a story. I've got to
see if I've been able to write it, and frankly
I won't want to follow it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Do you feel the pressure already or not?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
No, I've done fourteen drafts, and the publishing house are
frankly very very excited. So no they if I sense
they've thought, well, this is just fine, another book, great,
But no, the vibes that are coming out and the
things they're preparing rather suggest this is another canaanable.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Right, which leads me to ask Jeffrey whether or not.
You know, you're a little bit wistful at this point
in time. I mean, it's been such an amazing journey.
Is it time for you know, some sort of reflection.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yes, I've been very privileged and lucky to have a
simple talent to tell us story. That's a god given talent.
I always say to young people, if you're well educated
and well read, there's no reason why you shouldn't be
a decent, even good writer. But the act of telling
a story is no different to a ballet answer, no
(06:56):
different to a violinist, no different to an opera singer.
You divide those who really succeed with those who nearly
succeed by damned hard work and a bit of luck.
And that's a bit of luck. It's called talent, exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I can't let this pass without a little observation about
what does Britain strike you as particularly troubled at the moment?
Or is it just me observing it from the other
side of the world.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
No, you are right, Mike. We're in a bright, leathering state.
We're up to our eyes as a nation in debt.
The problem we have and I'm sure you have it
as well, and everyone in the world has it is
that we are meant to retire at sixty five, you're
meant to collect a goals watch, you're meant to conveniently
(07:44):
die at the age of seventy. Well, I'm eighty five
and I've got lots of friends in their nineties, so
it's not easy for a nation to actually go on
dealing with the National Health Service for them and financing
for them. You are quite right to think we look
as if we're in trouble, But look at the French.
(08:08):
What are you laughing, Mikel I can't serious.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I can't help it exactly. Listen, I was reading it.
It was you, wasn't it. It was you that told
Cameron about Farage, and if he had done what you
had suggested with Farage, you might not be dealing with
Farage the way you're dealing with them today.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, I was surprised when the interviewer for The Independent
said I'm going to start the interview with something you
said ten years ago. I thought, oh my god, what
did I say ten years ago? And he read it
out that you had suggested to the Prime Minister that
Farage be put in the House of Lords. He was
at that time. Hold your breath on naught percent. My
line was, he's trouble. He's a brilliant mob orator and
(08:51):
he's still ambitious. But if you put him in the
House of Lords, we'll keep him quiet and he'll be
very happy, very happy being Lord Farage. You'll love them.
And a prime minister didn't agree with me, and he
is now causing us some trouble. Do you think by us,
I mean the Conservative Party?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Well, exactly under your electoral system, first past the post.
Do do you think in the next election his thirty
percent translates into seats or it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Oh no, I think this time it does. He got
more votes than the Liberals last time and only got
four seats, whereas the Liberals got fifty one. I think
this is going to change big time, big time.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
What are the Tories need to do.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We've got four years before the next election, and it's
difficult in politics, particularly with Trump at the helm, to
predict beyond a week, let alone four years. But I
must say, I meet a lot of people who say
I've had enough of the Tories and I could never
vote Labor. I'm going to give him a chance. And yes, Mike,
(10:02):
that may well translate in to speak into seats.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
And government or not.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, now, if you're asking for a technical of you,
he could be the biggest party, yes, which might mean
he has to join with the Conservatives in order to
form a government. Or Labor may be the second biggest party,
Liberals the third biggest party and they may be able
(10:32):
to join together to form a government. If I might say, Mike,
a right mess.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That is true. I'm just thinking you probably need to
keep writing something because every time we get together and
talk about books and politics, it's always fun. But for
now we must end. There is always a thrill and
a pleasure. Good to catch up with you.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Very kind Mike, and lovely to speak to you again.
Thank you very much for keeping in touch.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Always a pleasure, Jeff Jeffrey Antcher out of Britain this morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talk Set B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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