R.I.P. Jeffrey Archer

[Drago]

Gone to the big prison cell in the sky to write his latest book, aged 86.

Love him or hate him there was never a dull moment when he was about.

 

[Pblakeney]

Gone to the big prison cell in the sky to write his latest book, aged 86.

Love him or hate him there was never a dull moment when he was about.

Was on the same flight as him and his wife to Florence.
He was fine but his wife well, entitled would be putting it politely.

 

[Poacher]

Was on the same flight as him and his wife to Florence.
He was fine but his wife well, entitled would be putting it politely.

Ah, but was she not fragrant?


To paraphrase the besotted judge in Jeffrey's perjury libel trial.

Edited to correct "perjury" to "libel". Faulty memory!

 

[Webbo2]

Ah, but was she not fragrant?


To paraphrase the besotted judge in Jeffrey's perjury trial.

She could be still classed as fragrant if she’d soiled herself ,no.

 

[Ian H]

Oh dear. Never mind.

 

[Pblakeney]

Ah, but was she not fragrant?


To paraphrase the besotted judge in Jeffrey's perjury libel trial.

Edited to correct "perjury" to "libel". Faulty memory!

Doesn’t register but her obnoxious behaviour lingered.

 

[Accy cyclist]

So that's Esther Rantzen and now Jeffrey Archer who've both died aged 86 in the space of a few days. How old is Keith Richards I wonder? 🤔 They do say these things come in threes!

 

[FrankCrank]

So that's Esther Rantzen and now Jeffrey Archer who've both died aged 86 in the space of a few days. How old is Keith Richards I wonder? 🤔 They do say these things come in threes!

Love the story about Keef always being top of the list of people most like to die young. Apparently, when he got to ripe old age of 30, he was no longer top of the list, and he was gutted. Could just be folklore mind.

 

[Dave7]

Kind of sad really. Sue and I read many of his excellent books, the Cain and Abel ones being favourites.
He has certainly left his mark.
Good for him that, unlike many, he didnt suffer at the end as it was sudden.

 

[Dave7]

So that's Esther Rantzen and now Jeffrey Archer who've both died aged 86 in the space of a few days. How old is Keith Richards I wonder? 🤔 They do say these things come in threes!

Lena Martell (famous singer for younger CCrs) has also died aged 86

 

[Drago]

Apparently Archer's new book is finished but hes popped off prior to release. His publishers will doubtless be thinking that'll help sales.

 

[Drago]

Just mentioned this to Mrs D. She reports that when she was a teenager she worked in a posh hotel and on one occasion he was a guest and had a brief chat. All very pleasant, if a bit vanilla.

Two years later the future Mrs D was on maternity leave and popped in with the baby, my future stepdaughter, to show her off to her workmates. Lo and behold, Archer was just checking out and remembered her. He stopped for a chat and gave her £20 to buy something nice for the baby, which was very kind as he was a complete stranger.

 

[Poacher]

Apparently Archer's new book is finished but hes popped off prior to release. His publishers will doubtless be thinking that'll help sales.

Just be suspicious if you're offered a signed copy.

 

[Pblakeney]

Was on the same flight as him and his wife to Florence.
He was fine but his wife well, entitled would be putting it politely.

Mea culpa! After discussing this with my wife it turns out that it was Michael Portillo on our flight, not Archer.
Portillo was much more amiable that I’d presumed. I cannot comment on Archer.

 

[BrumJim]

Mea culpa! After discussing this with my wife it turns out that it was Michael Portillo on our flight, not Archer.
Portillo was much more amiable that I’d presumed. I cannot comment on Archer.

Many politians are very amiable when you speak to them personally, which is, I guess, one the most important elements of the job spec, although some, I hear, come across as really nasty pieces of work. Archer? Never met him, but he clearly had a level of charisma that is well beyond that of a normal person. How else could he have bagged the job, wife and mistresses that were clearly well beyond his upbringing?

But Michael Portillo, on the other hand, seems like a genuinely nice guy, despite his political reputation. His Railway Journeys TV series shows him happy and willing to put those he meets front and central on the camera and in the narative, rather than as a stooge for his own personality. On a cycling note, his meeting with members of a Clarion Club as part of this series, a cycling organisation routed in Socialist ideology, showed mutual respect despite polar oppposite political views, with the conflicts of opinion taken in good humour.