Bob Monkhouse's brilliantly funny joke springs to mind. He said - "I went on a camping trip recently, and I could not believe it, but I got through seven Jeffrey Archer novels. I must remember to bring more toilet paper next time!"

My parents were friends with a bookseller in Melbourne, Australia, years ago. This bookshop owner was looking forward to Jeffrey appearing in his shop, and signing copies of his latest book. The bookseller, being a very well read chap, was not an admirer of Jeffrey's mediocre scribblings, but he wanted to attract paying customers to his shop, and thought this would be the way to go about it. Jeffrey's personal assistant rang this bookseller, and told him that Jeffrey was very fastidious, and that he insisted on having a genuine Persian rug under the table where he would be signing books. The only Persian rugs that this bookseller could find, were hideously expensive - costing at least $3,000 for a small rug. The bookseller simply could not afford this, and thought, surely this is not such a big deal - and instead he bought a perfectly nice, attractive woollen rug, to place beneath Jeffrey's delicate tootsies. So Jeffrey turns up for the Grand Book Signing, and is immediately outraged when he spies the non-Persian rug. He threw a tantrum, and even stamped his foot on the offensive rug. He signed books that afternoon, in a foul temper, and at the end of it, stormed out of the bookshop without even bidding his host goodbye. There was no farewell or thank you - just a snarl from surly Jeffrey. This just gives you an indication of the arrogant, entitled character of Lord Archer. The cold lino adorning his cell just a few years later, in HM Prison Belmarsh, must have been unbearable, toe chilling torture for poor Jeffrey! Such a nasty shock - to  have the rug pulled out from under you!

Listening from Perth, Western Australia. I read Jeffrey Archer long before I ever saw Gyles in his own podcast, but now I wouldn't miss a one!

Have recently discovered Gyles and am a huge fan of Jeffrey Archer - what a treat to see them together.

Ahhhhh! The life. Ups and downs! The choices we make for good,or  ill. Such a very interesting discussion. Thank you so much gentlemen. How lucky you have been in the lottery of life to find the right wives.

"Bombast is now enthusiasm".... Jeffrey and Gyles have tried so hard in life and have been successful but no denying the bombast....

Jeffrey Archer is a remarkable man. He represents the doyenne of gutsy resourcefulness. I was about 8 when l first heard of him. It was a race( Oxford v Cambridge?) on Grandstand. There were 3 or 4 restarts because he jumped the gun. What a guy

This was a very interesting podcast...

Three of my favourite people, loved that chat.  Wish I was at a dinner party with all of you.

Ryan what a beautiful podcast with two good friends ,the conversation just flowed ,listening from Australia

The crook and liar......convicted too.

I came across this quite by accident, & now I'm hooked! Jeffrey Archer - in my eyes, the greatest author who's ever lived - (sorry Gyles, you're number 2!) I have every single book of JA's, & I'm horrified to hear he's writing his LAST! You have to hand it to JA, to get something good out of a bad situation - by this, I mean that when (shhh! He was "locked up"! Ahem!) he wrote three of the most amazing books, & released them whilst still in situ! In pre-internet days, we had to rely on weekend book reviews in newspapers to know when his next book was coming out, & after the first book was released, it seemed an interminable amount of time till book two was released, the same with book three - who else but JA could enthral us whilst incarcerated in the Big House? The man's a genius!
I don't know who you'll be interviewing next, but, my goodness, they have very big shoes to fill! As JA himself would say - "Chapeau!"

There is something deeply uncomfortable about this discussion. It risks presenting Jeffrey Archer as though he were a paragon of virtue, while overlooking entirely the very serious and well-documented aspects of his past.

Archer is a convicted criminal who was found guilty of perjury and served a term of imprisonment. That is not an incidental detail; it is an important part of any honest assessment of his public life and character. To discuss him without acknowledging that history, and without any meaningful examination of the circumstances surrounding his conviction, risks presenting an unnecessarily sanitised version of reality.

I am therefore also left questioning the judgment of Gyles Brandreth in choosing to associate so closely with him. There are legitimate questions about whether the relationship is being portrayed with sufficient candour, particularly given the controversies that have surrounded Archer over many years, including questions concerning his involvement with charitable funds.

More broadly, Archer has a long-established reputation for embellishing and, on occasions, misrepresenting aspects of his personal history and background. His claims concerning his education and family circumstances have been the subject of considerable scrutiny and controversy.

None of this is to suggest that people cannot change, that a person should forever be defined solely by past wrongdoing, or that someone who has served a sentence is beyond redemption. But there is a significant difference between acknowledging rehabilitation and rewriting history.

The discussion should therefore be approached with considerably greater honesty and context. To portray Archer without properly confronting the documented record is not, in my view, a genuine discussion of the man or his extraordinary public career. It amounts to a form of sanitisation that the historical record simply does not support.

This gushy chat should be called 'kissing Jeffrey Archer's arse for 35mins'.  Successful or not, he's not a likeable bloke from where i'm sitting.  I think he may have done a few contemptible things to reach that success.  That's not someone to admire in my opinion.   He probably owes Gyles some money, or Gyles wants to borrow some from the charlatan.

Absolutely marvellous and thank you so much. The ending could not have been bettered!

Zatopek was Czech not Hungarian!

I can’t count the number of Jeffrey Archer books That I have read. Excellent interview!

He’s flogged loads of books! Shame he couldn’t flog a nano particle of likability or integrity! Really not a nice man.

saying thatcher was a slave is an inßult to slaves and demonstrates this guys profound ignorance how people suffer at the hands of others but then again maybe he believes other people are there for his kind to use, in which case, disgusting

Jeffrey Archer and Monica.
Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia