FIRST IMPRESSIONS:JEFFREY ARCHER
What are you working on?
I have just completed Best Kept Secret, which is the third of five in the Clifton Chronicles series.
When are you at your happiest?
On the first day of a Test Match at Lord’s between England and Australia.
What is your greatest fear?
Loneliness. You do think about it when you begin to lose your friends. So I’d be obliged if my friends died after me, please.
What is your earliest memory?
Driving to Leeds from Weston-super-Mare with my grandmother. She hadn’t realised there was a new thing called roundabouts; she drove over, rather than round them. She’d never seen one before and told me they would never catch on. It was a fairly frightening experience. No one saw us; there were just nice tyre marks over the grass. God bless her.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Alan Quilter, who was my English master at school. He gave me a love of Shakespeare and of the theatre and I think from that came the writing.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
My impatience. It drives my poor wife Mary mad. I think women are much more patient than men.
What is your most treasured possession?
An hourglass that my wife gave me. I use it when I’m writing as I work in two-hour sessions. It’s very much part of my routine.
What trait do you most abhor in others?
Snobbery. I hate people who think because of the cot they were born in, they are superior. They are bores.
Do you have a fantasy address?
The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I don’t give a damn about my appearance, but I do wish I was a couple of inches taller.
What is your all-time favourite book?
The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. He’s the granddaddy of storytellers. People forget that he wrote the Count Of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers in the same year, so he’s the king.
What is your favourite film?
Advise & Consent with Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. American politics at its best – although it’s slightly dated, it’s still a wonderful story.
What is your favourite play?
Greatest performance: Laurence Olivier in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
What is your favourite record or piece of music?
A Better Place To Be by Harry Chapin. You will cry at the end. It is the most beautiful piece of storytelling. At the end, men feel humiliated.
What is your favourite meal?
Shepherd’s pie.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Thomas Jefferson. John Kennedy once said when dining with eight Nobel Prize winners in the White House: ‘This is the greatest gathering of intellect in this room since Jefferson dined alone.’
Which historical character do you most admire?
Unquestionably, Nelson. The bravery and the original thinking put him above the others.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has said to you?
‘Guilty’.
What is your secret vice?
Affogato [ice cream with a shot of espresso]. God, I love it. It’s a disaster.
Do you write thank-you notes?
All the time, and I enjoy it immensely. The great American poet, Mark Twain, said famously, ‘I apologise for writing a long letter but I didn’t have time to write a short one.’
Which phrase do you most overuse?
You’re a worm.
What single thing would improve your quality of life?
Not having to pay tax.
What would you like your epitaph to be?
He was a giver.
Best Kept Secret is out now (Macmillan, £20).
I have just completed Best Kept Secret, which is the third of five in the Clifton Chronicles series.
When are you at your happiest?
On the first day of a Test Match at Lord’s between England and Australia.
What is your greatest fear?
Loneliness. You do think about it when you begin to lose your friends. So I’d be obliged if my friends died after me, please.
What is your earliest memory?
Driving to Leeds from Weston-super-Mare with my grandmother. She hadn’t realised there was a new thing called roundabouts; she drove over, rather than round them. She’d never seen one before and told me they would never catch on. It was a fairly frightening experience. No one saw us; there were just nice tyre marks over the grass. God bless her.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Alan Quilter, who was my English master at school. He gave me a love of Shakespeare and of the theatre and I think from that came the writing.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
My impatience. It drives my poor wife Mary mad. I think women are much more patient than men.
What is your most treasured possession?
An hourglass that my wife gave me. I use it when I’m writing as I work in two-hour sessions. It’s very much part of my routine.
What trait do you most abhor in others?
Snobbery. I hate people who think because of the cot they were born in, they are superior. They are bores.
Do you have a fantasy address?
The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I don’t give a damn about my appearance, but I do wish I was a couple of inches taller.
What is your all-time favourite book?
The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. He’s the granddaddy of storytellers. People forget that he wrote the Count Of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers in the same year, so he’s the king.
What is your favourite film?
Advise & Consent with Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. American politics at its best – although it’s slightly dated, it’s still a wonderful story.
What is your favourite play?
Greatest performance: Laurence Olivier in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
What is your favourite record or piece of music?
A Better Place To Be by Harry Chapin. You will cry at the end. It is the most beautiful piece of storytelling. At the end, men feel humiliated.
What is your favourite meal?
Shepherd’s pie.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Thomas Jefferson. John Kennedy once said when dining with eight Nobel Prize winners in the White House: ‘This is the greatest gathering of intellect in this room since Jefferson dined alone.’
Which historical character do you most admire?
Unquestionably, Nelson. The bravery and the original thinking put him above the others.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has said to you?
‘Guilty’.
What is your secret vice?
Affogato [ice cream with a shot of espresso]. God, I love it. It’s a disaster.
Do you write thank-you notes?
All the time, and I enjoy it immensely. The great American poet, Mark Twain, said famously, ‘I apologise for writing a long letter but I didn’t have time to write a short one.’
Which phrase do you most overuse?
You’re a worm.
What single thing would improve your quality of life?
Not having to pay tax.
What would you like your epitaph to be?
He was a giver.
Best Kept Secret is out now (Macmillan, £20).