British author and disgraced politician Jeffery Archers dies aged 86

Best-selling British novelist and former Tory politician Jeffrey Archer, who was jailed for perjury in a high-profile libel case, has died at 86, his publisher HarperCollins said on Monday.Archer sold over 300 million copies worldwide and was known for pacy thrillers such as his 1976 debut Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and the Kane and Abel series. His final novel, Adam and Eve, was set to be released on Tuesday.Jeffrey Archer has died aged 86.A prominent Conservative politician, Archer briefly served as a lawmaker before becoming a senior party official under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the mid-1980s.But Archer suffered a very public downfall when he was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001, and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.Kate Elton, HarperCollins’ UK CEO and Archer’s editor, said in a statement: “We’re all devastated to have lost a writer who has brought joy to generations of readers - and a true friend”.Just last week Archer visited his old school library, in the village of Wellington in the English county of Somerset, the BBC reported.“”It’s wonderful to come back. What I got a real thrill about when I was walking towards the library is seeing the young boys and girls and thinking, ‘that’s the next generation’,” Archer said, according to the British broadcaster.He said he had only attended the school because of a scholarship.“I was on a scholarship because we had no money, I came from Weston-super-Mare and we had no money. I would never have got in without a scholarship.”Kayla Olaya is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners